United host Wolves on Tuesday from 7.30pm on Sky Sports Premier League; Kick-off at 7.45pm
Monday 1 April 2019 17:21, UK
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer still much to do to return Manchester United to the pinnacle of English football, says the Sunday Supplement panel.
United confirmed Solskjaer as their permanent head coach on a three-year contract on Thursday after he had overseen 14 wins in his 19 matches in charge, an impressive run that helped propel the club back into the race for a top-four finish.
Saturday's 2-1 home victory over Watford in the Premier League on Saturday returned Solskjaer's side to the Champions League places for next season, a target the new man will be desperate to achieve.
However, it is not just securing Champions League football Solskjaer will now be focusing on, but tying down star players and a busy summer of recruitment too.
"It was logical to do it now and on the back of two defeats, so it stopped that sense of whether they were actually going to give him the job," Jason Burt, the Daily Telegraph's chief football correspondent, told the Sunday Supplement.
"You are in a period now where you are talking about contract negotiations with players and transfer targets and it just quietens that down.
It is still a risk because whatever you say, this is still a huge job for someone like Solskjaer to take on board
"They are now moving from a different phase from whether he is going to get the job, now he has got the job, what happens next.
"And it is interesting as clearly he was not going to be the full-time manager when he was appointed, I do not think anyone at Man Utd expected him to do the job he has done to the degree he has.
"I think they thought he would calm it down and bring a better atmosphere to the club, but not to achieve the results he has done.
"So what they have to do now us move away from that period of just get us back to where we want to be and then try and move forward now to the club they need to be in the future."
Burt was also keen to emphasise the key role played by United assistant manager Mike Phelan in helping Solskjaer.
"So there is an awful lot of work to be done at United and key to that is partly the structure around him and I would not underestimate the influence of Mike Phelan," he said.
"The way it has been explained to me is that it is almost a joint-manager thing, he is so important in the decision-making process and he has a big say.
"And then they have to appoint a technical director, so there is an awful lot of work still to do behind the scenes to sort things out.
"I think it is still a risk because whatever you say, this is still a huge job for someone like Solskjaer to take on board. He has done all the right things so far, but now he has some very hard decisions to make as well about the what happens about the future of the club and what players he wants to bring in and the players who want to go and stay."
United visit Wolves on Tuesday from 7.30pm on Sky Sports Premier League; Kick-off at 7.45pm
