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Preamble
Michael Carrick has been dismissed by Manchester United. He departs after a 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford last Sunday that left the team in the Premier League’s bottom three. United twice fought back from two goals down for a late point against Villa, after a dramatic recovery to defeat Roma in the Champions League five days earlier, but that wasn’t enough.
United are third-bottom in the Premier League, a point behind 17th-placed Coventry, and 17th in the Champions League league phase table. His departure follows a review led by the director of football, Jason Wilcox, and a recommendation to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy.
More as we get it.
Key events
“I have been a supporter for 60 years,” emails Graham. “I hope we get relegated, lose lots of money and get rid of the owners. Only in this way will we ever get back to being a club that supporters are truly connected with and are proud of.”
Jamie Jackson
“Here we see the recurring problem at United: a new gun is hired and is bequeathed a sorry mess that is impossible to clean up because there is no true will to eradicate it. Why? Because the only real reset of culture would be for Ratcliffe, who owns 29.4%, Wilcox, Berrada and the Glazer family, whose ownership since 2005 has left the club about £1.2bn in debt, to accept they are the problem and depart.”
Coming up next: must-read analysis on Carrick’s departure from Jamie Jackson.
“In my 53 years supporting United this is most depressing time. Worse, even, than the pre-Fergie years,” emails Robert.
“The club is completely broken. The owners don’t really care about anything other than money. It’s a matter of public record that they seeing winning as a nice to have, not the core objective of an elite football club.
“Pretty much every club in Premier League is run and managed better than United. And this is why the decline of the club that started with the Glazers taking ownership is now reaching its terminal point.
“I feel deep sympathy for Carrick. His lack of experience was clear when appointed as interim. He did a great job and they rushed to appoint him permanently. And it was predictable that the financial constraints of the club would mean he would fail, and fail quickly.
“Our first-team squad is completely below average quality and Carrick was completely undermined before the season started by an appallingly negligent transfer window. Every supporter knew where our problems would be and every one of us has been proved right. Why couldn’t Wilcox, Berrada et al see the same as us?
“It really doesn’t matter who the manager is. With this squad and these owners the cycle will just continue. Relegation might be what we need.”
“Are we a bit late to the party with Pochettino?” wonders Paul Scholes on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.
“I actually think he’s a brilliant appointment … he could be perfect … but I’ve got that slight concern we are not getting his best years.”
Fans’ group point finger at Glazers over Carrick sacking
Manchester United’s owners, rather than Michael Carrick, are to blame for the club’s problems, a fans’ group has said.
“Michael Carrick’s departure marks another depressing moment for Manchester United,” said a statement from the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST).
“We thank him for his service and for restoring hope during the second half of last season. His standing among supporters remains undiminished.
“The reason Manchester United fans have continued to support Michael Carrick in recent weeks is that they know that responsibility for United’s problems do not primarily rest with him or indeed his predecessors as manager.
“They lie with the ownership. The Glazers’ debt-funded takeover continues to burden the club. When Ineos came in they promised sporting excellence, but yet with repeated changes in football leadership we have seen anything but.
“It is time for the owners to explain themselves and show some accountability.” Press Association
“I disagree with the earlier comment that Carrick is not to blame in some way,” emails Ryan.
“He presided over apparently a poor pre-season program as the players look unfit v other sides in the league, he continues to play Dalot at left-back rather than use someone from the academy, and his tactics overall have been muddled. Of course the board bear a lot of the blame, because the signings weren’t delivered, but he has made the situation worse.”
After Nottingham Forest 3-1 Manchester City, meanwhile, will Pochettino be appointing a second-ball coach?
Personally I don’t think it would be a bad idea:
Jeff Rueter
As Mauricio Pochettino left the podium to close his final press conference of the last international window, he offered an ambiguous farewell.
“See you next …” Pochettino began as he headed to the tunnels of Allianz Field in Saint Paul, before cutting his sentence short. Then, a bit of a sing-song: “See you next, see you next.”
You don’t need an AI clanker’s autocomplete function to try closing the sentence. “See you next month” would have been synonymous with “see you next window”, after all. Still, the farewell felt poignant given questions about whether Pochettino was going to last a full four-year cycle as US men’s national team head coach.
Jamie Jackson exclusively revealed on Monday night that Manchester United were about to press the “Sack Carrick” button:
“Is Pochettino actually a good manager?” ponders Jon on email.
