Photo: Man Utd assistant Mike Phelan prepares for Liverpool visit

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deserves a lot of credit after turning Manchester United’s season around as caretaker manager, but nobody should underestimate the influence of assistant manager Mike Phelan.

The duo both played for the club and previously held coaching positions at United before coming in to replace José Mourinho in December.

But from a coaching perspective, Phelan worked much closer to Sir Alex Ferguson.

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In truth, none of ever really knew how good Ferguson’s assistant managers were because he was so good, but we hear stories from former players about working with the likes of Archie Knox and Carlos Queiroz.

Phelan was let go after David Moyes succeeded Fergie and the decision was immediately criticised.

Now he’s back, valuable elements of the club’s DNA has been restored, and Solskjaer undoubtedly has a role to play in that too.

A lover of Twitter, Phelan shared a tweet this morning to capture his hard work ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Liverpool in the Premier League.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deserves a lot of credit after turning Manchester United’s season around as caretaker manager, but nobody should underestimate the influence of assistant manager Mike Phelan.

The duo both played for the club and previously held coaching positions at United before coming in to replace José Mourinho in December.

But from a coaching perspective, Phelan worked much closer to Sir Alex Ferguson.

In truth, none of ever really knew how good Ferguson’s assistant managers were because he was so good, but we hear stories from former players about working with the likes of Archie Knox and Carlos Queiroz.

Phelan was let go after David Moyes succeeded Fergie and the decision was immediately criticised.

Now he’s back, valuable elements of the club’s DNA has been restored, and Solskjaer undoubtedly has a role to play in that too.

A lover of Twitter, Phelan shared a tweet this morning to capture his hard work ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Liverpool in the Premier League.

We can only assume he’s working on tactics before the game or preparing to give Solskjaer different ideas towards the team selection.

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