Rio Ferdinand says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must be named permanent Manchester United boss

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has said that his former club have no reason to deny Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with the permanent head coach role. The Norwegian took charge of United on an interim basis after Jose Mourinho’s sacking in December and he has since transformed the club’s league fortunes with an unbeaten run.

Speaking to Goal.com, Ferdinand said that the club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has no reason to deny the Norwegian with the permanent managerial position, given the club’s exceptional progress over the past few months, he said: “Ole gets a blank canvas now to go into the club, do what he wants to do and move it forward. It doesn’t matter how many players because the turnover has been so great over the last seven or eight years.

“It’s what players you get – because you have to get the right players. Players who are fit to play for ­Manchester United, players who play off the front foot, players who are brave. Ed Woodward [United ­executive vice-chairman] can’t do ­anything else but take him on. Ole has put himself in a ­position where he can’t be told ‘No’. He has forced Ed Woodward’s hand.”

Since Ole taking charge, the Mancunian giants have gone unbeaten for 11 successive Premier League matches and out of those, nine have produced victories. Moreover, they have also made progress to the quarter-final stage of the FA Cup and their only setback under the Norwegian has come through the Champions League.

United are currently trailing Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 after the home leg of the Champions League round of 16 and they face a stiff challenging of overturning the deficit during the reverse fixture at Parc des Princes. Ole’s team are currently going through an injury crisis with as many as 10 players on the sidelines and this should hamper their prospects of making the comeback.