Yes, Ole has rejuvenated United but they shouldn’t deviate from landing their No.1 target in the summer... whoever it may be

choice as manager – Mauricio Pochettino (above, right), Zinedine Zidane or whoever it may be – becomes available in the summer, what has changed?

If Manchester United are going to re-emerge as credible, long-term title challengers, they should not be swayed by short-term thinking. The biggest result they can hope for as a club, in the first half of 2019, is to land their chosen target as manager and give him the resources to rebuild the team.

Solskjaer can do no wrong in the fans’ eyes so there is a perfect opportunity to integrate him, along with other legends, into the club’s fabric, possibly as director of football. United have Michael Carrick as a firstteam coach, Nicky Butt is head of the academy and Mike Phelan’s return as Solskjaer’s tracksuit lieutenant has restored swagger to the football. I felt David Moyes’ decision to dispose of Phelan – such a safe pair of hands when Sir Alex Ferguson was manager – was possibly his biggest mistake, and a huge error of judgement by the club, which contributed significantly to United’s decline post-fergie.

People have been quick to point the finger at players, and ask why they looked so flat in the last days of Mourinho but so sharp the minute he was out of the door, but it’s not that simple.

When I was at Derby, my career was flatlining – and I was losing my appetite for the game – when we were relegated with a record low of 11 points under Paul Jewell. But when he left, and there was a new manager to impress, I had a new lease of life.

That doesn’t mean I wasn’t trying under Jewell. I had renewed energy and enthusiasm, the old Savage was back.

It’s sometimes how it works in football. If you are not enjoying it, sometimes you are energised by regime change. It’s probably true in many other jobs.

At a club like United, that should not happen when a manager has spent £350m on new players in two-and-a-half years. And it is an utterly ridiculous situation that one of the world’s biggest clubs had to sack a manager in midseason and ask legends back to deliver a quick fix.

Even though Solskjaer has done an amazing job, don’t deviate from the grand design. In football, second thoughts are often the most costly.

GOOD luck to all the minnows in this weekend’s FA Cup third round ties – the grounds where giants fear to tread.

Romantics will never tire of seeing footage from Hereford’s upset of Newcastle 47 years ago, or Arsenal’s shock defeat by Wrexham in 1992 – a clash between the previous year’s champions and wooden spoonists who finished 92nd in the league.

Where will the shocks be this time? I’ve no idea, but hope Woking and Barnet – the last surviving non-league clubs – have a weekend to remember.