Manchester United Under Michael Carrick: Is the Club Unmanageable?
Carrick's apology after the 4-1 Como defeat revives questions about who really runs Manchester United
By AXY Sports Desk ·
Key points
- Michael Carrick is Manchester United's seventh full-time manager since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013.
- United are without a win in seven games in all competitions after a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como.
- Carrick raised his hands in apology to supporters, a scene similar to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's exit after a 4-1 loss at Watford in November 2021.
- Lisandro Martinez took aim at director of football Jason Wilcox after the Atletico Madrid defeat, and Bruno Fernandes questioned the tactics in Como.
- McNulty's column asks whether the club's leadership, not only its managers, is the main problem.
Michael Carrick is now caught in the same cycle that has engulfed nearly every Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013. After a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como, Carrick raised his hands in apology to the supporters who had watched their team be humiliated. It was a scene the club has seen before, and it has ended with a sacking every time. United are now without a win in seven games in all competitions, and the questions being asked go beyond the man in the dugout.
Phil McNulty, writing a column for BBC Sport, argues that the problem runs deeper than any single appointment. He asks whether United have, through years of decay, decline and what he calls appalling decision-making, become the unmanageable club. It is a harsh label. But the record of the past decade gives it some weight, and the club's own history shows how hard it is to get the basics right.
The column is not only a verdict on Carrick. It is a challenge to the people who hire, fund and direct the club. If one manager after another fails, McNulty asks, should the scrutiny not fall more heavily on those who chose them and set the club's direction?
Carrick's Apology After the Como Scoreline
The picture of Carrick at Como was small but telling. He was not hiding from the fans. He was showing them that he understood how badly it had gone, and that he knew how this story usually ends.
The result was painful in its simplicity. A 4-1 defeat in the Champions League, the competition that gathers the best club sides from across Europe, is a bad night at any club. For a club of United's history, with its record of trophies and its global following, it felt worse. The same scoreline, 4-1, is the one that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suffered at Watford in November 2021. That defeat cost him his job, and it is why the scene at Como has resonated so strongly with the club's followers.
Carrick is now the seventh full-time manager appointed since Ferguson left. A full-time manager is the club's permanent head coach, hired to run the team for the long term rather than to fill a gap. Each of the seven has arrived with hope, and each has left under pressure. For fans who grew up watching Ferguson's teams win, the gap between then and now is hard to explain. For the people working inside the club, the gap is a daily reality.
Seven Full-Time Managers Since 2013
The list McNulty sets out runs through David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag, Ruben Amorim and now Carrick. Each one had spells that suggested the club was finding its way again. Van Gaal, Mourinho and Ten Hag all had days when United looked like a force in the game, and each had moments that convinced supporters the club was moving in the right direction.
The outcome, though, has been the same each time. The manager was dismissed, the club looked for the next name, and the search started again. Several interim managers have also filled the gaps between permanent appointments. McNulty names Ryan Giggs, Ralf Rangnick, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Darren Fletcher among them. An interim is a caretaker who holds the job temporarily while the club decides on a longer-term appointment. Each caretaker spell adds another change of voice in the dressing room, and another set of instructions for players to absorb.
Ferguson's record makes the contrast sharper. He stepped down in 2013 after winning 38 trophies in 26 years in charge. No successor has come close to repeating that run of sustained success. The seven full-time managers have been, in different ways, a series of attempts to recapture something that was built on years of continuity.
That churn matters well beyond the club's results sheet. A new manager usually brings a new coaching staff, a new tactical plan and new expectations for players. Footballers who have been asked to adapt to several different systems in a few seasons can find it hard to settle into any of them. Those adjustments take time, and time is the one thing a struggling club rarely has.
How the Solskjaer Exit Became the Template
Solskjaer's story shows how the cycle works. He was appointed after a successful spell in temporary charge, a period as caretaker that impressed enough people to earn him the permanent job. McNulty describes him as effectively the opposite of Mourinho, who had come with a long record of winning at Europe's biggest clubs. Solskjaer arrived without a managerial record that suggested he would succeed at a club of United's size.
His time ended after the 4-1 defeat at Watford in November 2021. The scoreline and the manner of the loss became a symbol of how quickly a project can unravel. Carrick's apology at Como has invited the comparison because the scenes look so alike, and because the result is the same.
