If Manchester United’s standing and one of its most loyal former players were not being dragged through the mud, the club’s latest display of hesitation might almost be seen as farcical. Instead, it has become another damaging example of the uncertainty surrounding the way this historic football institution is being run.
Michael Carrick spent three hours at United’s training ground on Monday watching the Under-21s, while elsewhere at Carrington Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox were reportedly considering whether his time as manager had come to an end.
As evening arrived, there was no clear word from the club and no visible indication that Carrick had the full support of his employers. Instead, supporters were left with images of highly paid executives leaving the complex in expensive cars, while the questions continued to grow.
Manchester United fans were left to speculate until Carrick returned to Carrington shortly before 8am on Tuesday, dressed in club training gear and apparently preparing to carry on with his duties.
After almost two days of uncertainty, the message was that Carrick would remain in charge. There has been talk of his opportunity to ‘turn the season around’, but United have stopped short of clearly saying that he is the man they trust to do so. The club’s leadership appears no more convinced than the supporters.
Wilcox is understood to favour Eddie Howe, while Christopher Vivell, United’s head of recruitment, is believed to prefer Julian Nagelsmann, with whom he previously worked at RB Leipzig. Nagelsmann, who later oversaw Germany’s disappointing World Cup campaign, is also among the names being discussed.
Michael Carrick does not appear to be the figure capable of guiding Manchester United out of their current crisis. The strain has been visible in his demeanour.
Supporters have shown little enthusiasm for either possible successor. Their applause for Carrick after Sunday’s humiliating 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth seemed driven less by belief in his long-term managerial credentials than by sympathy for a club great caught in an increasingly difficult situation.
That show of support appears to have influenced the club’s latest delay. Once again, Manchester United’s decision-makers seem trapped in the same indecision that allowed Sir Jim Ratcliffe to leave Erik ten Hag in place for too long. For supporters, it feels like a familiar and deeply frustrating cycle.
Carrick may not be the manager to restore United to their former standards. His troubled expression and subdued manner have reflected the team’s collapse, making it increasingly difficult to imagine him leading the club into a new era.
Yet Berrada and Wilcox appear unwilling or unable to confront that reality. A dressing room usually recognises when a manager’s authority has been weakened, when confidence in him has eroded and when public criticism is beginning to shape the mood around the team.
Carrick brings enormous United experience into the training ground, including five Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph. But Bruno Fernandes will also know that his public criticism of Carrick has done serious damage while leaving his own position largely untouched.
Many supporters would have welcomed a formal Manchester United statement confirming that Fernandes had been fined several weeks’ wages for his pointed remarks about Carrick. That would have included the Instagram post about ‘loyalty’ that the captain reportedly ‘liked’ while Carrick’s position was being debated on Monday.
Just as welcome would have been a clear message from Berrada and Wilcox declaring their confidence in Carrick and promising their full backing. Instead, Carrick is expected to take charge from the Stamford Bridge dugout when United face Chelsea at lunchtime on Saturday.
That makes him appear to be little more than a temporary solution while the club explores options such as Howe, Nagelsmann or Antonio Conte. None of those possibilities, at least for now, offers much reassurance to supporters fearing another period of decline.
The more ambitious answer seems to lie beyond the thinking of Ratcliffe and his senior executives. As argued on Monday, Manchester United need a manager with genuine authority, stature and class — qualities Carlo Ancelotti, one of the sport’s most accomplished leaders, would bring.
A public declaration from Jason Wilcox (left) and Omar Berrada confirming their faith in Carrick and promising to support him would have provided clarity. It never came.
There was no indication on Tuesday that Carlo Ancelotti had been contacted by Berrada or Wilcox and asked to leave his Brazil role to take charge at Manchester United.
The response to that Daily Mail Sport report showed just how strongly United supporters want Ancelotti. Many contacted us with the same question: ‘Could it really happen?’
There was no sign on Tuesday that Ancelotti had been approached by Berrada or Wilcox and invited to walk away from a Brazil appointment that appears to be going nowhere, in order to attempt what so many others have failed to achieve at one of Europe’s biggest clubs. Ancelotti is a proud and respected figure, and a carefully presented appeal might have persuaded him. We may never find out.
Carrick will probably survive the games against Chelsea, Roma and Aston Villa which precede the next international break but few will be betting on him still being there at the other side of that interval, when the trip to Liverpool arrives.
It feels like another season is being sacrificed – games just given away and, needless to say, the dithering authors of all this, Berrada and Wilcox, will sail on through it all, untouchable and immune to the latest catastrophe.
