Michael Carrick has not only steadied the ship since taking over from Ruben Amorim back in January, he has led Manchester United to their best run of form since the 22/23 season. They are now 3rd in the Premier League table, after seven wins, two draws and just one defeat in their last 10 games.
Failure to qualify for next season's Champions League from this position would now be considered a failure, when qualification for any European competition (after last season's struggles) was the expectation for fans and the club alike going into the campaign. So that begs the question, what sort of expectations should be levelled at the next permanent Manchester United manager?
Ever since David Moyes failed to keep the good times rolling at Manchester United after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, the same expectations have been levelled at every incoming manager, make Manchester United great again. And every manager has failed to achieve this goal. Which is why Manchester United are looking for their sixth permanent manager in 12 seasons.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer & Ruben Amorim are the only two permanent appointments since 2014 to fail to win a trophy for the club, so it's not been all doom & gloom but those who have managed to make Manchester United 'somewhat' relevant again, have failed to take them to the next level and then the cycle starts all over again, ultimately every manager leaves the club in the same place they took it over from 'rock bottom'.
However, this time feels different.
While Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos have been far from perfect since taking over football operations at Manchester United, their transfer business has been much more shrewd and calculated compared to the previous regime. There doesn't need to be a complete squad overall, there just needs to be improvements. Yes, Manchester United have continued to spend big but the players they are bringing in, fit the team now and in the future, they has also finally began to recoup significant money for some of the dead weight in their squad. Earning 191.4 million euros in player sells over the past two seasons, that's over 50 million more than the previous four seasons combined.
The next step for Ineos and Sir Jim is appointing the right manager, a decision they have fumbled twice. First, when they chose to keep Erik Ten Hag in 2024 and again when they appointed Ruben Amorim.
This is not to say the incoming manager won't face any challenges or has a squad capable of competing on multiple fronts, but the next Manchester United manager will almost definitely be starting from the sturdiest floor of any of the previous managers who have been tasked with returning the club to their former glories, however, that should not be the initial concern of the next head coach.
The foolproof expectation Man United fans have for their next manager
The expectation for the next Manchester United manager should not be returning the club to their former glories but instead the focus should be on consistency & relevance. Sir Alex Ferguson turned Manchester United into one of the biggest clubs in world football, let alone English football, so they will always be somewhat relevant but in terms of challenging for league titles the team has been almost completely irrelevant since Fergie's departure.
The club have just four top-3 finishes in the Premier League since last winning the title back in 2013, twice finishing second and twice finishing third but in those seasons they have finished a combined 78 points behind the eventual league winners. So, in reality, they really haven't been close despite the number that has preceded their name in the league table over the past decade.
They have also only managed back to back top-4 finishes just once since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, thanks in no small part to the Covid pandemic. Which brings us back to consistency & relevance. Manchester United have been neither consistent nor relevant since 2013, and until that changes they aren't going to return to the top of English football.
Look at Liverpool, when Jurgen Klopp took over they were a mess but he steadied the ship, achieving back to back 4th place finishes before going toe-toe with Manchester City year on year and winning every trophy there is to win. Consistency-Relevance-Success.
Michael Carrick has set a high bar so far as interim manager, and while performances have dropped since his opening few games in charge, the results continue to come in. If he guides Manchester United to the Champions League this season, repeating that feat should be the only expectation for the next permanent manager, whether that be Carrick or somebody else. Rinse & repeat.
It's not quite the glory all Manchester United fans want, but two straight seasons of Champions League football, three straight top-4 finishes, hopefully a few strong cup runs, that's consistency, that's relevance. And if Manchester United make the right appointment this summer, success will follow.