Ranking the Manchester United managers after Sir Alex Ferguson

#2 Jose Mourinho

Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League

Well, Jose Mourinho was the most successful Manchester United manager after Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of trophies. But he left the club in a worse state than he found it. Manchester United brought Jose Mourinho in to replace Louis van Gaal aiming for immediate success.

That's what Mourinho is famous for. The Old Trafford faithful were also pleased to welcome the Portuguese manager. He led the club to the League Cup and Europa League titles in his first season as manager. Mourinho also signed players like Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly.

They were all effective in varying degrees across multiple competitions. Mourinho' United started the 2017-18 season on a promising note. However, things started falling apart following Manchester United's Round of 16 exit in the Champions League against Sevilla.

Mourinho's press conferences started being confrontational on a regular basis. Even though Manchester United ended up finishing second in the 2017-18 Premier League season, the team were not at the same level as league winners Manchester City.

The 2018-19 season started off poorly. Mourinho constantly complained about the lack of pre-season and was pretty direct in wanting his players to take responsibility for their shortcomings. This eventually led to the 'Special One' losing his dressing room.

He was eventually given the sack halfway through the 2018-19 season. At that point, Manchester United had won just seven of their 17 Premier League games. They were 19 points behind the league leaders. The team had an incredibly high amount of deadwood.

Suffice to say, Jose Mourinho arguably left Manchester United in a worse state than he found it. The team had lost its identity and there was a cultural dilemma at play at Old Trafford. But for two cup wins in the 2016-17 season and for bringing United back to life after LVG, Mourinho gets to sit second in the rankings.

#1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Watford v Manchester United - Premier League

It was all going well for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer up until the summer. Such was the mess he inherited when he replaced Jose Mourinho that it was clear as daylight that the man would need years to turn it around. The Red Devils' squad was chock full of senior players walking into their 30s.

There was no focus on youth. The defence was jaded, as was the midfield. There was no recruitment structure in place. Manchester United were spending fortunes on players and then later selling them for peanuts. In came Solskjaer, whose loyalty and commitment to the club was a breath of fresh air.

He immediately got Manchester United to play attacking football and led the team to eight consecutive wins across all competitions. He became the first Manchester United manager to win the Premier League manager of the month award since Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012. Solskjaer won it in his second month as caretaker manager in the 2018-19 season.

Solskjaer also guided Manchester United to a glorious 3-2 win (on agg.) over Paris Saint-Germain. They had to overturn a 2-0 deficit at the Parc des Princes and Solskjaer's young brigade did the unthinkable to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

There was a lot of belief in the squad and the board decided to give Solskjaer a three-year contract. Solskjaer then recruited responsibly but the best thing he did was to greenlight the sales of all the players he deemed surplus to requirements.

His Manchester United side finished third and second in his two full seasons as manager of the club. Solskjaer also led Manchester United to the semi-finals of the Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup in his first full season. But they failed to win any of them.

The Norwegian did a good job in the 2020-21 season as well after getting off to a poor start. His side bounced back and led the Premier League table halfway through the season. But they eventually ran out of steam. One of Solskjaer's biggest regrets would be losing the 2020-21 Europa League final to Villarreal in a shootout.

That would have helped silence a lot of detractors. Solskjaer's side played fluid attacking football at times and they showed great character as well. He led his side to a record 28 game unbeaten streak in the league away from home.

Under Solskjaer, Manchester United scored five or more goals in 10 times in 168 matches. They did it twice in 302 matches under David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho combined. Perhaps Cristiano Ronaldo's signing was ill-advised.

Despite all of Ronaldo's rescue acts, he did bite into the identity the team had under Solskjaer. The Norwegian looked like he ran out of ideas towards the end of his stint. There was also no circumventing an extremely ordinary midfield and humiliating losses to Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester City and Watford sealed his fate.

But Solskjaer leaves a wonderful squad for the next manager. He has got the club to make significant appointments on the football side of things. Solskjaer's commitment to the club is something that Manchester United fans will miss.

He was also dignified in his press conferences and never threw a single player under the bus during his tenure. He reinstated the Sports Science department, which was dismantled by Mourinho. Solskjaer cleansed the club and has given them a platform to build a good future on.

He also helped bring about a renewed focus on the academy and youth development. Solskjaer had handed as many as 14 academy graduates their senior debut by the end of the 2020-21 season.

It's unfortunate that Solskjaer couldn't take this Manchester United side farther. But these last couple of months cannot stain what he has done at the club. For all these reasons, Solskjaer is at #1 among the Manchester United managers in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.