What we know about Michael Carrick’s weird Man Utd situation

There is something rather magnanimous about how Michael Carrick is handling himself despite, according to everyone other than the Manchester United hierarchy, his impending doom looming large. After the club’s latest nadir against Bournemouth two weeks ago, Carrick appeared to be a dead man walking. There are bigger problems at United than the manager, but someone has to be made a scapegoat for their worst start to a season in 40 years. Yet, the day after Bournemouth earned their third 3-0 victory at Old Trafford in four seasons, Carrick turned up to watch a youth match on his day off, as normal, seemingly oblivious to the hellish inferno going on around him. He has conducted himself in the same manner ever since. There are several reasons for this laissez-faire attitude, however. The i Paper has been told that the club’s hierarchy has contacted several managerial alternatives over the past few weeks – including top target Eddie Howe – but have only held exploratory conversations with their representatives. No option has been directly approached. Just after Erik ten Hag had masterminded one of United’s greatest recent achievements – outplaying Manchester City in the 2024 FA Cup final – Sir Jim Ratcliffe was meeting Thomas Tuchel personally in Monaco. Thomas Frank, Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi and Kieran McKenna were all also contacted, directly. All while Ten Hag was still employed and, rather incongruously, quite successful. Manchester United have been linked with too many names to easily recall (Photo: AFP) Carrick has no such predicament. Director of football Jason Wilcox favours Howe, given his Premier League experience. Ratcliffe also approves. Head of recruitment Christopher Vivell wants Julian Nagelsmann, who he worked with at RB Leipzig. The former Germany coach is not understood to be interested in the role as it stands, The i Paper understands. Unai Emery was the dream pick, but that ship appears to have sailed.What is also striking about how Carrick speaks is that he, despite being given ample opportunities in various media activities, always insists he will continue to do what is best for the club. Someone in Carrick’s position, if he had any aspirations to continue in elite management after United, would at least drop thinly veiled criticisms of the club’s hierarchy, calling out their lack of activity in the transfer market, for example. Antonio Conte would have vilified everyone from chairman to the tea lady. Those close to Carrick insist he is very settled in the area and would not look to move if he was sacked, with his son doing well in United’s academy. Given his lack of interest in returning to management between leaving Middlesbrough and taking over at United, there are some who believe he might look to go down the punditry route next, rather than pursue further coaching roles. All of which contributes to a manager ready to accept his fate, one way or another. “Anything’s possible,” Carrick said of this current excuse for United side having any chance of emulating what Sir Alex Ferguson achieved, on the 40th anniversary of his appointment. Read more Kat Lucas – Cristiano Ronaldo retires as the Donald Trump of football Pete Hall – JJ Gabriel’s father risks derailing the career of a generational talent “You’ve got to build, you’ve got to be realistic. You’ve got to put things in perspective as well. The recent history that we’ve had and where we want to get to, it’s not going to happen in the blink of an eye. It’s not going to happen overnight. “Success does take time, and we don’t like having to spend time, but it does take a period of time to build. We showed a really quick response and improved a lot last season. But again, sustaining it is the key. There’s no other way of doing it. There’s no shortcuts to it. In the end, that’s where you get to, but it’s definitely possible.” He is right, to an extent. Nothing can be ruled out in the maddening world of elite football. But you can talk about dreams in such a whimsical way, if you know, deep down, you won’t be the one to see them through.