Manchester United will show Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the door if his team loses to Norwich City at the end of the month, claims The Sun, although the paper adds that he could be gone even sooner, if the Red Devils “get hammered by Liverpool first”.
Currently languishing 12th in the table, 15 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, United will host the Anfield side at Old Trafford on Sunday 20 October.
The United board are braced for defeat in that match - although if Jurgen Klopp’s boys smash their hosts then that could signal the end for Solskjaer.
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More likely, however, says the Sun, is that Solskjaer’s fate will rest on the trip to Carrow Road to play Norwich on October 27.
Acid test
That will be the “acid test” for the Norwegian, and if he fails it he will be given his P45 and the United board will start the hunt for their fifth manager in six years.
Having lost already to West Ham, Crystal Palace and Newcastle, defeat to newly-promoted Norwich will signal to the fans that United are “genuinely in a relegation fight”.
That’s unacceptable and so Solskjaer would be sacked just ten months after he was hailed as the saviour of the Theatre of Dreams.
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Fear factor
United have made their worst start to a league campaign in 30 years and according to Metro Solskjaer is “fearful” that a heavy defeat against Liverpool would leave the board no option but to fire him.
If that’s the case, says the paper, he would receive a £7m pay-off, which is peanuts to the £19.6m Jose Mourinho pocketed when he was given the boot in December.
But even if Solskjaer avoids a heavy defeat to Liverpool, and comes away from Carrow Road with three points, his future might still not be secure.
United then travel to Chelsea in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup on 30 October and hit the road against Bournemouth in the Premier League a few days later.
Solskjaer’s team hasn’t won away from home since February and two more reverses would ramp up the pressure once more.
In Arsene we trust?
As to who is favourite to replace Solskjaer in the event he doesn’t make it to November, The Sun says that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is the bookies’s best bet at 3-1 with Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers at 9-2 and former Juventus head honcho Massimiliano Allegri at 6-1.
The Sun also tips former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as a 16-1 outsider, saying that the 69-year-old “insists there is still a desire for coaching”.
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