November 10: Manchester United’s ownership is set to recommend the sacking of Michael Carrick, just five months after handing him the job on a permanent basis.
Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox are expected to meet Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco and argue that change is needed after United slipped into the relegation zone with the worst start to a season in their Premier League era. The club had not officially announced Carrick’s departure until Tuesday morning.
United have taken eight points from their first 10 league games, winning once, and are now eight games without a win. In all competitions, Carrick’s side have won three out of 15.
That’s a pretty brutal turnaround for a manager who started the year keeping a club in freefall.
Carrick returned on an interim basis in January following the departure of Ruben Amorim and won 11 of his first 16 games, doing enough to secure UEFA Champions League qualification and a contract until 2028.
This mood of revival and hope has quickly soured.
A 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como and a 3-0 loss to Bournemouth pushed Carrick over the edge last month, after which United’s football management effectively gave him three games to turn the tide of the season.
They lost 2-0 at Chelsea, came from behind to beat Roma 3-2 in Europe and then produced a chaotic 4-4 draw against Aston Villa on Sunday, where they never led the game.
United went 4-2 down in stoppage time before goals from Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu rescued a point, but the comeback was not enough to lift them out of the bottom three.
Carrick insisted afterwards that he hoped to continue.
“We understand the situation, we haven’t won enough games, but I hope to move forward and keep working on the things we’ve been working on.”
He added: “I’m very clear in which direction the club needs to go. We just have to win games.”
The impending decision is further evidence of the football structure that Ratcliffe and INEOS have spent the last two years rebuilding.
Wilcox and Berrada were instrumental in Carrick’s permanent appointment. They are now expected to recommend scrapping it before United travel to Liverpool on November 22 after the international break.
Mauricio Pochettino has become the leading candidate to replace him.
The former Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain manager is currently in charge of the United States and signed a new deal until 2030 in August. Reports suggest a break clause could allow him to leave for around £7million, although no approach has been confirmed.
Eddie Howe, who left Newcastle United in the summer, is also understood to be under consideration.
Antonio Conte has also been introduced, but the general feeling is that the Italian is unlikely to take on what has become a cursed role for both young and experienced managers. That said, he has a track record of instant results, which United badly need, but a similar track record of ownership exploits at both Tottenham Hotspur in 2023 and Napoli more recently in 2026.
In a scathing review of Spurs’ ownership in 2023, Conte said Spurs “can change the manager but the situation cannot change”.
For now, Carrick has his work cut out for him. When the Red Devils next face Liverpool at Anfield on the 22nd, there is likely to be a new man in the dugout.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)