“He did well at Spurs – albeit without winning anything – and in a short spell at Southampton but that was a long time ago. Since then his record has been pretty underwhelming, up to and including an uninspiring time in charge of the US men’s team. He just seems to have a reputation as a good manager but I’m not really sure what it’s based on anymore.”
Jonathan Wilson
“And so here we are again, at that point as the nights draw in and Manchester United prepare to sack a manager. Autumn: season of mists, mellow fruitfulness and a crisis at Old Trafford. Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, coming on the back of last week’s 4-1 reverse against Como, made clear what many had feared from the moment Michael Carrick was given the job on a permanent basis: that he isn’t up to it.
“But then, who could be? When you’ve burned through a long list of managers in 13 years, it’s perhaps worth considering whether the manager is really the problem. Could some blame perhaps go to the director of football, Jason Wilcox, or the chief executive, Omar Berrada, the people making the appointments? Or perhaps to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the cost-cutting tax exile and minority shareholder with responsibility for sporting operations? Or to the Glazer family, who plunged the club into debt with a leveraged buyout in 2005 and have since made calamitous decision after calamitous decision, reducing the most successful club in English league history to a mid-table laughing stock with a roof that leaks symbolically?”
“This feels sadder than every other time it’s happened since Ferguson retired,” emails John. “Each of the previous managers had to go, as in large part the underperformance very much felt like it was their fault. This doesn’t feel like that. It was so astoundingly obvious we needed another striker and left back in the summer, and we’ve suffered hugely (and immediately) because neither were brought in.
“Carrick has been left with a dire situation and whereas with the others (Amorim: change formation; ETH: play Casemiro; Moyes: stop crossing 80 times per game and so on and so on), as a fan I can’t look at our performances and think of an obvious error. But, because the owners and exec aren’t going to sack themselves, and because you can’t fire the players, you change the only thing you can … the manager. And then repeat the cycle all over again.”
While Andy emails: “Carrick isn’t the story. Pochettino isn’t the story. The Glazer family is the story. Manchester City has been ruined by corruption and Manchester United has been ruined by debt and mismanagement. The pressure for the owners to sell up needs to be taken up to a new level. That’s it.”
Gary Neville has called Manchester United “classless” over their actions in the days before Carrick’s sacking.
The manager’s departure was announced on Thursday and Mauricio Pochettino has been lined up to replace him.
Confirmation of Carrick’s sacking came after a period of limbo for the former midfielder, who reported to Carrington on Thursday after taking training on Tuesday and Wednesday.
His fate was sealed the day after a meeting in Monaco, when director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada travelled to see co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Speaking on the Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, recorded prior to Thursday’s confirmation, Neville said the process feels “clumsy”.
“We’re sat here today recording this programme knowing that Michael Carrick is going to be sacked tomorrow, knowing that they’re speaking to Mauricio Pochettino … But I think the fact they’re in Monaco now and they can’t sack him today knowing that it’s happening, to me it just feels a little bit clumsy, it feels a little bit classless.
“I think if you live in Monaco, you can’t leave a guy hanging for 24 or 48 hours just because you live in Monaco, that can’t happen.” Press Association
“Wilcox, Berada and Ratcliffe should have fired themselves,” emails Deb, a “long-suffering Mancunian.”
“They are the common denominator of all this failure. Poch will last 12 months if he’s lucky. What a shower …”
Pochettino’s managerial career path:
2009-2012 Espanyol
2013-2014 Southampton
2014-2019 Tottenham
2021-2022 Paris Saint-Germain
2023-2024 Chelsea
2024-2026 USMNT
Barney Ronay
Welcome, Mauricio, to the meat grinder. Or rather, welcome back. We’ve been expecting you. There is nothing surprising in the news Manchester United may be on the verge of appointing Mauricio Pochettino. United are always on the verge of appointing Pochettino. This is a club that has spent 13 years hiring and firing the same structurally doomed manager – same shellshocked eyes, same irresolvable macro-problems – and the last eight years almost but not quite doing this to Pochettino.
Let’s look to the future!
Manchester United’s next fixture is the small matter of a Premier League match against Liverpool at Anfield, Sunday 22 November: kick-off 4.30pm.
Then on Wednesday 25 November, it’s a date with Sporting in Lisbon in the Champions League.
On Saturday, 28 November, it’s a 3pm kick-off against Brentford in the Premier League.
Away you go, Mauricio.
“After going through the Moyes season,” writes Hugh, “the dross football of Mourinho and Van Gaal, the moments-years of Solskjaer, the Rangnick surgery that never was, the middling Ten Hag, the baffling Amorim, and now a decent man thrust into the meat grinder, this is the first year it’s been genuinely hard to watch Man Utd with any emotion.
