Richard Buxton: Blast from the past in Devils’ future

The gloom around Old Trafford might have been lifted by their three-match winning run under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But, more important than the confidence gained from victories over Cardiff City, Huddersfield Town and Bournemouth is the ray of light that is shining through the dissippating dark clouds - the beacon that is Sir Alex Ferguson.

The former manager's return behind the scenes could help Manchester United win the battle for their lost soul after all.

                      EPL

NEWCASTLE

MAN UNITED

The joylessness which previously engulfed the 20-time English champions during the post-Ferguson period is becoming an increasingly distant memory.

Old Trafford is rediscovering a lust for life that appeared to have vanished beyond repair.

If little else, Solskjaer will be fondly remembered for doing what his predecessors in the Red Devils' hot seat never had the courage to even consider, let alone undertake.

Ahead of the trip to Newcastle tomorrow morning (Singapore time), the Norwegian caretaker did something David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho all blindly refused.

Ferguson's expertise is now being actively sought.

For his part, Solskjaer's former mentor was wary of United ignoring their own warnings from history.

He knew how detrimental Sir Matt Busby's presence in Old Trafford's corridors of power proved when Frank O'Farrell was appointed in his place.

Busby initially refused to vacate the manager's office for his replacement in a brief act which highlighted the imbalance of power.

Although he eventually relented, the man whose name and likeness is now an inescapable presence around the place which he once described as "heaven" continued to loom large.

But Ferguson himself was no stranger to leaning on football's council of elders.

SEEKING ADVICE

He regularly consulted with both Busby and Jock Stein, his friend and managerial cohort with Scotland.

Experience was welcomed rather than shunned.

His successors did not share that belief, however.

A gap in the lineage between Ferguson and Solskjaer underlines what United lost in the former's absence.

Out with the old and in with the neurotic appeared to be the club's new mantra.

Solskjaer has not ripped up any rule book, but merely revived their doctrine.

Reintegrating Ferguson's former assistant Mike Phelan, carelessly discarded by Moyes, began to right the wrongs of those that came before him.

So, too, did the decision to prioritise a once-vaunted youth set-up which had seen far better days since Ferguson led the club to their last EPL title win in 2013.

Three previous United managers had paid mere lip service to the club's lifeblood, even when it helped keep the wolves from the door at various stages of their respective tenures.

The legacy of the "Class of 92" had been allowed to be consigned largely to the scrapheap.

A renewed faith in the likes of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard is a far cry from the public ostracising that the trio faced at various stages under Mourinho and van Gaal.

Pogba, in particular, has been Solskjaer's greatest success.

The World Cup winner played just six times for his current boss in United's second string, scoring just once.

He was always destined for a bigger stage than the one afforded to him by the Old Trafford legend.

The pair, however, are reaping the rewards from that brief spell.

Pogba enjoyed his best-ever December spell with four goals and three assists in three matches under Solskjaer.

That renaissance has coincided with a return to the fabled "United Way" practised by Ferguson and Busby during periods of unprecedented success, even if a clean sheet remains elusive.

Solskjaer may not be the man to lead United into the long term, but he will at least go down as the one who restored everything that they once stood for.