Yahoo Sport 
Rio Ferdinand: Forget ‘the Man United way’, let Ole Gunnar Solskjaer be himself
Former England defender Rio Ferdinand and Dutch legend Ruud Gullit think the concept of ‘the Man United way’ could hamper the club if managers aren’t given the opportunity to make their own mark.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was announced as permanent manager of the Red Devils in March following a successful three months as caretaker boss, and Gullit feels the club needs to give him full license to make changes.
Speaking to Yahoo Sport at an event showcasing Heineken’s #unmissable campaign, Gullit said: “Let him be himself. Why would you put in a certain type of football that maybe is not his? And I think that is the mistake they [Manchester United] made, maybe a little bit, by talking too much about the old days.”
Ferdinand, who spent 12 years at Old Trafford, agreed adding, “the traits, the personality, the conduct, the actual way that the club is driven from behind the scenes, you can take those elements from other heroes, but you have to allow a coach to come in to breathe and be able to implement his own ideas.
“And that's what they need to do with Ole, they have to detach him from the Fergie era,” the 40-year old concluded.
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After winning 12 out of 14 games as caretaker manager, Solskjaer’s team slumped in form after his permanent appointment and ended the season with a six-game winless run, including a 2-0 home defeat to relegated Cardiff. They finished a trophy-less campaign 6th in the Premier League.
The sparkling confidence and attacking football in the Norwegian’s first few months at the helm, epitomised by a revival in Paul Pogba’s creative displays, yielded memorable results such as a dramatic last-gasp Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
A late comeback playing attacking football in the knockout stages of Europe’s elite competition? It seemed Sir Alex Ferguson’s hero of 1999 was bringing back the Fergie era, so you could forgive fans and the media for getting excited.
But a string of defeats and lacklustre performances in the closing stages of the season, and a huge dip in form from stalwarts like three-time Player of the Year David De Gea, have seen some Old Trafford faithful calling for Solskjaer’s head.
However Gullit, who won the European Championships with the Netherlands in 1988, feels this is a mistake and points to the success of rivals Manchester City and Liverpool due to the freedom given to their respective managers.
“I remember in my days with the national team, all the time talking about the team of ‘74, how good they were playing, and you get crazy. Until the moment you win yourself, and all of a sudden, that stops.
“So nowadays, I never talk about what happened in ‘88 because it’s another era. I want a coach to be able to express himself. And that's why [Jurgen] Klopp is so good, Pep [Guardiola] is so good.. The next coach [of Manchester United] has to be given the room to let him be himself.”
Solskjaer signed a permanent deal keeping him at Old Trafford until 2022, and recently made Daniel James his first permanent signing.
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