‘What would Fergie do?’ That’s the question Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be asking himself after David De Gea’s Wembley nightmare could see Manchester United’s season still end in tears.

Not only will there be no consolation trophy to parade, but such was the reality check in the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea that a Champions League place cannot be taken for granted.

With two games to go, United are favourites to clinch fourth position but confidence in the Spanish keeper is now so low the team performance could be undermined. Opponents West Ham and Leicester could also sense that De Gea is United’s Achilles heel.

Solskjaer has already leapt to the beleaguered keeper’s defence but that is an understandable knee-jerk reaction.

And it would be a surprise if Sir Alex Ferguson does not have a word in the Norwegian’s ear.

For it was Fergie who made his toughest call ever 30 years ago when a renowned international keeper let him down. Older readers will recall that it may even have saved his job.

Jim Leighton was the fall guy when United were taken to a replay by Crystal Palace after a 3-3 draw. The Scotland stopper was blamed for two of the Palace goals.

Three and a half years in the job and nothing to show for it, the knives were already out for Ferguson’s sacking. They’d just finished 13th in the old first division and the cup was the only salvation.

He had already been ‘saved’ by scraping a 1-0 win over Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in the third round through a scruffy goal by Mark Robins.

But when Leighton allowed Palace to fight another day in the final, Fergie’s mind was made up.

“He walked off a broken man”, Fergie claimed, “and it was either him or me.” But, unlike Solskjaer, who has the reliable Sergio Romero to call upon, Fergie had only unsung Les Sealy, on-loan from Luton Town, as an alternative.

But Fergie gave Sealey the gloves and the stand-in did not let his boss down. United won the replay 1-0 with a goal from another quiz-question name from their past, Lee Martin.

And, well, the rest is the greatest chapter in their history.

Solskjaer’s situation is nowhere near as dire as Fergie’s. He was on a 19-game unbeaten run and securing a slot in the Champions League is far more important to the club than adding the FA Cup, sadly.

But if he were to slip up against West Ham at home (early Thursday morning in Malaysia) and in a shootout at rivals Leicester (early Monday morning), the pressure would be back on.

He still has another shot at silverware in the Europa League, but the goalkeeping problem won’t go away.

De Gea has so long been United’s hero, saviour and was the Matt Busby Player of the Year four seasons in a row.

His fighter-pilot reflexes and agility, not to mention courage, probably saved the club from even greater ignominy in the early post-Fergie years.

But he’s not the keeper he was and the question Solskjaer and the coaches must answer is whether he’s experiencing a mere slump or something more serious.

Players do go into irreversible decline, but keepers often enjoy their best years in their thirties and De Gea is only 29.

At that age, the likes of Peter Shilton, Dino Zoff and Peter Schmeichel still had a decade at the top and so should the Spaniard.

Just as the manager can look at Fergie for inspiration, De Gea can learn from Leighton. ‘Broken’ was an inadequate word to describe the Scot after that game – and he was at fault only for two goals whereas De Gea could carry the can for all three of Chelsea’s.

Leighton plumbed the depths, alright, returning to Scotland to play for Dundee where he didn’t make it either.

“It was one thing to be dropped by United, quite another to be dropped by Dundee,” he would say ruefully. It is said that he was once forgotten by the team bus driver.

But a move to Hibernian revived his career and he even regained his Scotland place to play the Brazil of Ronaldo, Carlos and Cafu.

It was some redemption story, but he never made up with Fergie, his old boss at Aberdeen, and their feud remains football’s most bitter.

A poignant postscript is that Sealey offered Leighton his Cup winner’s medal, but Leighton wouldn’t accept it.

The two became great pals and when Sealey died suddenly at the age of 43 in 2001, Leighton was a pall bearer at his funeral.

No one is saying there are parallels with Solskjaer and De Gea, but at least in the old tale, both manager and player went on to have stellar careers after making tough choices.

It will be fascinating to see how this one pans out. What would Fergie do? Indeed.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

Fake or not? Check our quick fake news buster here.