Steve Holland has been a not-so-unsung hero of Man Utd’s renaissance under Michael Carrick, and he has now agreed with Bruno Fernandes on the season.
The season has been of two halves for Man Utd, with the suffering in the first half under Ruben Amorim giving way to competence in the second.
That turnaround was masterminded by Michael Carrick’s arrival, with Steve Holland’s contribution in the background noted by many.
It has led Man Utd to the cusp of UCL qualification, and Holland has now given his verdict on the season, which echoes Bruno Fernandes‘ sentiment.
Bruno Fernandes during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford in 2026 in Manchester, England.
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Steve Holland echoes Bruno Fernandes’ Man Utd verdict
Considering where United were last season, and how this season was going before Amorim’s sacking, the current league position is absolutely fantastic.
Especially after the Premier League earned a fifth UCL place, it is more likely than not that the Champions League anthem gets played at Old Trafford next season.
However, just a UCL qualification can’t be the standard at United if they want to get back to winning trophies.
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It is possible to praise the club for the turnaround, while simultaneously asking for more, because this club should be fighting for top honours.
That’s the tone Fernandes has struck this season, and Holland has now echoed that sentiment.
He said [Man Utd’s YouTube channel]: “I think the language we should be using as this club is to finish as close as we possibly can to the top. I don’t know how possible that is, but that has to be the challenge always.
“Clearly, given the context, to finish in UCL places would be a good situation for us, but I think we should always be looking for more than that.”
Standards needed to be restored after Ruben Amorim
The talk of finishing as close as possible to the top is a refreshing one after Ruben Amorim spent his whole tenure promising good days that never arrived.
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He finished 15th after taking over a team that was six points away from fourth, and promised the Man Utd fans to expect good days at the end of the season.
Dropped points against relegation candidates were written off as suffering in the part of a process, and United’s defeats stopped feeling like a big deal.
This is the same club where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer apologised for finishing second in the league, so the way in which Amorim systematically lowered the standards at the club is plain scary.
That should come to an end now, and it’s a much-needed move.
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