Manchester United players who became managers: Part II

In the second and final part of this series, we look at some more Manchester United players who went on to take up the managerial reins at a football club -

Mark Hughes

Mark Hughes

The Welshman started his career as a youth player at Manchester United before making his senior debut in 1983. He quickly became a fan favourite, playing a major role in United’s FA Cup victory and a top four finish in the 1984-85 season. However, he left for Barcelona just a year later, much to the chagrin of United fans. Hughes somehow failed to click at the Catalan capital and was loaned out to Bayern Munich the next season, where he regained his lost form. In 1988, he returned to Manchester United for a second stint under Sir Alex Ferguson and was one of the core members of the team for the next seven years. He became the first Manchester United player to win the PFA Player of the Year award in 1988-89, despite the club’s dismal season. In all, he won two Premier League titles, two FA Cups, a League Cup and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in his second coming at Old Trafford, before moving on to Chelsea. There, he won silverware in the next three seasons in the form of the FA Cup, the League Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. He then had spells at Southampton, Everton and Blackburn Rovers (where he won the League Cup in 2002) before he called it a day at the age of 39.

His managerial career started with the Welsh national team, when he took over as coach in 1999. In the five years he was in charge, Wales went close to qualifying for Euro 2004 before a defeat to Russia in the playoffs dented their chances. He then quit Wales to manage Blackburn Rovers, where he led his team to a sixth-place finish and UEFA Cup qualification in his second season, after having avoided relegation in the first. After another two seasons, he was appointed manager of Manchester City in 2008.

Huge funds were made available just three months into his managerial reign when the Abu Dhabi United Group took over the club and though he made expensive signings, his team finished 10^th in the league. The following season, City started brightly but a run of just two wins in 11 games saw Hughes get the sack. He joined Fulham next year after Roy Hodgson left for Liverpool, and he led the Cottagers to a respectable 8^th place finish and Europa League qualification through the Fair Play system. But he left right after the season, citing Fulham to be a club below his ambitions. Six months on, he took over relegation-threatened Queens Park Rangers and is currently serving as manager at Loftus Road.

Bryan Robson

Bryan Robson

Fondly remembered as ‘Captain Marvel’ by the Manchester United fans, Robson began his footballing career on a two-year apprenticeship at West Bromwich Albion in 1972. At the Hawthorns, he was a vital cog in the West Brom midfield before he departed for Manchester United in 1981. Within two seasons, he led the Red Devils to a League Cup final (eventually losing to Liverpool) and won the FA Cup, scoring twice in the final. Over his final four seasons at the club, he continued to be the club captain but had a much peripheral role. In his time at Manchester United, he scored 99 goals in over 500 appearances and won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, a league Cup and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, before leaving to manage Middlesbrough in 1994.

Robson was player-manager of Middlesbrough for two seasons, during which he was instrumental in leading the Teesiders to promotion to the Premiership. Boro managed to reach two domestic cup finals in the 1996-97 season but lost both, while they failed to stave off relegation on the final day of the season. They secured automatic promotion back to the Premier League next season, but Robson’s failure to win any silverware saw him leave the club by mutual consent in 2001. Two years later, he managed Division One club Bradford City but his inability to survive the relegation battle meant he was let go.

He returned to his former club West Bromwich Albion as manager in November 2004, but a string of poor results in two seasons (eventually resulting in relegation) led to his dismissal. He then co-managed Sheffield United with Brian Kidd but he failed to achieve any sort of success. His last managerial job was that of the Thailand national team, which he coached for about two years before quitting last year and became a full time club ambassador at Manchester United.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Easily one of the most popular players to don a United shirt, Solskjaer started his career at Norwegian third division club Clausenengen FK. His goalscoring ability attracted a move to Norwegian Premier League club Molde FK, where he continued his good form by scoring 31 times in 42 appearances over two seasons. In 1996, he was signed by Manchester United for a fee of £1.5 million, a fee which went on to be one of the greatest bargains ever in the Premier League. Solskjaer scored his first goal for Manchester United on his debut, coming on as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers. His remarkable tendency to score goals as a substitute gave him the title of ‘super-sub’, while his youthful face and clinical finishing made the British press give him the nickname of ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’. He will be best remembered for scoring the injury-time winner against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final, which enabled Manchester United to win the treble. In his 11 years at the club, Solskjaer scored 126 goals in 366 appearances (phenomenal for a ‘super-sub’) and won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Champions League.

