It seemed Mackay didn’t even have time to say his goodbyes before Cardiff City accepted new boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer under their wing, but after a successful 2-1 win against Newcastle last week, who can really blame the bluebirds?
After almost a month of devastating losses, it seemed that Mackay was a distant memory when the final whistle blew and so created Solskjaer’s ‘perfect start’.
The former striker, that won six Premier League titles, the Champions League and two FA Cups in a 11-year playing career at Old Trafford, allegedly went to ex-manager and friend Sir Alex Ferguson for advice on whether to accept the position. Solskjaer spent 14 years at Manchester United under Ferguson, and spent his final years learning with Ferguson and eventually coached at the club.
It’s reported that whilst the Norwegian coach was at United, he kept a lot of diaries and notes, and he plans to implement them into Cardiff’s plays.
With Cardiff only a few points away from the relegation zone, it seems bizarre why anyone would accept the position. It seemed the lure of the premier league was too much for Solskjaer to resist, even with his reservations about the difficult relationship Mackay had with controversial owner Vincent Tan.
Having only taken his first training session Thursday 2nd January, it’s questionable if the new manager had enough time to implement new plays. Mackay’s defence tactics were still in force during their face off against Newcastle, but that didn’t stop him guarding the touchline and small evident changes were noticeable, especially the game play by South Korean midfielder Kim Bo-kyung.
Forgetting the previous month in Cardiff’s recent history, they have had great successes; fans are quick to forget they dominated the championship, and that wouldn’t have been possible without Mackay.
Mackay’s problems with club owner Vincent Tan has been very heavily mediated as of late and rumours have spread like wildfire, but the one thing concerning fans is if the difficult relationship will be passed onto Malky’s successor.
It seems the relationship is off to a good start, with Solskjaer gaining funds for the transfer window and Mackay was getting nothing.
With no real managerial experience in the English Premier League, it’s difficult to predict the future of the club, but with a 14 year stretch under one of the best managers in football history, it is obvious the Norwegian has some insight into what he’s doing.
A lot has changed for Cardiff in the last year, their colours were stripped, they were promoted to the premier league and Mackay practically found his feet in the Premier League. No wonder the Cardiff fans are so disproving of Tan.
Cardiff fans are probably one of the most passionate groups of fans within the premiership, and Tan needs to be careful not to take that for advantage. However, it seems Solskjaer has already won over the fans by claiming ‘the main priority is finishing above Swansea’, he defiantly knows how to pick up the Bluebirds spirits, not let’s just see if he can pick us up from relegation.