Christine Drews Sieger
Manchester United have dismissed head coach Michael Carrick with the club sitting in the Premier League relegation zone.
Manchester United dismissed head coach Michael Carrick on Thursday after just 11 months in the dugout, leaving the club in the Premier League relegation zone, The Guardian reports.
The decision came four days after a chaotic 4-4 home draw against Aston Villa dropped United into the bottom three.
Not even a midweek Champions League comeback victory over Roma—or two separate rallies from two goals down to salvage a point against Villa—could offset a dismal run of just one win in 11 matches.
The dismissal followed an internal review conducted by director of football Jason Wilcox, whose recommendation was signed off by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner overseeing sporting operations.
Shortly after the announcement, defender Harry Maguire posted a brief tribute to his former teammate on Instagram: “Will always be a legend. Respect. Thank you.”
Backlash over boardroom timing
While results on the pitch faltered, the club’s hierarchy drew sharp criticism for how the exit was handled.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, former United captain Gary Neville questioned the leadership for pursuing a replacement while Carrick was still running training sessions, The Guardian reports.
“In the last 24-48 hours it’s been spectacularly bad to be in Monaco as an executive and an owner whilst your manager, who’s a club legend, is taking training on the pitch and simultaneously approaching the US Soccer Federation to approach Mauricio Pochettino,” Neville said, describing the conduct as “quite simply disgusting.”
Supporters also directed their frustration at the club’s ownership rather than the outgoing manager. In a statement, the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust blamed both the Glazer family and INEOS for ongoing instability, arguing that “another change of head coach cannot repair what the ownership continues to undermine.”
Pochettino set to step in
United aim to appoint a successor quickly, with US men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino emerging as the frontrunner.
The Guardian reports that the framework of an agreement is already in place with the Argentine manager.
However, Pochettino will not arrive in Manchester immediately.
He will remain with the US squad for their upcoming Concacaf Nations League quarter-final double-header against Haiti—playing in Miami on Saturday and Cincinnati on Tuesday—before taking on the task of lifting United out of the bottom three.