“And it’s not because of the football. It’s that the Glazer ownership and Ratcliffe mismanagement has met the Man City revelations, meaning it’s hard to see the point anymore. £1bn taken out of the club while others were illicitly pumping in roughly the same. A club drained of life, hollowed out … I can take crap football, but I can’t take this anymore.”
“I think it was Jonathan Liew who made the eminently sensible suggestion of a positional switch (not so rare in football) for Michael Carrick – by having him replace Jason Wilcox as director of football,” emails Geoff.
“That would have made sense.”
And Andrew chips in on email:
“Just waiting for Mr Mediocrity Wilcox to do the honorable thing and admit he is out of his depth and responsible in part for the situation and resign. The golf course and the pundit circuit call … Michael, you will always be welcomed back into the crowd by all United fans.”
Clearly, there is sadness and regret within the club that Carrick has been dismissed. But the run of one win in 10 Premier League games was seen as unacceptable “by any measure” – and there is a belief that a different manager will get more from the squad. Performances and results in the last three games – the 2-0 defeat by Chelsea, a stirring 3-2 win against Roma and the 4-4 draw with Villa – were not enough to convince the club hierarchy that they were on the right path.
“As a United fan who was around for the early 90s and the many successes that followed, seeing Carrick go is a sad end to a horrible situation,” emails Chris. “He was the only likeable thing about a club and set of players who I find it harder to support as I get older.
“I’ve lived and understood all the schadenfreude that goes with United failing over the last 13 years and I get it, but frankly I’m finding it hard to invest the emotional energy in the team any more. I took my eight-year-old lad to Old Trafford for the Brighton game in the FA Cup in January, and I’ve never experienced a more toxic atmosphere at a football ground.
“The fans – and I mean the locals, the ones who go to games, who can remember the days before Ronaldo – we deserve better … better owners, better attitudes, better standards. Nothing will change with the setup of the club today and we are in this macabre holding pattern of failure, hope, anger and disappointment.
“It’s harder and harder to find the hope that should accompany the appointment of a new manager but what other choice do we have?”
The former Burnley, QPR and Southampton goal machine Charlie Austin is in the pundit’s chair on Sky Sports News right now. He says United have to clear the decks – let Mauricio Pochettino rebuild completely. Which is fair, although it’s not like there will be unlimited funds.
“Allow him to work from the bottom up,” Austin says of the incoming Argentinian gaffer.
“If they don’t do that, we’ll be in the same scenario in 18 months’ time.”
“Carrick is of course essentially another bystander to the ongoing reactor core meltdown. He didn’t appoint Michael Carrick. He has done nothing surprising in his role as head coach, simply been the best Michael Carrick he can be, which is a Michael Carrick unqualified for this level of management.”
Barney Ronay, there, writing a few days ago.
What do you think about all this?
You can email me.
United aim to appoint successor ‘as quickly as possible’
Here is the statement from the club now published on the official website:
“Manchester United can confirm that Michael Carrick has departed his role as men’s first-team head coach.
“Michael rejoined the club in January and guided the team to a third-placed Premier League finish by winning 12 out of the remaining 17 games of the 2025/26 season, accumulating the highest points tally in the league during that period.
“After a disappointing start to the season, the club has come to the extremely difficult conclusion that a change is necessary in order to achieve our ambitions.
“Michael is, and always will be, a Manchester United legend. Just as he did as a player, he has conducted himself with the highest standards of dedication and professionalism throughout his time back with the club. His leadership and achievements last season will always be fondly remembered.
“The club intends to appoint a permanent successor as quickly as possible.”
Jamie Jackson
Manchester United have sacked Michael Carrick as their head coach with the team in the Premier League’s relegation zone and lined up Mauricio Pochettino to take over.
Pochettino has a framework agreement to join a club who have one win from their past 11 matches. The USA head coach, a Premier League manager with Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea, has a release clause of about $10m (£7.5m). United will have to pay more to take his staff.
Preamble
Michael Carrick has been dismissed by Manchester United. He departs after a 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford last Sunday that left the team in the Premier League’s bottom three. United twice fought back from two goals down for a late point against Villa, after a dramatic recovery to defeat Roma in the Champions League five days earlier, but that wasn’t enough.
United are third-bottom in the Premier League, a point behind 17th-placed Coventry, and 17th in the Champions League league phase table. His departure follows a review led by the director of football, Jason Wilcox, and a recommendation to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy.
More as we get it.
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