Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appears more of a revelation as time passes by.

There were recent rumblings of the wheels having come off and the extended honeymoon being over but how premature we all were. Let’s be fair, on the face of it I’m not sure any credible football person really believed post Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho that Manchester United were anywhere near a Champions League credible force.

But what a way to bounce back. Stamford Bridge hasn’t been the best of hunting grounds for the Red Devils, even in the Ferguson era yet, United cruised through their FA Cup tie on Monday (18th Feb) like a classic car on a demonstration circuit through the streets of Monaco.

David Horrocks, Director of Sensible Soccer and business partner of United coach, Mike Phelan gives us some insight into what may be going on at Manchester United and what the current coaching quartet may be bringing to the table in this startling turnaround.

Horrocks has worked with both Phelan and up and coming United coach Kieran McKenna in his role as an elite performance psychologist, specialising more often than not in professional football along with the odd sojourn into elite golf and the corporate and business worlds alongside his role as head of sport in higher education at Burnley College.

Horracks, says: “Elite performance is quite literally a cocktail of components or a kitchen with a multitude of ingredients and the trick is getting the dose or balance right. I think most coaches in professional sports know all the buzz words and concepts, it’s the putting it together to cook the dish where many fail and others succeed.”

People, technology, learning, humility, drive, risk, standards, professionalism, process, belief, culture, evidence etc are all just some of the concepts banded about in performance circles. But, what do they mean, and more importantly, what do they look like? Horrocks gives us a brief synopsis of the ingredients each of United’s coaches brings to the table.

Mike Phelan

Mike is unique in Manchester United’s past and present. He has played for, coached and been assistant manager at the football club and has vast amounts of knowledge as to the Sir Alex Ferguson way stored and available in that wily old mind of his.

One of the most important credentials I see from Phelan in this current set up is the person and the associated human interaction he brings. I’ve known Mike a while and he is a genuine guy, he has time for everyone. I can’t ever recall ever seeing him without a smile on his face and he always greets people with an upbeat, positive statement with the body language to compliment it. He’s quite literally a bundle of energy and positivity.

Mike is a football addict, I’ve never known anyone not only watch, but analyse in-depth, the minutiae of as many games or individual performances as he does in top level football. He’s not restricted to that either, he watches youth and reserve games and even coaches grassroots football in his spare time.

He is quite literally football mad but football mad with a 100% positive and front foot attitude in terms of the lens he sees performances and people through. If there ever was a natural born educator and facilitator Mike is your man.

One look into the technical area, or better still, a trained camera, and you will see in real time the amount of times this vast footballing brain is called upon by the other three.

Mike really is the wise old owl of Manchester United and at only 55 years of age there is a lot more mileage to come from this club legend as United drive on over the next 10 to 15 years. Releasing him a second time from the club following the post Ferguson debacle would be the biggest mistake the Manchester United board could ever make.

Kieran McKenna

Kieran McKenna is a young man I first met when he was a youth coach from Tottenham at a conference in London doing an innovative presentation on the combination of medicine, sports science and data analytics being integrated into the coaching process.

He sought me out having realised I’d completed a PhD on Manchester United and we had an interesting chat on the future of coaching and performance. Once again, an instantly energetic and humble man with a thirst for knowledge. We met again when I was delivering the UEFA Pro-licence cognitive and decision-making education component for the 2018 cohort and no surprise he quizzed and pushed me to the nth degree once more.

He then proceeded to have his lunch with me as opposed to other arguably bigger name coaches in the room. A genuine man with an insatiable thirst for learning and progression and the bravery to seek out something different. A Mourinho appointment, McKenna has rightly been retained on the staff and offers key input for Manchester United going forward and in particular coaching methods for the generation Z football player.



Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

I’m only meeting Ole for the first time this week so at this point can only shed light through analysis of the public persona. I think his history speaks for itself, when you listen to or read any interviews from past teammates and managers/coaches Ole is portrayed as once again a humble man but a man with an insatiable work ethic and desire to get better.

He appears inventive and risk oriented in both his due diligence and applied approach along with utilising an evidence based approach to his advantage as he prepares for each game.

There were testimonies from his own players with regard to the extensive work carried out on the system and approach to face Tottenham during their training camp in Dubai and I dare say the same happened this week in a different positive and process focused solution for Chelsea. Two very tough away fixtures from which United have come away with not only a good result but in different ways and with different line ups.

I think this offers solid evidence that the manager is capable of taking on varied challenges, dealing with whatever circumstance he is faced with and having the focus and knowledge of how to win in differing environments. Players have also been very vocal publicly in describing the personal time he has spent with them on improving their individual game, most notably Rashford with regard to finishing, Martial with regard to his all round game and Lukaku in terms of detailed personal analysis.

While Solskjaer is clearly a man of detail, adaptability and evidence based processes he in turn possesses the necessary devil of risk which is an essential component of all uber-elite performers. The caretaker and incumbent could well be the masterstroke and legacy of executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward’s reign.

While repeatedly posting admirable business and commercial results Woodward has yet to come up trumps on the football side. The very business and listed operation he presides over in this modern day was after all borne of Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson’s on-pitch achievements.

In the long term, the worry from the city may be that without such performance sustenance the company as a holistic entity will face increasing challenges and pressure from their competitors in commercial marketplaces. Solskjaer and his team could well be Woodwards saviour.



Michael Carrick

Carrick is the epitome of professionalism in both his life and in his work. He has played 316 games for Manchester United, with many, if not most, of the current squad along with winning everything United aspire to win again in his very recent past. Carrick can be seen taking training in much of the social media and video that goes out from Carrington and is very hands on pre-match at whichever stadium United rolls into and is creeping ever more prominently into that technical area on a match day.

Carrick can sense, smell and feel exactly what the modern player is experiencing in the moment in the white-hot cauldron of competitive top level football and this type of cognition is an invaluable cog in the wheel of real time performance for this current squad of players.

Off the field take a look at The Michael Carrick Foundation and you’ll get a measure of the man. A family man, a caring man, an inspirational man and a grounded individual with a balanced outlook and awareness on life and the wider world. Having Carrick on the current staff is a highly commendable future planning and business protection protocol, something United have fallen foul of in recent years.



The Culture

Culture has varied definitions but in general terms, and from a football perspective, culture represents the customs and social behaviour of a group. This is something that has changed in the caretaker manager’s tenure and all thanks to Solskjaer, is now a modern manifestation of ‘The Manchester United Way’.

There are few clubs who have what traditionalists call a ‘way’ Barcelona and Ajax spring to mind and the fact is that Manchester United had lost theirs.

Under the stewardship of Solskjaer and his trusted three lieutenants this ‘way’ is coming back, it is coming back in an evolved guise which is key in a progressive world, yet it is founded in the bedrock of something that is theirs (Manchester United’s) and in something that evidence tells us works.

While the board continue to make overtures of due diligence and processes being carried out with regard to the longer-term future of Manchester United, one would hope that the current short-term operation is under serious consideration.

In its current guise will it return the halcyon days? No I’m not sure it will, but given the support and license to evolve within a Manchester United borne, evidence-based framework, what one sees at Barcelona in particular, would suggest that the answers may well be growing in United’s own back yard. After all regularly winning their domestic league at a canter whilst being a seriously threatening Champions League force is the next stop in the journey.

Article written by David Horrocks – david@sensiblesoccer.co.uk

Images: PA Images