Simon Jordan may live to regret telling Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to ‘get his coat’ live on talkSPORT, after Manchester United took the lead in the title race by going top of the Premier League.
But the talkSPORT pundit refused to back down over his verdict of the Red Devils boss, despite claims his comments could go down in history alongside that infamous line from Alan Hansen.
Back in December, following United’s Champions League exit at the group stage, hard-hitting Jordan tore into Solskjaer and said the Red Devils will NEVER win anything with the Norwegian in charge.
He claimed the coach doesn’t have the talent or the experience as a coach to lead the biggest club in world football and, asked what the under-pressure boss should do, Jordan replied: ‘Get his coat!’
Fast-forward a month, and while United’s Champions League dreams are over, their hopes of winning league title number 21 are now well and truly alive after beating Burnley to knock Liverpool off their perch – ending a run of 1221 days since the Red Devils last sat top of the table.
Liverpool legend Hansen wrote himself into football folklore back in 1995, with his now infamous claim that ‘you can’t win anything with kids’… only for Sir Alex Ferguson’s young Man United side to lift the title that season.
He’s never lived it down, and a talkSPORT listener texted into Wednesday’s White and Jordan show to point out that Simon could be heading the same way…
His text to host Jim White read: “Jim, Simon’s ‘Ole get your coat’ comment could turn out to be as infamous as Alan Hansen’s ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ comment.”
Jim said he was spot on but, naturally, Simon disagreed.
The pundit is not happy that he appears to now be the ‘poster boy of the agenda against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’, but insisted he hasn’t changed his mind and reiterated his belief that United will NEVER win the Premier League with the Norwegian in charge.
And he began his latest Solskjaer rant with a classic Simon Jordan statement: “Look, I might get it wrong sometimes, but some people will be stupid forever.
“You have to consider the context of the question that was asked of me… and my answer was about what Solskjaer should do in my view as a manager, not what Ed Woodward should do.
“I’ve heard a litany of people, including Andy Cole on talkSPORT this morning, talking about the unlikelihood of Man United winning the league this season – that’s all I said.
“My constant argument is that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has to catch up with Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, and that if you brought in Solskjaer to win the league, he’s not going to achieve that for you.
“But because I’ve used a slightly flamboyant and brusque expression, saying ‘get your coat’, it’s generated this soundbite!
“The suggestion that I’ll need to get my coat in April… well, firstly the weather will have changed by then so I won’t need a coat, and secondly, Man United will NOT win the league.
“You have to give credit where credit is due; Solskjaer has done a great job in comparison to some of the things that have been thrown at him, in terms of his cup semi-finals defeats etc.
“He’s carried on producing results and kept to his own standards, and you have to admire him like that.
“But I’m not backing down.
“It was inevitable that they would go top of the league – Burnley aren’t the greatest side – but I still don’t think they’ll win the league and I maintain that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not the ultimate fix. He’s not good enough!
“Trevor Sinclair doesn’t think they’ll win the league, Andy Cole doesn’t think they’re going to win the league, most people inside football don’t think they’re going to win the league, but I’m the poster boy for the ‘agenda against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’? Leave off!”
Flamboyant, Mr Jordan? You? Never!