Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's second coming at Manchester United might kick off where his first running as a Premier League manager was such a regrettable failure

• e-mail

It is an interesting coincidence that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s second coming at Manchester United might kick off at a ground where his first running as a Premier League manager was such a regrettable failure.

Indeed, it went so horribly wrong at Cardiff City between January and September of 2014 that the common assumption was that this most likeable of figures might never again be seen in British management.

But as of Tuesday night, with United deliberating over bringing him back as a caretaker, that is suddenly a live option once more, with the likelihood that he will be taking charge at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday evening. 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s second coming at Manchester United might kick off at Cardiff City

To those of a United persuasion, there will be something deeply heart-warming about the return of their baby-faced assassin; to those who follow Cardiff, the appointment and forthcoming fixture is a reminder of a little boy lost in their dugout.

Granted, there have been few clubs, if any, in the history of the Premier League that have offered a more chaotic work space than the one built by Vincent Tan and which Solskjaer entered as the hyped young manager of Molde.

But there can be no denying that what followed was a footballing disaster, spanning defeats every other game, failed signings, a broken system, a spy-gate row, a relegation and what a few reporters of the time recall simply as the day with the balloon.

To those of United persuasion, there will be something deeply heart-warming about his return

In that instance, it refers to the post-match briefing in a storeroom under the main stand. The Norwegian was discussing another loss when he suddenly started doing keepie-uppies with a red balloon while explaining how useful it was for building good technique. A few of us stood around confused, but then that was just about normal for those covering the club that season.

The sorry truth in terms of Solskjaer was that he was the wrong choice, and an expensive mistake given he was understood to be on a £4m annual deal, rolling for 12 months. His statistics show that at Cardiff he won nine of 30 games, but only three of those were in the Premier League between his arrival and Cardiff’s relegation. 

But it went so horribly wrong for Solskjaer at Cardiff between January and September of 2014

He arrived with Cardiff 17th in the top flight and he left with them 17th in the Championship, despite having the outlay to bring in seven new faces in his first transfer window. Three of those were Norwegians who now play in the US, the German second division and Norway.

A further issue of the time was his style – he inherited a side that was solid yet limited under Mackay and rebuilt it overnight with an attacking brief, which Tan would have liked. The obvious risk played out - a decent defensive side became largely useless at both ends and they finished dead last amid constant tweaks and changes that yielded no impact.

Again, the environment was all wrong – the leaking of team information by an employee to Crystal Palace was a glaring example of that. But it can only be scant mitigation for a lovely man who was liked by almost everyone at Cardiff yet will be considered a disappointment by almost as many.