When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, manager of the Norwegian side Molde, was hired as caretaker manager by Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, it was tempting to wonder whether part of the reason for this, on the face of it, curious arrangement was that Solskjaer was not an accomplished enough manager to complicate United’s succession plan.

If the former Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc, say, were caretaker and masterminded a strong end to the season, a top-four finish, maybe a cup win, then that might muddy the waters a bit. But nobody was seriously going to appeal for a guy to get the job whose most notable CV entry was getting Cardiff City relegated. Were they?

It is incredible how quickly these