17 Sep 2026 15:57:07
I have pushed back against too much negativity here. I disagreed about the transfers being poor (and still do) and have pushed back against general labelling of our players being substandard (beyond a select few). I argued it was unfair to sack ETH the summer before he was sacked because he had no support around him, despite acknowledging his purchases were well over market rates.
I felt RA should have been backed better because the conditions in which he took over management were a team that for over a year had the metrics of a team tracking for relegation trouble, and who then moved on several forwards in order to make the adjustments needed. And while results weren't as good as I'd have wanted there was lots of other evidence to suggest that in the long run our underlying performances would lead to a solid top 4 side we could build on.
I didn't like how slow he was to give Mainoo more chances and he made several mistakes, and was clearly very emotional. I argued it was unclear that Wilcox needed to go because even though he messed up with RA and undermined him, that wasn't enough to remove him. I argued that (once given the permanent job) Carrick deserved a proper crack at the job.
I say all that because I do think there is enough evidence now to sack Wilcox and Carrick. Wilcox has made too many mistakes on the big decisions. Carrick has just overseen a regression in our play and we have lost all the improvements in structure built over 12 months. It is too painful to watch. I think I'll step away from it for a while because I simply don't believe or identify with what they're doing. Hope to return soon but it's a negative feedback loop right now and that does no one any good.
17 Sep 2026 16:07:22
Good and fair post Don.
17 Sep 2026 18:25:02
Don I would say, that maybe give me your predictions for anything I back the complete opposite and I be quids in.
17 Sep 2026 19:52:26
Bang on DonRed.
Cast your minds back, we could have got an uninjured Baleba for 85m when Amorim was still here in the month that he said enough is enough.
I don't know the money we paid to release Amorim and his team, but I bet it was more than the 15m we saved on Baleba.
Let that sink in.
17 Sep 2026 19:55:48
Carrick's Start (2026/27): With only 4 points from Manchester United's opening 4 Premier League games, Carrick is taking 1.00 PPG and losing half of his fixtures early in the campaign.
Amorim's Final Run (2025/26): While Amorim was ultimately dismissed following friction with the board and inconsistency, his side maintained a 1.55 PPG clip and only lost 5 of 20 league matches.
Even taking Amorim's final 4-game stretch before his dismissal into account, his performance metrics remained superior to Carrick's present slump.
17 Sep 2026 21:39:16
It's not Carrick who is the issue, it is the leadership.
We have gone through a raft of Managers, some of whom were clearly not qualified for the job, Moyes, Ole, and now Carrick, all of whom never managed 'big' stars, never won 'big' trophies, tand that's always a risk. Chelsea appointed Rosenior with terrible results, and Liverpool are trying Iraola. At some point a promising Manager will deliver, but doing that at the madhouse that is United is probably twice as hard.
ETH and Amorim had potential but hadn't managed in the 'big' leagues. Both tried to implement discipline, with mixed results, ETH fined and dropped Rashford, Amorim froze him out, yet here he is as first choice again. That tells us a lot about what is wrong with this club. Ralph called it but was ignored.
The same applies to Wilcox, not sure what qualified him to be DoF at United, he doesn't seem to have a track record yet here he is, making the major decisions.
Carrick has been appointed based on a very good run last year, but so far, he isn't showing he has the cojonas to make the tough decisions, and clearly his coaching and management experience is limited. I would be ok with that given his knowledge of the club and his achievements as a player if we had a structure that was robust.
That brings us to the players, good players come here and seem to regress, last night's display was odd, 2 up in no time and then pretty much crap for the rest of the game. We sign promising young players who do not develop in the way we would expect, Heaven and Yoro are not getting any better, and there is clearly a reluctance to play youngsters.
Friends who support other clubs are laughing at us, they think we are amateurs and can no longer be considered an elite club, and I find it hard to disagree with them.
17 Sep 2026 22:23:38
How is Carrick not part of the problem..he is picking the teams. This is the same Carrick that got us to third, with now a slightly better team than last year, you could argue that both ways.
We went into this season, an unprecedented one, as one of the clubs with the least disruption (stable squad and manager compared to an unprecedented amount of managerial and players changes in the league).
We had the easiest start of all the top 6 clubs.
The writing was on the wall for Carrick to deliver on the false promises of last year.
Some of us called this last year and we were told Carrick is the one, he deserves a chance, etc etc etc. This is what you get.
Mediocrity across all levels.
We a pathetic and going backwards, fast.
You will defend Carrick AJH because you were so anti Amorim. Not backing him when we at least had the effort levels showing signs is criminally inept from glineos.
Carrick is beyond useless if he can't get a tune out of a very similar squad to what he did last season.
You have to ask why can't he? What has changed?
Let's focus the discussion on that point?
What is so vastly different this season to last season for Carrick to be returning such dismal results?
18 Sep 2026 05:38:33
Did you read my post JBR? I said he lacks cojones and isn't qualified for the job, which is a key part of the problem. Perhaps I should have said Carrick isn't the only issue. But his appointment, and that of other Managers, as well as the club's inability to strengthen key positions is a bigger issue.
It's groundhog day. Appoint a Manager, do well initially, have a dip, get sacked, rinse and repeat, see Jose, Ole, ETH, and now possibly Carrick. All the while not addressing root cause problems.