Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reflected on the time Carlo Ancelotti joked about the pressure of managing the joint-most successful Premier League side.
Solskjaer recollected the game between United and Everton, when the Italian was the manager of the Toffees, and reminisced over the witty remark Ancelotti made.
“I remember one game against Everton,” the former United boss began.
“Carlo Ancelotti comes across, and stood there in my technical area. Fourth official says, ‘Carlo you need to get back into your area, unless you want
Ole‘s job’.”“He said, ‘No no no, too much pressure. That job is too much pressure,” he recollected.
“You know pressure is a privilege, he’s said it many times too, and I felt privileged to be the manager of
Manchester United,”
“Ofcourse, you are the face of everything surrounding United, but that pressure is a privilege because I was allowed to deal with that in my way. Had great staff around us, the environment in and around the club was very positive,”
“But, in the end you need results and unforunately we had a very bad spell of six-weeks and that’s too long at a club like Man United.”
Solskjaers role as the manager of United between 2018 and 2021 proved crucial in the transition as he led the club to respectable finishes despite not being able to get his hands on the silverware.
“It’s not about the credit. It was the worst time to be the manager of Manchester United. You have Jurgen Klopp with that Liverpool team and Pep Guardiola with that Man City side. The best managers at the world at that time, probably the two best teams at that time. But we got second and third,” the 52-year-old said.
“So with the staff, we had something going, but we couldn’t take that next step,” he stated.
