It has been a good year for sports fans in the North West of England in particular, as we’ve been a little spoiled with our area’s sports men and women showing World Class levels of performance, so it was nice to see sleeping giants at Mancester United showing signs of recovery under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during the Christmas period.
It should be no surprise to football fans of my vintage that Solskjaer has been the man to do this for United as a last minute appointment to the manager’s role: as a player he routinely came “off the bench” to bag important goals for the club, none more impressive or important than that stunner in the UEFA Champion’s League Final of 1998 against old foes Bayern Munich.
Now at the helm, Solskjaer has got his players playing for him, introduced a slightly more attacking format. United have scored a bag full of goals, and won two matches on the bounce. It’s not a full blown recovery to get over-the-top about, as it was against opposition a side of United’s quality should be beating, but for those looking for green shoots of recovery at Old Trafford and as a statement of intent: it’s been nice to see.
As a fan of football, in the North West, I love to see United doing well. They will need to be spurred on by the quality shown by rivals around them: City despite a recent slump look good enough to retain their title, while old rivals Liverpool look outstanding this season and topped the table at Christmas 2018.
Putting in World Class, globally relevant, work is achievable from anywhere – and nowhere more so than Manchester, the North West of England, and the UK generally.
All Manchester United need to succeed is a strong team who are focused on the same goals. It is much the same for the rest of us.
