17 Oct 2026 07:01:17
I keep seeing posts saying it doesn't matter who the manager is or we can't keep sacking managers, should just leave Carrick in place, its not the Manager its above him, we must ignore everything and just giving someone years will work.
It always matters who the manager is. They represent the image of Manchester United, they need to be a leader not a follower. They should be getting a tune out if what they have. We have to get away from the idea we appoint someone and it doesn't matter what track record they have, that the only answer is more and more time.
The club made a brave decision with Amorim then bottled it. The problem is emotion, they let emotion form part of the decision to appoint Carrick permanently, they didn't believe in him because it was only a 2 year contract but now he is hard for them to shift because he is Michael Carrick, the ex player.
We need a real leader, someone who impresses with their strength of belief, vision and direction, who we see can make the team play again. The manager or coach matters, but the club keep getting decisions wrong. 26 years was a generational period not to win the league, now it will be at least 14. The club has to get a grip now, or as before success skips a generation. Where i once had to talk about Charlton, Best Law, in reverence as ex players now we make them manager. What a basket case and laughing stock it has made us.
The manager matters, keeping the wrong one in place on the false premise time will make him the right one is frankly misguided nonsense.
17 Oct 2026 10:30:25
Good post RM.
Reading your other posts in regards to the reintegration of Rashford being detrimental, looks true. I do remember both of us discussing Rashford back in August. I distinctly remember you talking about management 101 as well. The club needs a manager who understands that leadership requires task, team and the individual, failing to support an individual or build the team will eventually ruin task.
Carrick needs to gain more experience at another club, where he is under less pressure to perform. It would have been much easier if he had walked into a fine tuned machine.
I recently watched a video interview with Toto Wolf, where he said you can't blame an individual for poor performance, it is the process that has failed. I think that perfectly sums up Utd.
Come 16.00 tomorrow, it might spell the end of Carricks reign. United are stuck in a cycle of eat, sleep, sack, repeat.
17 Oct 2026 09:30:52
Manchester United under its current executives have done away with a "manager" and appointed a head coach instead. They've tried to move away from a system that's failed ever since SAF and Gill left at the same time, the club's first disastrous mistake.
The facts speak for themselves. We've had Moyes, LVG, Mourinho, Ole, Rangnick, ETH, Amorim and Carrick plus 3 other interims in 13 years. None of them have worked. Why? Because the club is rotten at its core. So, while you are of course right - the manager matters - it can also be true to say given the way our club is run, with its fiscal constraints, and vital cash flows being used for interest and land acquisitions, it's highly likely even the ideal manager will fail to give us what we think we should have, a title wining team.
I think there's a reason we didn't get Pep, Klopp, Ancelotti etc. The owners of this club are seen by the footballing world for what they are, people using the club primarily for money making by means of financial manipulation, rather than to win titles. If there was no relegation and no European riches this crowd wouldn't care if we were permanent bottom feeders if it was in their financial interests.
Best, Law and Charlton? Each of them would be £100m+ players today and we couldn't afford them and they wouldn't want to come to us. So, fire Carrick, pay the compensation (another £100m spent in the last dozen years) and try to find someone who will paper over the cracks. They may get us playing better. They may even get us challenging for a European place, but odds are they will not be able to get us where we think we ought to be. The club's owners are a cancer. Don't expect a sick man to run as hard or as long as his healthy opponents.
17 Oct 2026 10:59:14
One more thing related to the manager v head coach situation. Maybe the club wants to persevere with a head coach and that's a non-starter for many top managers. If we're going to go back to a dominant manager model then the club will then have to think about both Carrick and Wilcox going. What's really difficult to know is to what extent Wilcox's ambitions and wants were themselves constrained by the owners and the club's limited funds. He may be as frustrated as the rest of us.
All we can say is that what looked like the fairly straightforward task of replacing Casemiro, finding a secondary midfielder and then stiffening the defense and a back up CF, has been botched badly, although maybe Baleba will improve things.
17 Oct 2026 12:01:15
Mad Hatter
Thanks. In terms of walking into a finely tuned machine, that’s what Moyes did.
Part of the problem is the structure has changed at the same time as a manager. They take the coaching staff with them. We lurch.
On here about 13 years ago, I think when SAF was about to retire I posted about the Barca model, having a head coach, a way of playing defined. In fact I recall writing a post on here during LVG reign about how LvG actually wrote down Cruyffs whole method for Barca, when before it was just an idea in Cruffs head. I am open to a Head Coach structure, but we have no definition of what United is, what football we play. We lurch around and have players from different coaches.
Often people talk of Ralf Rangnick yet LvG was a missed opportunity not as Manager but perhaps as DoF. Rangnick was another who could have given us an identity, yet the club didn’t like what he said, it didn’t suit an ownership having to spend in a different way.
Now we put Wilcox in that role, said to be firmly behind Carrick. Yet what experience does Wilcox have, what is his experience judging a coach or manager at this level? He is rooted in what he knows. We should have an experienced visionary DoF yet have Wilcox. That visionary should lead to a structure behind the Coach. We can see it is an issue because there is no path from youth to first team. At Barca there is a route.
Maybe they think Carrick might do that, however, even that has failed. He is clearly averse to playing youth, Lacey has been ignored, Heaven and Yoro sidelined, to prioritise experience like Maguire, and Rashford. At least Maguire is committed.
That is why Wilcox has to go, and why we need to have that defined structure, a coach who is replaceable. Yet we are stuck in the past, not buying for a structure but for a 20 year out of date championship sacked coach, lacking vision, lacking inspiration, who is too nervous of playing his youth. Too scared seemingly to deal with playing issues like Rashford.
We have no vision from either Wilcox or Carrick, just silence. Yet we knew Ralf and LvGs vision almost instantly. That’s why both Wilcox and Carrick need replacing and take the bad influence of Rashford with them.
17 Oct 2026 14:51:34
Redman,
Hopefully that will happen. If only they had listened to RR. Sadly, the truth hurts.
I do believe that the club should allow Vivell to do all the recruitment, including selecting a new manager. There is clearly conflict between Vivell and Wilxox.
The manager/head coach has to suit the structure or the structure is amended accordingly.
17 Oct 2026 17:52:26
Red Man; “ In terms of walking into a finely tuned machine, that’s what Moyes did.” Really? My view is that SAF left us shoddy with an ageing squad and a shed load of issues.
17 Oct 2026 19:00:30
Not defending carrick, it is inevitable he goes unless there is a huge change in hiw he carried himself and how he managers the team.
But sack the DOF, bring in a new one and then let them choose how to fix this mess.
17 Oct 2026 21:16:52
Red Man , Moyes should never have been the one to replace Fergie but what he walked into was far from a well oiled machine
17 Oct 2026 22:35:43
Bilko Fizz
In terms of the operation, Moyes walked into a coaching team that had won multiple honours, but Moyes wanted his own Everton team so got rid of the coaching team. That’s what I refer to. The team, the first team was shockingly poor because of the Glazers. Made no secret of that opinion and said so on here at the time.
I thought Moyes was a terrible horrendous choice. Said on here st the time in 2013 I was at OT when SAF made that speech about supporting the new manager. I felt sick to my stomach because I knew it was an utterly disastrous appointment