Carrick's position has similarities too. He is in charge during a poor run, and the club has been forced to look again at its options. Each failure has been used to justify the next appointment, and each new manager has inherited problems that were already in place when he arrived. That is the uncomfortable pattern McNulty is pointing to: the club keeps asking one person to solve a problem that was built over several years.
The Dressing Room Splits Over Martinez and Fernandes
The problems are not confined to the touchline. McNulty writes that defender Lisandro Martinez took aim at director of football Jason Wilcox after the Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid. Captain Bruno Fernandes questioned the tactics in Como. Those are two very different criticisms, and both are public signs that the squad is not fully behind the plan.
A director of football is the senior figure responsible for the club's football operations, including recruitment and the overall shape of the squad. When a defender criticises that figure in public, and a captain questions the tactics on the night, supporters reasonably wonder whether the dressing room still believes in its leadership.
That matters because a manager needs his players when results are poor. A team that trusts its manager will often find ways to grind out results when the form is bad. A team that is split over tactics, or over the people who built the squad, is fighting on two fronts. The manager has to fix the team on the pitch and protect his authority in the changing room at the same time. Few managers can do both for long.
Ownership and the Search for a Ferguson Successor
McNulty's central question is about who is responsible for the club's direction. If the managers keep changing, the pattern points to decisions made above the touchline. He names former executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, the Glazer family and part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe as the club's leaders during this period, and says each has effectively tried every trick in the book to recreate the Ferguson era.
The Glazer family have controlled the club since their takeover in 2005, and the family's ownership has been a constant source of criticism from supporters over the years. Ratcliffe's role as part-owner means he now shares responsibility for the club's direction alongside the existing owners. McNulty's argument is that the club's leaders have tested very different types of manager without finding a lasting answer.
The variety of choices is itself revealing. Moyes was an appointment led by Ferguson himself, and McNulty says he found the job too big after leaving Everton. Van Gaal and Mourinho came with stellar track records at major European clubs. Solskjaer came from the caretaker role with little top-level experience. Ten Hag and Amorim brought their own ideas and their own disputes. Each approach has been tried, and none has delivered the sustained success the club expects.
That is why the column's question carries weight. If the club cannot keep a manager long enough to build a team around him, then the problem may sit with the structure around the manager, not with the manager himself.
Can Carrick Break the Cycle?
Carrick needs something close to a turnaround to change the storyline. Wins would buy him time and could help settle the dressing room. Every result from here will be read against the seven-game winless run, and a defeat will sharpen the questions about his position.
The next test is the run of domestic and European fixtures ahead, where each result carries extra weight because of the poor form. For the club, a sustained run of results would show that the squad can respond under pressure. For Carrick, it would show that he can make the players believe in his plan.
The club's recent history suggests that a manager cannot fix the structure alone. If Carrick is to succeed where his predecessors struggled, he will need the backing of the people above him and a squad willing to accept his approach. He will also need results quickly, because the pattern McNulty describes does not give managers much time.
For supporters, the stakes are straightforward. They want a team that competes, and they want confidence that the club has a long-term plan that will outlast the next manager. Until that exists, McNulty's question will keep coming back, and each new manager will find the club's history waiting for him.
Questions and answers
Why is Michael Carrick under pressure at Manchester United?
Carrick is in charge during a run of seven games without a win in all competitions, including a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como. Reported dressing-room tensions, including criticism from Lisandro Martinez and questions from Bruno Fernandes about tactics, have added to the pressure.
How many full-time managers has Manchester United had since Sir Alex Ferguson left?
Carrick is the seventh full-time manager since Ferguson stepped down in 2013. The others named in the column are David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim.
Why does Carrick's apology remind people of Solskjaer?
Carrick raised his hands in apology to supporters after the Como defeat, a scene similar to Solskjaer's after a 4-1 loss at Watford in November 2021. That defeat cost Solskjaer his job.
Topics: Manchester United, Michael Carrick, Sir Alex Ferguson, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Champions League, Jason Wilcox, Lisandro Martinez, Bruno Fernandes
Sources: BBC Sport
https://axynewsglobal.com/article/manchester-united-under-michael-carrick-is-the-club-unmanageable