Manchester United fans' hopes have become a distinct reality with the permanent appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager on a three-year deal.

The Norwegian has won 14 of his opening 19 games as boss and has seen his side position themselves with a chance of a top four finish as well as being in the Champions League quarter finals.

Various pundits and football experts have had their say on whether a manager with such a slim resume should be given a job of such magnitude, but with his performance up to now it would have taken a strong-willed board not to give him the job.

Former Man United boss Louis van Gaal, who managed the side from 2014 to 2016, refused to jump on the Ole bandwagon, claiming that Solskjaer 'parks the bus' similarly to his predecessor Jose Mourinho.

“The main difference between Mourinho and Solskjaer is that Solskjaer is winning," Van Gaal told the BBC.


“It is also true that Solskjaer has changed Paul Pogba’s position and put him into an area where he is much more important.

“But the way Manchester United are playing now is not the way Ferguson played. It is defensive, counter-attacking football. If you like it, you like it.

This was bound to cause some uproar from the United faithful with Solskjaer being such a beloved figure at the club, and it caused a rise from a former team mate and a member of the Class of '92, Gary Neville.

"I saw Louis van Gaal say that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's football is the same as Jose Mourinho's. Louis van Gaal's football at Man Utd was the worst I've ever seen," Neville ranted on Sky Sports News.

"Jose Mourinho's was far better than Louis van Gaal's even though it wasn't acceptable in terms of what the fans want to see."

Mourinho managed to win a Europa League and a League Cup in his two and a quarter seasons at the club whilst van Gaal picked up a solitary FA Cup during his respective two years.

"We've had a lot of change at the club in the last four or five years with different world class managers coming in and it hasn't worked," Neville added.

"Ole has brought back a level of happiness with the fans and at least that's something, because to be fair it has been difficult to watch in the last three or four years what we've seen."