As Michael Carrick becomes the latest head coach at Old Trafford, the Manchester Evening News spoke with three prominent Manchester United fans for their take on the state of play, who is to blame, and where the club goes next
Three prominent Manchester United fans have given their view on the club as Michael Carrick takes over for the rest of the 2025/26 season(Image: )
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A week is a long time in football, especially if you're a Manchester United fan. Nine days ago, Ruben Amorim was sacked after an explosive post-match press conference at Leeds United.
Darren Fletcher has since overseen United's last two games against Burnley and Brighton, with Michael Carrick now taking the reins for the rest of the season as head coach.
In what's been a frantic period, the Manchester Evening News spoke with three well-known United fans Alice Talks Footy, Jay Motty from the Stretford Paddock and Alek Turk from TurkTalksFC for their take on the current state of play at United, who is to blame and where the club go from here.
Who is to blame for United's demise?
United endured their worst Premier League season in the club's history in 2024/25, finishing in 15th place and despite reaching the Europa League Final, ended the campaign with nothing to shout about and fingers are being pointed at those making the decisions at board room level.
"Well, you always look at the Glazers," Motty said. "You have to. Because the rot starts with them. Everything that's going wrong at Manchester United goes back to 2005 when they took over. They've mismanaged the club. They got away with it for eight years because the greatest manager of all time was in charge. And they had a good squad.
"We had a very good squad when they took over. So, it was almost Glazer-proof. I still think we would have won more if it wasn't for them, but we won a lot under Fergie.
"Post-Sir Alex Ferguson, when you haven't got that sort of safety net of having him there, when you've got them sort of being given almost a free reign to make these decisions and put people in charge who don't know what they're doing, like Ed Woodward, like John Murtough, like Richard Arnold, who were given important jobs at the club and were just well out of the depth, then you're going to struggle.
"Especially when you're taking out so much money at the club that could be used to reinvest in it. And, you know, we've seen it now. I think there's been a bit of investment by Ineos into the training ground. That should have happened 15 years ago.
"More recently, I think Ineos obviously with the Ruben Amorim appointment, have got to look at themselves there."
Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer
Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
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Turk said: "The blame has to be spread. At the end of the day, Ruben Amorim was the coach, he was making the decisions. He was the one who decided that he wasn't going to be versatile. But he's quite clearly a decent coach from what he did in Portugal. I know the sample size isn't massive, but he's not a bad coach. Just like anyone who's come into Man United in the last 10 years, they're not bad coaches.
"It's the environment - and those environmental issues have continued, even though the ownership is different now. Sir Jim Ratcliffe's come in, he's invested a little bit into the club. But you've got to question the appointments he's made. He says it's "best in class". Jason Wilcox, 'best in class'? His experience is leading the Man City Academy and the sporting director at Southampton.
"And you've got Omar Berrada, who's chief executive now at Manchester United, but he's never done that job before in his life. I think the decisions that they've made... you could say they've made three big decisions since Ineos took charge.
"Giving Erik ten Hag a new contract. At the time, as a fan, I was all for it because that FA Cup final against Man City just completely pulled the wool over my eyes. I was buzzing that day. I was like, oh, he's got to get more time now.
"But a few months later, they gave him a new contract, even though they were going to sack him before the FA Cup final. They weren't convinced by him, but they sort of went with the fans and that was the wrong decision. Gave him £200 million in the summer, sacked him a few months later.
"Then the whole Dan Ashworth thing happened, waiting months to get him from Newcastle. I think the gardening leave was actually longer than he was actually in the job at Man United.
"Then the Ruben Amorim thing. As I say, I don't think Ruben Amorim's a bad coach, but the decision to appoint him over some of the candidates that Dan Ashworth was suggesting in terms of Premier League experience. Managers who have managed a club of this pedigree before, that was an Omar Berrada decision.
"You could argue that was wrong as well, considering how badly that experiment went. I think Ruben Amorim is to blame for some of the decisions he was making, but ultimately I think there has to be focus on the people who made the decision to bring him in and that's Ineos."