Alongside obtaining his coaching badges, Solskjaer assisted Sir Alex Ferguson by looking after the striking department of the first team during the remainder of the 2007-08 season. He then took over as manager of the Manchester United Reserves and won the Premier Reserve League, Manchester Senior Cup and the Lancashire Senior Cup in the two years of his charge.

In January 2011, he was appointed manager of Norwegian Premier League club Molde FK, where he was formerly a player. Though his team suffered a loss in the first game they played under him, they steadily marched on and were on top of the points table by June. By the end of October, Solskjaer had led Molde to the league title in his first year as manager.

Gordon Strachan

Gordon Strachan

Starting out at Dundee, the Scottish midfielder first came into the limelight when Alex Ferguson signed him for Aberdeen at the age of 20. He was part of the famous Aberdeen team of the eighties and won two Scottish League titles, three Scottish Cups, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the European Super Cup, before moving to Manchester United in 1984. He played a major role in United’s victorious FA Cup campaign during the 1984-85 season, but eventually a loss in form saw him being a squad player for the rest of his time at the club. However, his most memorable moment in a Red shirt came when scored a late equalizer in a 3-3 draw against Liverpool at Anfield. He then moved to Leeds United, where he helped them get promoted from the Second Division and win the First Division title (pipping Manchester United in the title race) in 1992.

Strachan left for Coventry City in 1995 to work as player-coach, before taking up the managerial position a year later. However, he was finally dismissed due to fans unrest after Coventry City was relegated to the Championship in the 2000-01 season. He was then appointed manager of relegation-threatened Southampton within weeks, where he turned around the fortunes of the club by guiding them to an 11^th place finish. He also led them to an FA Cup final (which they lost 1-0 to Arsenal) and eventual UEFA Cup qualification in the next seasons, but resigned in February 2004 stating he needed to spend time with his family.

After a 16-month break, he returned to management when he took over the managerial reins at Scottish giants Celtic. Despite a disastrous defeat in his first game, results eventually improved under Strachan. He became the only third Celtic manager to lead the club to three consecutive Scottish League titles between 2006 and 2008. The Glaswegian club also won a Scottish Cup and two Scottish League Cups, but he quit his position when he failed to guide them to the league title in 2008-09. His last managerial stint was at Middlesbrough, but a poor run of results and failure to get the Teesiders promoted to the Premier League resulted in him leaving the club by mutual consent in October 2010.

Andrei Kanchelskis

Andrei Kanchelskis

The electrifying Ukrainian-born Russian winger started his professional career in 1988, playing for two of the biggest Ukrainian clubs in Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk, before signing for Manchester United towards the end of the 1990-91 season. He quickly cemented his place as a regular in the first team and made the right-wing position pretty much his own. During his final season, he emerged as the club’s leading goal-scorer with 19 goals in all competitions, the highlight being a hat-trick against Manchester City at Old Trafford. However, he fell out with manager Sir Alex Ferguson and was sold off to Everton at the end of the season. He then had stints with as many as 7 clubs, including Fiorentina, Rangers, Manchester City (loan) and Southampton before finally hanging up his playing boots in 2007.

After retirement, he became the sporting director of Russian first division football club FC Nosta Novotroitsk. When they were relegated two years later, he was appointed as manager of FC Torpedo-ZIL Moscow, before moving on to manage FC Ufa during the 2011-12 season.

Other notable Manchester United players who ventured into management are Sir Bobby Charlton, Sammy McIlroy, Steve Coppell, Chris Casper, Mark Robins, Henning Berg and Jesper Olsen. If you think I missed out on anyone, please add to this list through the comments section.

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