Andy Gray never fails to entertain. Regardless of what you think about his thoughts on football, you can't deny his opinions always cause a stir.
Today was no different. The beIN Sports panel were discussing the recent appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjær as Manchester United interim manager until the end of the season, a decision that has perhaps received less scrutiny than it should have.
Gray is certainly not convinced by the Norwegian, even if he has close connections to the club. He felt if United wanted to go down the route of hiring a former player, there were three other candidates that were better qualified. One of them you could definitely make an argument for, the other two not so much.
Andy Gray names THREE former #MUFC players who would've been a better choice than Ole Gunnar Solskjær...#beINPL #CARMUN 📺 HD11 pic.twitter.com/6IICTGj4e4
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) December 22, 2018
Are there better options out there for me? Yes, lots of them. Laurent Blanc for one. A man who has played for Manchester United, who knows the fabric of the club, he knows the DNA of the club. He has coached at the highest level with PSG, and would command immediate respect as a coach when he walked through the door.
I mean if you wanted to take it down the line of who's got more experience amongst ex-Mancester United players, there's two out of work now... we're talking about Mark Hughes and Steve Bruce, both of them steeped in United tradition. They have far more experience in the Premier League than Ole does.
Now that is a 'proper football man' shout. Laurent Blanc certainly would not have been a bad appointment, and you could easily argue that he was a better choice for the role.
As for the other two? Probably not. Mark Hughes just recently ended a disastrous spell at Southampton, having already been sacked by Stoke City earlier this year. Steve Bruce meanwhile was sacked by Aston Villa in October, with the club floundering in the Championship.
After looking at a sulking Jose Mourinho for the past two and a half seasons, surely the last thing United fans would have wanted was an equally sullen Sparky Hughes in the Old Trafford dugout?
