By now, we all know that Michael Carrick has been re-appointed as United's interim until the end of the season. It was between him and former interim-turned-permanent manager (and the man Carrick was assistant to) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who looked to be leading the race for a while before this change of heart.
Before we get into the news of how this came about, this is what Carrick had to say upon returingin to the dugout:
“Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honour.
“I know what it takes to succeed here; my focus is now on helping the players to reach the standards that we expect at this incredible club, which we know that this group is more than capable of producing.
“I have worked with a number of the players already and have obviously continued to watch the team closely in recent years, I have total belief in their talents, dedication and ability to be successful here.
“There is still a lot to fight for this season, we are ready to pull everyone together and give the fans the performances that their loyal support deserves.”
The news broke earlier today when David Ornstein told us this morning that United reach agreement in principal with Carrick. Ornstein adds that it was Director of Football Jason Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada who led the process of bringing the former midfielder back to Old Trafford.
While it is good news to know that a caretaker has finally been appointed, the bad news is that this has resulted in no new talks about potential signings in January.
"As expected, there have been no talks on player recruitment this week. United had been in discussions with both Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about the possibility of them taking over as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season" [The Athletic].
The article continues to say that United haven't changed their plans when it comes to January business and that the club "will only move for targets should long-term ones become available or if they need to act to stop a rival taking the lead in the chase for one of the players they are monitoring."
ESPN are saying that Carrick will take charge of training tomorrow once players return from their scheduled day off ahead of the Manchester Derby on Saturday afternoon.
United favoured Carrick because they felt he was a more "hands-on" coach. His previous spell at the club as assistant to Solskjaer saw him and Kieran McKenna do a lot of the on-field coaching. Senior players at the club were impressed by Carrick's personality and coaching qualities [Rob Dawson].
He will also be bringing in Steve Holland, Jonathan Woodgate, Jonny Evans and Travis Binnion as part of his coaching staff.
Final Thoughts
Before we get into the details of this appointment, my immediate reaction is that I'm happy that it's Carrick, not Solskjaer. I have nothing against Ole it's just that we've already done that and it really didn't work out.
I was hopeful that perhaps Darren Fletcher could stay on until the end of the season but in his two matches, it's become clear that he isn't ready to take up a first-team coaching role (yet). Apparently, he did want to return to coaching the U-18s despite being offered a role on Carrick's coaching staff.
Carrick was the only one that stood out to me as the best option. Well, best of a bad bunch. I say that because they aren't elite coaches - whom we were linked to - but mainly because of how the club is run that gives me little optimism about whoever took over from Ruben Amorim.
I hope that Carrick does a good job regardless of the situation of the club and whether he is properly backed or not. I hope that in spite of players sometimes downing tools and fans getting upset, he can perform adequately to a point where his reputation as a coach isn't damaged but rather, enhanced during this interim stint.
One final thing on why I preferred him is that he was a midfielder, and a pretty good (and underrated) one at that. Midfielders are always involved in the game and see all that is happening. As a conductor and someone who sat in front of the defense, he will understand better what is needed in that team in order to improve in an area where you could argue we haven't actually improved upon since Carrick himself retired in 18/19.
That understanding would be better than a player who was a backup striker (Solskjaer) and someone who wasn't as good a midfielder as Carrick (Fletcher). I feel players in these positions tend to make better coaches than those that play anywhere else on the pitch.
Now, let's get into why I'm not entirely excited for this new (or old?) venture.
The way the club is run.
Honestly, I feel like in that sentence, it sums everything up.
United are arguably one of the worst run clubs in the Premier League and that was before INEOS.
Since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co took over, things have gotten worse 😵.
In just under two years, INEOS have:
- Spent months and millions getting Dan Ashworth out of Newcastle only to sack him a few months later
- Backed a manager with £300m then sacked him a couple months into the season (Erik ten Hag)
- Hired a manager (Amorim) who plays a formation we've never seen at United which requires specific players for that system meaning that a lot of money would need to be spent on the squad
- Didn't back him in January and ended up finishing 15th (lowest-ever position in PL), went trophy-less en route to no European football
- Didn't fully back their manager again in the summer window leaving him without players in key positions (wing-back, midfield)
- Then sacked him in January not for results but for calling out the club's incompetence and failure to give him what he asked for whilst having to pay him a hefty sum (~£20m)
- Sacked multiple staff, increased ticket prices, cancelled charity events and more
- Don't want to sign players in January running the risk of no CL football (the goal for the season) and perhaps no European football again
- Out of both domestic cups in the first rounds resulting in the fewest games (40) played in a season in 111 years
And it seems like DOF Wilcox has a lot to say in regards to the coaching. He and Ratcliffe wanted Amorim to change his formation to a four-at-the-back even though they hired him to do what he did at Sporting at United.
