A thread in hope of ending ANY comparisons between Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Sir Alex Ferguson, arguably the greatest manager of all time.

Starting with Ferguson's achievements before United.

Ferguson took charge of St Mirren in 1974 in the Scottish 2nd division. He took them to the Scottish First Division in 74/75 and won the First Division in 76/77 to take them up to the Premier Division. He kept them up in 77/78 before moving to Aberdeen.

In his 10 years at Aberdeen, he won 10 trophies. He won the title in 79/80, ending 14 years of the Rangers/Celtic dominance. He won a further 2 titles, his last coming in 84/85. He's still the last man to win the Scottish League with a club that isn't Celtic or Rangers.

He won 5 other domestic trophies with Aberdeen and most impressively a Cup Winners' Cup in 1982 where he beat Real Madrid in the final, who finished 2nd in La Liga by just a point that season. He went on to win the Super Cup too in 1983, beating European Cup winners, Hamburg.

Bar a short 10-game stint as Scotland manager, that was his CV before joining Manchester United. He had a close to 60% win ratio with Aberdeen & 3 titles in a league that was, and in 2020 still is, dominated by 2 teams.

Add a European title to that and Ferguson's 11 years in management at the point of joining United was very, very successful - especially given the circumstances.

In comparison, Solskjaer started his professional first-team managerial career in Norway with Molde.

Solskjaer won Molde their first ever Norwegian league title in 2011 just a few months after joining and followed it with another in 2012 and a cup in 2013 - total of 3 trophies.

After modest success in Norway, he moved back to the PL to join Cardiff.

He lasted 9 months as the Cardiff manager. He took over when Cardiff were one point above the relegation zone in January. They finished bottom, 6 points adrift of safety despite signing 4 players in January - one being Wilfried Zaha on loan.

Solskjaer signed a further 20 players ahead of the 14/15 season in the Championship, taking his total spend at Cardiff to roughly £20m in 8 months.

Solskjaer was sacked after just 7 games, leaving Cardiff 17th in the Championship. His overall win percentage was 30%.

After a year out of football, he returned to Molde and managed a 55% win rate - similar to his first spell - but couldn't manage to secure another trophy in 3 years before United came calling in December 2018.

When United appointed Solskjaer, his last trophy in football came 5 years prior in his first stint at Molde.

It's worth nothing that Molde won a title in 2014, whilst Solskjaer was at Cardiff and also in 2019, whilst Solskjaer was at United.

That summarises their achievements and how 'qualified' they were to manage Manchester United. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led Molde to a back-to-back titles in Europe's 22nd ranked league whilst Ferguson broke the Rangers/Celtic stranglehold whilst winning a European title too.

A big thing to factor in is a change of the times. Manchester United in 1986 aren't the same Manchester United in 2020. Ferguson walked into a club that hadn't won a league title for 20 years and had even been relegated in that period.

Solskjaer walked into a club that had won a title 6 years earlier, finished 2nd and got to an FA Cup final just months before he walked through the door and won 2 trophies in 16/17. He inherited a squad with quality and up to now has spent close to £300m to improve it.

Coming back to a change of the times, back in the 70's/80's, managers at United were given more time in general.

Ron Atkinson had 5 years without a title.
Dave Sexton had 4 years without a title.
Tommy Docherty had 5 years without a title (and a relegation).

SAF's 3 predecessors had a combined 14 years in management without a title - and a relegation.

Compare that to Moyes (less than 1 season), Van Gaal (2 seasons), Mourinho (2 1/2 seasons).

Managers in general don't get given time - especially when results aren't being delivered.

Sir Alex Ferguson had a slow start at United but given the situation of the club - and the fact that football in 1986 was wildly different - plus what he did at Aberdeen - it was more acceptable and even more possible to give him more time to get it right.

In 2020, clubs have to act quickly. In 2 years, Solskjaer has shown no consistent signs of progression despite spending close to £200m and inheriting genuine quality players - players he still relies on.

His win % after 100 games is 55%, even with playing mainly in the EL.

Ferguson's first few years at United were up and down, but in his first full season he finished 2nd with 81pts. The seasons thereafter were erratic but he'd clearly shown at United and elsewhere what he can do, and was afforded time because it was possible and he was proven.

The only comparison between SAF and Solskjaer now is they both had/have fans thinking they aren't good enough. The same could be said for any manager to ever manage a football team. Ever.

You could use the same for LVG, Moyes, Mourinho - all were sacked with better records.

This thread isn't intended to knock Solskjaer but I'm tired of seeing the comparisons with Ferguson and debating it just because he had a slow start at United too.

The situations, expectations, club stature, personnel and times are entirely different.

Over and out.