Things can only get better for Manchester United’s beleaguered fans, according to former favourite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on a first visit to the kingdom as part of the club’s partnership with VIVA Bahrain.

The former Premiership powerhouse have suffered two dismal trophy-less seasons and have scraped a final four spot which at least guarantees the club a place in the preliminary rounds of next season’s UEFA Champions League.
United finished seventh last season under caretaker-manager Ryan Giggs following the sacking of David Moyes and United’s return to the big stage after missing out this season represents a solid achievement for Dutch coach Louis van Gaal in his first season in charge.

“It is always going to be a challenge in the first season for new players and a new manager, particularly one working in a new country, but I think we have seen glimpses of what is to come,” Solskjaer told GulfWeekly.

“There have been many times this season I have thought we could challenge for the league but the consistency hasn’t been there because the players have not been accustomed to Louis’ style of football and many are not used to playing in the English Premier League but, by next season, I’m sure we will be more consistent and able to challenge for higher positions.

“At the moment Louis has had 10 months of analysing the players and working with the club, day-in, day-out, and has a clear view of what needs doing. He has already started signing players which is good.”

All eyes are now on 21-year-old Dutch forward Memphis Depay who United have agreed to sign for a reported £25 million and Solskjaer reckons it’s a shrewd investment.

“You would like to see United dominating teams, want to see players capable of going past people. He has signed a player who can beat a man, one against one,” he said.

“He is very explosive and I think that is something that has been lacking this season, someone who can make a difference with individual skills. Yes, we have played well and sometimes outplayed teams but we haven’t had that little bit extra.”

The player has reiterated that United’s boss was the clincher behind his move. Depay signed off his PSV Eindhoven home career with a spectacular free-kick in the 2-0 win over Heracles on Sunday ahead of completing his move.
Van Gaal revealed on Friday he had to intervene to prevent Depay from joining Paris Saint-Germain and the Netherlands international admitted he was on the verge of joining the Ligue 1 champions.

“I was really close to a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain,” Depay told reporters. “But in the last moment, I know Man U was always interested, but not concrete, and in the last moment they called my manager and, of course, I spoke with the trainer Louis van Gaal.”

Supporters will hope he makes as big an impression in their hearts as Solskjaer, now aged 43. Nicknamed ‘The Baby-faced Assassin’, he played 366 times for United, and scored 126 goals during a successful period for the club.
He was regarded as a ‘super sub’ for his trait of coming off the substitute bench to score late goals. Solskjaer’s defining moment in football came in injury time of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final, where he scored the winning last-minute goal against Bayern Munich, completing a remarkable comeback and winning The Treble for United.

In 2007, Solskjaer announced his retirement from football after failing to recover from a serious knee injury. However, he remained at United in a coaching role as well as in an ambassadorial capacity, a duty he carries out with distinction today.

In 2008, Solskjaer became the club’s reserve team manager. He returned to his native country in 2011 to manage his former club, Molde, whom he led to their first Norwegian league title and repeated the success in the following season. He secured a third trophy in as many seasons, when his team won the 2013 Norwegian Football Cup Final.
In 2014 he returned to the Premier League for a short but unsuccessful spell as manager of troubled Cardiff City who were relegated under his charge. He now supervises a training academy for young footballers in his home town of Kristiansund and is a patron of the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust.

His three young children are all keen players and his advice to youngsters in Bahrain dreaming of one day wearing the red shirt of United is simple: “You have got to eat, live and breathe football and you have to want it more than anyone-else,” he said.

Thanks to VIVA’s partnership with the club, a squad of 12- to 15-year-olds living in the kingdom will have the chance to live the United dream and train with the club’s soccer school coaches in the UK this summer.
l Listen to Editor Stan Szecowka’s full interview with Ole on www.gulfweekly.com