They might as well have just signed a 4-3-3 manager or kept ten Hag.
We've even seen Wilcox and Ratcliffe go at it in the stands during United's win against Wolves in which the pair looked to be in a heated argument whilst CEO Berrada was sandwiched in-between looking like some child watching his parent fight.
Knowing that a lot of this happened during the reign of the manager that INEOS hired won't fill many with much confidence that things could get better because if this could happen under Amorim, what else could they do?
I suppose they'll obviously have to involve the CEO and DOF when it came to this decision to hire Carrick but considering how poorly they've run football operations and all that happened with Amorim, I'm not confident that they went with Carrick for the right reasons.
As per these reports, it seems that the players (at least senior ones) were consulted in the decision to bring Carrick in. That already tells me that they've done something wrong.
Why would they trust these players with anything? We don't even know whether they will show up for games like Brighton last time out. How can they be consulted on such a major call like this?
If it is the senior players as well, who would that be? I'm guessing the likes of captain Bruno Fernandes, former skipper Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot, Casemiro maybe, Matthijs De Ligt?
This is just speculation on my part about which players they could be talking about however, those first four mentioned have been at the club longer than most which causes me to put two and two together.
They have been involved with several sackings over the years as Shaw has seen every manager post-Sir Alex Ferguson other than David Moyes while Dalot has been here since the Jose Mourinho days meaning he's missed out on just two managers since Sir Alex: Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
This is a player who missed an open goal resulting in ten Hag's sacking. This is a player who missed guilt-edge chances in our defeat to Brighton that could've otherwise helped us out in terms of that game and this season overall.
I don't get why the players always have a strong say in these decisions. In a way, it kind of tells me the board aren't as confident in themselves about making key decisions or that they may not know what they're doing, both of which are alarming.
The scary thing is evidence would suggest that both or one of those things, might be true 😳.
I think the club just wanted a 'yes man', someone they can control. Head Coaches are becoming the norm these days as they are more focused on just the coaching, training, tactics and gym work rather than anything like transfers, potential scouting and maybe even a bit of the finances.
Directors of Football or Sporting Directors are given the opportunity to focus on those aspects of a football club so as to try and allow the Head Coach to worry solely about the football.
Not sure how successful having this Sporting Director -> Head Coach thing has been across the wider game, but anyway.
Carrick is this type of person, this 'yes man.' I think he was happy to take on whatever role it was be it Head Coach or manager just as long as he was in the dugout at Old Trafford.
I don't blame Carrick for taking the job because it still is Man Utd however, a part of me wanted him and any other candidate to decline the offers from the club. This would've indicated to an extent, that the job is much too dificult and stressful to take on which would leave United embarrassed that no one was willing to manage their club.
It would've sent quite the message.
However, that's not the situation we find ourselves in and I'm hoping that it doesn't backfire on Carrick.
I also believe that the players wanted him or even Ole in charge because they too, wanted a yes man. We know that in today's football, players are quite powerful none more so than at our club. 'Player power' was a term given to United from pretty much a decade ago and while a lot of those players have moved on, the negative culture left behind by them remains.
This is another indication of how poorly the club is run as they've allowed for this to happen. Look why Xabi Alonso left Real Madrid after half a season in charge.
Does Carrick come across as an authoritarian type of coach? Does he come across as someone who will rip into the players when needed? Probably not because he was never that type of personality on the pitch which is another factor to consider as to why these players wanted him.
All of this ties nicely with my post about why we fail as a fan base because we focus on the wrong thing.
Holy moly that post went on longer than I thought 😳😅. I guess there was a lot that I didn't know I needed to get off my chest. Also, there is just so much to say about our club, unfortunately, almost all of it in a negative sense. When you get in the zone, one point leads to another and we find ourselves in this position.
But all is covered here as all is covered in every post.
What do you think about Carrick becoming our interim for the remainder of the season? Would you have preferred someone else? And will he be a success considering our club being well, our club IYKWIM?
Michael Carrick has been appointed as interim manager of Man Utd until the end of the season | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal