[ad_1]
When Tom Cleverley lifted the Premier League trophy at Old Trafford in 2013, he knew it was the end of an era for Manchester United, but he didn’t realize how difficult it was going to get and how much it was going to change.
Cleverley played 22 Premier League games in United’s last title-winning season and kicked off the final game of Sir Alex Ferguson’s era, that staggering 5-5 draw at West Brom.
But the end of Ferguson’s time at United was also the beginning of the end of Cleverley’s time at the club. He played 31 games the following season in all competitions, but appeared only once under Louis van Gaal before he was told it was not part of the new manager’s plans.
Nearly eight years after that last title, United are finally back in the running for the top prize, guided by an unexpected challenge by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a manager Cleverley knows well.
He was a regular on United reserves when Solskjaer was in charge of the second row, before leaving the managerial position at Molde, and he is not surprised that the Norwegian is bringing the good times back to Old Trafford.
“If when I left the club you had said there wouldn’t be a title challenge until 2021, it would have been hard to believe, especially with the money invested,” Cleverley said before returning to Old Trafford with Watford tonight. .
“But a lot of credit must go to Ole. It takes time to develop a team that is competing for the title and he seems to have it now and I wish them all the best.”
Cleverley was a youngster at United when he first encountered Solskjaer, and the forward chose the younger age groups as part of his work towards his manager badges.
When it came time to play under him, Cleverley immediately felt he had what it took to be a successful coach or manager.
Video not available
“He’s a nice guy and a really friendly character in the place. You could talk to him, you could ask him for advice and he seemed like a natural coach,” she said.
“I think I can remember him doing his badges and he even took my age group for that when he was very young.
“But at the time he was just brilliant, brilliant for our forwards as well because he was probably one of the best finalists Man United has ever seen.
“So I’m very happy for him that it’s working for him there.”
Solskjaer has faced criticism at times for being too friendly. The player nicknamed the ‘baby-faced killer’ during his playing days is still all smiles in public as the manager of one of the world’s biggest soccer clubs.
Eyewitnesses can attest that the 47-year-old has a tough lead when needed, although Cleverley saw little of that in his time sharing the locker room with coach Solskjaer.
“We didn’t see much of him back then. Obviously he was just starting out and we were just young players,” he said.
“But he had a determination about him and he was determined to make better players, to improve us and that’s obviously what he’s doing a good job of.”
That was especially noticeable with United forwards. Cleverley can recall the impact Solskjaer had as a young coach on the forwards on the reserve side during his time in command between 2008 and 2010.
And now, as someone keeping a close eye on the fortunes of his former club, he sees that being replicated by the performances and improvement of players like Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
“I don’t know about training camp work, but his attack drive is fantastic,” he said. “Even watching Rashford move on Wednesday, he didn’t get a lot of balls, but he’s running behind and looking to hurt teams at all times and I’m sure Ole has that in his game.
“They have a terrifying strike unit and it looks like Ole is training them well.”
That midweek loss to Manchester City meant four semi-final losses for Solskjaer, but he has already experienced trophy winning when he was in charge of a United team, winning the Lancashire Senior Cup and Manchester Senior Cup in 2009.
Cleverley scored in the final of the previous competition, a 3-2 win over Liverpool that the 31-year-old midfielder still fondly remembers.
But he experienced the pitfalls of being a United player and also the success. In 2014, he deleted his Twitter account after growing tired of the abuse he received on social media.
For Cleverley it had become “a negativity that he did not need” and he has not yet returned to social networks. But it does show that you know all about the criticism that comes your way when you are part of an underperforming Manchester United and have sympathy for some of the current crop who you believe have been unfairly attacked.
“I think the criticism they have received in the last year is very unfair at times, I mean especially their individual players,” he said.
“They are doing a fantastic job and sometimes it would be nice to see as a compliment to people like Harry Maguire, who plays all the games, is on a high level, but when he has that bad game, everyone seems to jump on him.
“So I think against all the adversity they are doing a great job and, yes, as I said before, it is good for English football if Man United is a contender, which it looks like they could be this year.”
[ad_2]
