Manchester United have sacked head coach Michael Carrick, with the club officially confirming his dismissal.
After leaving him waiting for his fate over the past three days, the club has finally reached a decision, with senior executives—including Jason Wilcox, Omar Berrada and Sir Jim Ratcliffe—meeting in Monaco on Wednesday to discuss his future.
The way Carrick has been treated this week—and throughout recent months—is nothing short of disrespectful. The 45-year-old understands the industry. This is not the first time he has been dismissed from a managerial position, and he would have witnessed the ruthless nature of football during his playing days at West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
After guiding United to a third-place finish last season following his interim appointment in January, Carrick has seen his side fall dramatically out of form, managing just one win from 15 games this season.
Last weekend, United played out a 4-4 thriller with Aston Villa, coming back from a two-goal deficit on two occasions, with their final two goals arriving in the 92nd and 96th minutes.
There is no doubt that the mood has soured considerably over recent weeks. United have managed just one Premier League victory this season, have already been knocked out of the League Cup after Brighton overturned a two-goal deficit, and, despite a commanding win against Sabah and an electric comeback against Roma in the Champions League, they have been shown up by Atletico Madrid and completely embarrassed by Cesc Fabregas' Como 1907.
During this period, relationships between Carrick and several members of his squad have deteriorated. The bond between the club and its supporters has all but dissolved—if it had not already—and divisions within the dressing room have become increasingly apparent.
Argentina international Lisandro Martinez was the first to speak out, with the centre-back taking aim at Wilcox following United's 2-0 defeat to Atletico. "We don't have the best squad at the moment compared to other top teams," said Martinez. "I'm not going to close my mouth. We need more ambition. If we don't say the truth, nothing will change."
Just eight days later, it was captain Bruno Fernandes' turn to voice his frustration, although this time he had the head coach firmly in his crosshairs.
Following the 4-1 defeat to Como, Fernandes defended his teammates while directing responsibility towards Carrick and his coaching staff. "It's a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave a little space in behind and try to get the ball in the first moment, to wait for them, to give them the ball," he said. "But sometimes when you give too much the ball to these teams they get confident, they have so many bodies behind the ball that make you run a lot, make people get frustrated, and then obviously when you recover the ball the legs are, and the brain, much more difficult to make it work."
When asked whether that tactical approach was what cost United the game, Fernandes responded bluntly: "That's on the manager and on the staff to see it, it's not on me.”
The mood at Old Trafford is at an all-time low. While dismissing Carrick might provide a short-term bounce, it is difficult to see how much will fundamentally change in the immediate future.
How many attempts will INEOS need before they get it right?
For a company that repeatedly claims to be "best in class", its first two and a half years in charge of Manchester United have been nothing short of disastrous. The club's worst-ever Premier League finish, its latest relegation-zone position in 40 years, a recruitment strategy that has left players regularly operating out of position and, now, the prospect of Mauricio Pochettino becoming the fourth manager under the INEOS-led hierarchy, each with a markedly different tactical philosophy.
It is a far cry from Ratcliffe's 2024 interview, when he insisted Manchester United would not continue oscillating between conflicting tactical styles like those of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.
To say that Carrick was not the man to take Manchester United forward is completely fair. But at this point, you could assemble a Frankenstein's monster of the greatest qualities of every manager in football history and still struggle to make this club function.
For 21 years, the club has been gutted by the Glazer family, taking all it wants and giving nothing back. An institution that is a shadow of its former self, stripped to its knees.
Changing the face of the business time and time again will do little to alter the club's fate.
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