12 September 2023 , 11:03
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Former Manchester United coach Mike Phelan has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson immediately reached out to him after Jose Mourinho was sacked back in 2018.
Mourinho, 60, was dismissed by Ed Woodward after overseeing the club's worst start to a season in 28 years. In turn, the Red Devils swiftly asked Old Trafford legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to come in and steady the ship; a decision that ultimately led to the Norwegian being handed the job on a permanent basis.
Solskjaer was keen to bring in Phelan, one of Ferguson's most-trusted lieutenants, if he was to return to the club where he plundered 126 goals during a stellar playing career. And the Norwegian even roped in his old manager to sound Phelan out.
Reflecting on the turn of events in an interview with Sky Sports, Phelan said: "I knew things weren't going too well at United and that Jose Mourinho was under a bit of scrutiny but I had no idea it would lead to what it led to.
"I got to my car, turned on my phone and I must have had 150 messages, lots of them repeated ones such as: 'Where are you? Get in touch!' These were from Ole, Sir Alex, from the news people. I'm thinking: 'I will take this a bit later'.
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"I heard Jose had lost his job and I got a call and Ole spoke to me saying, 'I might be offered the job, would you be interested in going in again?' As I had been there, seen it and done it and it would have been a help for him. There were no second thoughts."
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Mike Phelan was called by Sir Alex Ferguson before he agreed to return to Manchester United with Ole Gunnar SolskjaerSolskjaer made an instant impact after taking on the role and was soon installed on a permanent basis, signing a three-year contract. Phelan even saw shades of Ferguson in the way that Solskjaer operated.
He added: "We hit the ground running, we changed the atmosphere, the standards. We changed a lot of small things that made it feel like a Manchester United that I and Ole knew. The players responded really well and we got off to a flyer. I think we had 10 wins out of 12 and we were starting to think: 'this is crazy'.
"We tried to push it on and to Ole's credit, he was a good thinker. He allowed people to work - he was similar in his ideas to Sir Alex. It was quite refreshing."
Solskjaer remained at the helm for three years before he was sacked in November 2021. And while Phelan remains full of praise for the changes Solskjaer made, ultimately, he admits it's hard to argue with the results which led to his dismissal.
Phelan spent years as Ferguson's right-hand man (Angel Martinez/Real Madrid)"There were issues going on in that time that weren't going on the first time round. There was a lot more attention to things in the background, within the club and the atmosphere. You were dealing with these things a lot more than the bits you wanted to focus on which was the football. But when you're the manager of a massive club, the results get you."