Is this the least surprising ‘shock call’ over who Manchester United should appoint as their next manager? | OneFootball

Manchester United have been recommended a ‘shock call’ over their next manager after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took drastic action and made ‘wage demands’.

If that doesn’t sound particularly like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, prepare to be stunned.

Are you Gunnar be my girl?

Despite Gabriel Martinelli’s best “more than disrespectful efforts” there was ultimately little of interest coming out of the goalless draw between Arsenal and Liverpool.

It was the dampest of squibs which ultimately maintained Arsenal’s six-point gap at the top of the Premier League table and kept Liverpool in the Champions League places. All the rest about title ‘chokes’ and Arne Slot embarking on the least convincing unbeaten run in history is pure conjecture.

But the Manchester United clown car keeps motoring along, presumably now sliding all over the place in the snow while Sir Jim Ratcliffe indulges in some elite-level billionaire backseat driving.

The Daily Mirror website has landed on a particular way of selling their updates, as is made clear by these headlines:

The first ‘twist’ is that Solskjaer remains the favourite but Carrick is not out of the running. The second seems to be that Ruben Amorim has been sacked. And obviously no-one saw that ‘twist’ coming at the time it happened on Monday, never mind while the dust is still settling on Friday.

The ‘completely scraps management return plan’ bit is also wonderful nonsense. The story is basically that Solskjaer had no intention of returning to coaching until actual Manchester United contrived to manufacture a situation of such absurd panic that he became a candidate to take over again.

In short, the bloke who accidentally became Manchester United manager for almost three years having previously been in charge of only Molde and Cardiff, and whose only role since ended in his being sacked by Besiktas after seven months in August, was not contemplating managing any time soon until a job he would otherwise never be considered for somehow came back into his orbit.

It might be that Solskjaer wasn’t thinking about returning to management because no club was thinking about making him their manager.

Benjamin on the button

The one man everyone obviously wants to hear from with regards to the Manchester United manager situation is Benjamin ‘The Soothsayer’ Sesko.

The Daily Mirror website again deliver the goods here, as ‘Benjamin Sesko makes new Man Utd manager prediction with four-word hint’.

Right then, this should be fun. Mediawatch has a top four ‘four-word hints’ in order of preference here:

1) “Ole’s at the wheel.”

2) “Carrick was always underrated.”

3) “Who is Darren Fletcher?”

4) “Phone Sir Alex first.”

Go on then, let’s have it. Over to you, Benjamin…

Oh for fu…

Waging war

Mediawatch really does enjoy, by the way, the Daily Mirror website suggestion that ‘Solskjaer’s wage demands emerge as Man Utd ‘offer ex-manager huge bonus”.

To make this expressly clear, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has and will be making no ‘wage demands’ here. The bloke would pay to manage Manchester United again, and Ratcliffe is probably trying to engineer that as we speak now the seed has been planted.

He who smelt it

Top of the MailOnline website is this offering:

And, well, no. It’s just not what he said, is it?

Keane definitely had a go at Ferguson and the deferential way he is still seen and treated by Manchester United, but he absolutely at no stage ‘blamed’ him for this mess.

Howe’s that then?

Keane also made a ‘shock call’ in revealing his preferred next Manchester United manager, according to the Manchester Evening News.

You really might want to sit down before being told that Keane thinks a 48-year-old, English, trophy-winning manager with extensive Premier League experience and plenty of games coached in the Champions League might be a decent appointment.

Eddie Howe is also currently directly above them in the Premier League table. What a ‘shock call’ that is.

Angel Gabriel

But to Martinelli we must return, for Mediawatch entirely underestimated the depths of ridiculousness many now plumb in the eternal and infernal search for clicks.

It is why we get these headlines…

‘FA make decision on banning Gabriel Martinelli after ‘disgraceful’ Conor Bradley incident’ – Daily Mirror website.

‘Gabriel Martinelli learns fate over Arsenal ban after shameful Conor Bradley incident’ – Liverpool.com.

‘Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli learns FA punishment decision on Conor Bradley incident’ – Football.London.

‘Arsenal learn FA’s Gabriel Martinelli punishment decision after Conor Bradley incident’ – Daily Express website.

At least The Athletic predictably and admirably play it straight down the line with ‘Gabriel Martinelli not expected to face FA disciplinary action for Conor Bradley incident,’ but still, really?

Thing that was never going to happen indeed won’t happen. More as we get it.