How Did Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Effect The Betting Returns On United’s Season?

How Did Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Effect The Betting Returns On United’s Season?

Manchester United were famously declared as having over-achieved by Jose Mourinho following him leading them to a 2nd place Premier League finish in the 2017-18 season.

Mourinho wanted a big expenditure on several players in the summer of 2018 including the desire for a top class centre half to be signed but Manchester United did not back their manager who predicted a very tough season ahead for his club after so many of his squad having played in the World Cup as well as the loss of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

As the season moved towards the halfway mark it was tough to see if the dreadful form of the Red-Devils was due to the actions of Mourinho and the isolation of players like Paul Pogba or if it was actually down to the squad depth as the Portuguese coach had said. With 7 wins in the first 17 Premier League games leaving United a massive 19 points behind Man City and after a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool Ed Woodward relieved Jose of his duties.


Shortly after Mourinho’s departure fan favourite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was appointed as the interim boss and the club promptly went on an 8 game winning streak including 6 League wins before United dropped 2 points with a draw against Burnley before another 2 League wins.

Comparing the club’s season from a betting point of view by looking at how a punter would have fared if he bet £10 on each every league game to win, to lose and to draw gives some insight into where the money was to be made on United in the 2018-19 season.

As you can see from the chart supplied by Betway: backing United to win every game would have delivered you season’s losses of £52 with the most profitable win of £25 coming in Solskjaer’s first big test as the United boss when they beat Spurs at Wembley in game 22 of the campaign.

Betting United to draw every game would have brought you a £7 profit over the season with the most profitable draw earning £54 coming from the first time OGS dropped points when the team tied with Burnley in game 24 after the Red-Devils were big favourites for the win having won 8 games in a row.

The biggest change in returns from betting with OGS as opposed to Mourinho as manager came if you backed United to lose every League game with the biggest payout coming on the last game of the season home loss to Cardiff City which paid out a tasty £89 however overall 38 losses would have meant a £20 loss across the entire League fixture list.

Check the video above to compare and contrast how the other Premier League teams performed in the 2018-19 season. What is clear is that Mourinho may well have known what he was on about when he predicted how United would fare across the season. While Ole impressed when he first took over at United with the impressive 11 game unbeaten streak but after his first loss, the former United striker delivered only 6 wins with 3 draws and a surprising 9 losses from the remaining 18 games of the campaign.

The poor run of form to finish the season saw United knocked out of the Champions League by Barca, knocked out of the FA Cup by Wolves and left them finishing outside the top 4 in a lowly 6th position. Clearly Ole needs time to assess and shape the squad at Old Trafford and it will be interesting to see if he allows the likes of Romelu Lukaku to move to Serie A as has been reported and how much financial backing he gets in the transfer market. Surely OGS needs to get rid of some deadwood and an exit for Alexis Sanchez seems likely with more opportunities for youngsters at Old Trafford seemingly highly probable next season.