Phil Jones suggests Man United sacked a manager who was even better than Arne Slot

Add as preferred source on Google

Phil Jones says Manchester United once sacked a manager he ranks above Arne Slot.

Arne Slot led Liverpool to the Premier League title in his first season in charge while United continue to stutter under Ruben Amorim, who still retains the support of the club.

Both sides lost at the weekend, but the Red Devils’ setback was certainly less surprising. Indeed, they have still not won back-to-back top-flight games since Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag.

The glory days at Old Trafford may look a world away now, but Jones is confident that a former United boss who didn’t win a single trophy there tops Slot.

Phil Jones says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is better than Arne Slot

Phil Jones joined United from Blackburn in 2011 and was immediately tipped to be a future England captain by the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

While his career never ascended to those heights, the defender spent 12 years in total at the club, winning the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Europa League.

A diligent servant, Jones made 229 appearances for United and played under several managers, including Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag.

But surprisingly, it was Solskjaer who seemed to impress him the most.

Put on the spot by Planet Futebol on TikTok, Jones was asked to stay silent until the name of a better manager than Solskjaer was read out.

It wasn’t until Pep Guardiola was mentioned that he finally spoke, effectively meaning he placed the Norwegian above the likes of Slot, Amorim, Eddie Howe and Thomas Frank.

Phil Jones says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was ‘great’

Jones couldn’t speak highly enough of Solskjaer, who coached him at United between 2018-2021.

He also saluted the work of his assistant coaches, Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna, both of whom went on to enjoy varying degrees of success with Middlesbrough and Ipswich respectively.

“Ole was great,” said Jones. “We had Ole, we had Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna. Michael did brilliant at Middlesbrough, not there now.

“Kieran McKenna has done fantastic at Ipswich, and is still continuing that. Those three were really, really good. We had that season just after lockdown when there was no crowd, we were really good.”