Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick has spoken exclusively to CaughtOffside to discuss the managerial situation at his old club at the moment.
The ex-Red Devil suspects his former employers will be considering their options after a dire run of form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with plenty of big names being linked with the job.
Chadwick admits he’s unconvinced by former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane as a strong candidate for the role, and says he views Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers as the more suitable option.
It remains to be seen if anything will happen straight away, but Solskjaer will surely need to get a very strong run of form out of his team in the next few games in order to survive much longer.
Considering the fine work Rodgers has done with a limited budget at Leicester, it does seem like he could be ideal to get this squad to step it up a level, without demanding the kind of major overhaul that a big name like Zidane might expect.
“I’m sure the club is considering its options,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside. “The Zidane and Brendan Rodgers rumours have been quite strong … it’s an incredibly tough situation for Ole to get results and win the fans back over again.
“It’s a tough game away to Watford and if he doesn’t get a result there then the whole speculation and rigmarole will begin again. Every game’s a massive game now, obviously this isn’t in the same calibre as a Man City or a Liverpool, but it’s a potential banana skin. If the result doesn’t go United’s way, where does the club go from there?
“Beating Watford won’t be enough in terms of the team moving forward, it needs to be start of a long run of wins over a longer period of time.”
Asked about his preference to be the next United manager, Chadwick added: “It’s a tough question … Zidane was obviously one of the world’s greatest as a player, and has done incredible stuff as a manager at Real Madrid, winning the Champions League time and time again. He’s an icon in world football, but in terms of being a Manchester United manager, it doesn’t seem right in my eyes.
“I think Brendan Rodgers, if he hadn’t been a Liverpool manager, would be the ideal candidate, with what he’s achieved in the past in the Premier League. He’s done incredibly well at Leicester City and just seems to fit the mould of Manchester United more than your Zidanes or your Contes. But the fact that he was the manager of Liverpool makes it harder to cross that border.
“Still, out of the two of them my preference would be Brendan Rodgers.
“Rodgers has shown what he can do without spending a huge amount. He did at Liverpool and obviously at Leicester he’s worked on a tight budget. In my eyes, this is not a squad that needs £250m spending on it.
“There’s a huge amount of talent there, and hopefully Ole can get that working together and get a structure going to win games, but in terms of the finances involved, again Rodgers is that kind of manager who’d work well, rather than someone like Zidane who might ask for a lot of money.”