When Manchester United sacked Ruben Amorim last week and began the search for a short-term replacement, the Old Trafford hierarchy were in agreement that they needed someone who knew the club.
It wasn’t just a case of tapping into United’s DNA. They wanted a coach who was familiar with the environment and had a good understanding of the biggest job in English football to make the transition as smooth and seamless as possible with little time for the new man to settle in. He had to hit the ground running.
United hadn’t anticipated changing head coach in mid-season and appointing a caretaker, but the team’s performance under Amorim had not been good enough and the 40-year-old’s angry reaction to constructive criticism from director of football Jason Wilcox in a meeting at Carrington two weeks ago forced their hand to act immediately. ‘Results and behaviours’, one source pin-pointed on Wednesday.
Darren Fletcher was already in the building and therefore the obvious choice to step in as caretaker for two games while the club decided on an interim boss for the rest of the season.
Michael Carrick, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ruud van Nistelrooy were quickly identified as the top candidates. All three had played for United under Sir Alex Ferguson in the glory years, and been caretaker boss at Old Trafford at some point in their coaching careers.
In Solskjaer’s case, that had led to a permanent appointment lasting nearly three years before he was sacked and Carrick installed as a short-term replacement for three games. Van Nistelrooy stepped in for four matches when Erik ten Hag was fired in October 2024.
Michael Carrick won the race to become Man United’s head coach for the rest of the season
The new head coach was in a three-horse race with fellow former Manchester United players Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (left, with Carrick) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (not pictured)
Wilcox already knew Van Nistelrooy from that period, so there was no need to meet the Dutchman in person. After preliminary discussions with Solskjaer and Carrick, United resolved that no decision should be made until Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada had met them face to face.
The two senior executives invited Ferguson for coffee at Carrington last Tuesday, just 24 hours after sacking Amorim, and sought his advice. Ferguson is said to have endorsed Carrick.
Already there was a momentum building behind the former United midfielder who is said to have gone quiet on a family holiday in Barbados with Wayne Rooney and Jonny Evans, who flew home after he was asked to return to the club as first-team coach and work with Fletcher.
Evans will continue in that role under Carrick, along with his new assistant Steve Holland and Jonathan Woodgate.
There was no noise coming out of the Carrick camp at all. On the other hand, United were perturbed by some murmurings from Team Solskjaer which found their way into the public domain.
Speculation that the Norwegian had become the favourite was not encouraged from inside Old Trafford, and a negative media reaction will not have helped his cause either.
Sources said on Wednesday that Carrick was impressive throughout the entire process, not least when he met Wilcox and Berrada at Carrington on Thursday.
The 44-year-old is believed to have scored particularly highly in terms of his ability to lead a team and work collaboratively in a way that Amorim ultimately couldn’t when he railed against his role of head coach and demanded to be treated as a manager. Carrick is also said to have impressed with his strong knowledge of the players.
Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to have endorsed Carrick when asked by the club’s hierarchy
Old Trafford chiefs became perturbed by murmurings from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s camp
By the time it was Solskjaer’s turn to audition for the job on Saturday, the balance was already swinging decisively in Carrick’s favour.
Van Nistelrooy had started to drift out of contention, and Fletcher only ever had an outside chance due to his lack of experience. If a 1-1 draw at Burnley didn’t exactly set the world on fire, the FA Cup defeat to Brighton at Old Trafford on Sunday probably ended any realistic hopes he had of staying on.
Afterwards Fletcher spoke with the simmering anger of a man who felt let down by this group of players, and he is by no means the first United boss to feel that way.
‘Don’t waste the season,’ warned Fletcher. ‘You know in difficult times true character is going to show, so they have to dig and make sure they want to be part of Manchester United’s future – if you’re not, then I don’t think you should be here or will be here.’
That just left Carrick and Solskjaer and when the former Middlesbrough manager and his representatives were invited for more talks on Tuesday, it was clear that the job was his to lose.
The discussions included putting together a backroom team. Carrick is close to Evans and wanted Woodgate, his former assistant at Boro, with whom he shares a close bond.
Neither Carrick or Woodgate had worked with Holland before, but it was felt that the former Chelsea and England assistant had a skillset and the experience that would be beneficial in the new set-up.
It’s understood that Fletcher was on board with the decision to switch him back to the Under-18s where he can continue his development. Insiders said the United top brass have been ‘extremely impressed’ with how the 41-year-old Scot had held the fort over the last week.
Darren Fletcher, who served as caretaker boss for two matches, left a positive impression
Interestingly, when a statement confirming Carrick’s appointment dropped at 7.15pm on Wednesday night, there was no mention of caretaker or interim. It described him as ‘head coach of the men’s first team until the end of the 2025-26 season’.
It gives United time to carry out the search for a permanent successor to Amorim and there will be no shortage of candidates.
Could Carrick turn out to be that man if he seizes his opportunity, as Solskjaer famously did seven years ago? It’s a question he will be asked when he faces the media for the first time at Carrington on Friday. At the very least, he will want to make it hard for his new bosses to let him go in May.
In the meantime, he could hardly be presented with a tougher start: Manchester City at home and Arsenal away.
‘The big games are what we all live for,’ he said in his first interview with MUTV after returning to the club on Wednesday. ‘Some are more challenging than others – we’ll go for it head on.’
Once again, he was saying just what United wanted to hear.
