Man Utd have appointed Michael Carrick as their head coach until the end of the season after a week-long search to find a replacement for Ruben Amorim.
Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick has been named Manchester United's head coach until the end of the season(Image: )
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When Ruben Amorim started to go nuclear at Manchester United, Michael Carrick was watching it unfold from a beach in Barbados with former Old Trafford teammates Jonny Evans and Wayne Rooney. The trio and their families were enjoying some New Year sun in the Caribbean, but for two of them, it is the January cold of Carrington that now awaits. Carrick and Evans surely didn't see this coming even two weeks ago. But then not many people at Old Trafford did.
In fact, maybe it was only Amorim who knew what was about to play out as he detonated his reign as United head coach. Club bosses felt they had little choice but to act and director of football Jason Wilcox led the search for a replacement, with the desire to appoint a steady pair of hands until the end of the season.
Although United were mocked for focusing on three former players who had also all had a stint in charge, in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Carrick, the tactic was a deliberate one. The decision to appoint Ralf Rangnick as interim manager in December 2021 was an example of a short-term appointment going wrong, and Wilcox felt that opting for someone with knowledge and understanding of the club would reduce the risk of a head coach needing time to adapt to the club.
Solskjaer was making his interest in a romantic return to Old Trafford clear within hours of the news that Amorim had been sacked. The 52-year-old has been back in the north west since being sacked by Besiktas in August, and there is a sense of unfinished business for him at United.
His three-year spell in charge defies easy analysis. He delivered Premier League finishes of third and second, albeit in a season behind closed doors, and although the wheels came off at the end, Rangnick, Erik ten Hag and Amorim have all struggled since.
But Solskjaer thrust himself forward for this job. He sensed it was his chance to return to a club he loves dearly and to perhaps rehabilitate his own managerial career. He garnered plenty of support from Norway, and half a dozen journalists made the trip to Carrington last Friday for Darren Fletcher's press conference, or to Old Trafford on Sunday for the fixture against Brighton.
Between those dates, Solskjaer met Berrada and Wilcox for face-to-face talks. But by the time the Brighton game kicked off, it was Carrick who had emerged as the chosen candidate. He is eight years Solskjaer's junior and is in the early throes of his career in the dugout. He can be sold as a progressive appointment, while Solskjaer would have always felt a retrograde step.
Carrick met Wilcox and Berrada for the first time last Thursday and made a good impression in the talks. His knowledge of the players was considered a major strength, while his leadership skills and ability to work in the kind of structure now in place at Old Trafford also went down well.
Van Nistelrooy was sounded out as a potential candidate but was discarded by the end of play on Tuesday. Darren Fletcher was informed before his first game as caretaker against Burnley that he would also take the Brighton game, and in every dealing with the media, he was asked what he had been told.
He said the right things, but was never really in contention to stay on beyond the FA Cup tie, whatever the result, although his work last week impressed club officials. There was always a desire to bring in experience, however.
One of the factors against Solskjaer was his previous role at United. He was very much an old-school manager once he landed the job on a permanent basis. He left most of the coaching to his first-team coaches, Kieran McKenna and Carrick.
Although Solskjaer has been more of a tracksuit-wearing boss on the training ground elsewhere, his strengths at United in his first stint were as a motivator and a planner. Now United have a structure that doesn't require many of those skills, and Carrick's stronger pedigree as a coach put him at the head of the queue.
By Sunday night, Carrick had emerged as the unanimous choice amongst the leaders in United's football department, but with Amorim's sacking stripping the coaching staff bare, talk turned to how to build a backroom team.
Wilcox and Carrick worked together to build the right profile for his coaching staff. Carrick wanted his former Middlesbrough No.2 Jonathan Woodgate to come with him, while they also approached former England assistant Steve Holland.
Although neither Wilcox nor Carrick had worked with Holland, there was a feeling that his wide-ranging experience and his skill set would be beneficial to the task at hand, with 17 games remaining to rescue the season and secure European qualification.
Interestingly, Carrick's official title is head coach, and not interim head coach. Solskjaer was named caretaker manager in December 2018, and Rangnick was appointed interim manager in November 2021.
Now, United have discarded those temporary titles for Carrick. He only has a contract until the end of the 2025/26 season, but if the next 17 games go well, who knows what comes next? A thorough process to recruit a permanent coach is now underway, and Carrick now has the chance to put himself in the frame.