Avram Glazer and Sir Jim Ratcliffe
The Glazers sold a minority share of Manchester United to Sir Jim Ratcliffe in 2024(Image: Getty Images)
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Alice was also in agreement and feels the people working above the next United manager, pose a problem to whoever that is going to be.
"I think it's a bit of everyone, to be honest," Alice said. "The people that appointed Amorim too, they knew that he played a 3-4-3 and then they asked him to go to a back four. There's definitely a lot of blame on them. Dan Ashworth reportedly raised concerns about Amorim, Jason Wilcox reportedly raised concerns about Amorim, but Berrada and Ratcliffe had the biggest say. So I think there's a lot of blame on them, maybe not listening.
"You spent all that money and you waited all that time to bring Dan Ashworth in and you sacked him because he didn't agree with you on bringing Amorim in. The people at the top definitely deserve more of the blame. But Amorim was a failure. If you look at his win rate compared to all the other managers, he was so much worse. You know, we lost to Tottenham [in the Europa League Final], we lost to Grimsby.
"I think he is the worst manager we've had and I think he did fail because he refused to adapt. He kept doing the same thing over and over again that wasn't working. Other than maybe Mason Mount, Ayden Heaven, I don't think he got the best out of really many of our players.
"I think Ruben Amorim did well to get rid of players like Garnacho and I think there was good recruitment with Mbeumo and Cunha. But I worry for the next manager because while Ruben Amorim definitely was getting a lot wrong, I think the people above him are still the biggest concern."
Is 'United DNA' an over-used cliche?
Much has been made over the years of Manchester United needing to rediscover the 'DNA' that Sir Alex Ferguson implemented at the club, which saw them become the force in English football.
Alice said: "I feel like when we brought in Ruben Amorim, maybe it was rushed. We've had to spend a lot of money to make it work that we don't have.
"We spent a lot of money giving him that contract. I think right now, there's no one on the manager market that's available that I'm like, 'wow'. It's not like there's a Pep Guardiola-level manager that would take the job right now.
"You're kind of like, OK, maybe interim is the way to go because in the summer there's more options. It gives you more time to think. Also, that way, he can actually have a few signings come in the door when he comes in. He doesn't have to start with a squad that's not his. One thing about Ruben Amorim is, and I don't think everything that went wrong under Ruben was his fault. I don't think he was completely backed, but there was no United DNA in Ruben Amorim.
"There was no looking at the youth. There was no taking risks. It was very defensive-minded subs unless he had to. You look at the Europa League final, that game could have gone another two hours and I felt like we were never going to score."
Manchester United's English first-team coach Michael Carrick (L) and Manchester United's Norwegian manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (R) look on during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Manchester United at The London Stadium, in east London on September 19, 2021.
Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have both managed Manchester United in some capacity(Image: IAN KINGTON, AFP via Getty Images)
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Although Carrick is being tipped to restore some of the 'United DNA' in the short-term, Turk feels that the United DNA is a cliche and while he's not against restoring some of those principles, he feels appointing Thomas Tuchel in the summer, is the right way forward.
He said: "I do think the United DNA exists. Do I think it's overused in terms of explaining what the club needs? Absolutely.
"I think there's different ways, but the United DNA is a cliche, but you see the United DNA in loads of clubs in world football now. It's simply exciting football, vertical, direct football, the use of wingers, which was one of the main reasons I was a bit against the three-at-the-back system, having the wing backs, basically having Diogo Dalot playing as the left winger in most games, that just did not sit right with me at all, and also instilling youth and giving youth a chance.
"If you get an injury, you don't do what Man City do, and you splash £50-60 million in January, every single January, to fix a problem. You look at the academy and you go, right, you might be good enough, let's give you a go. I do think there's a sense of that's what the fans want, and whoever comes in, they do have to adhere to that somewhat, because I think Man United are in the same category as Barcelona and Ajax, where both of those clubs have that sort of identity, that strong identity, the philosophy, that every single manager they bring in abides by.
"I do think there is a sense of that at Man United, but at the same time, realistically, if a manager comes in and he has to do what he has to do to win football matches and win trophies, then I don't think anyone can complain about that. If Ruben Amorim came in playing his own way, and he was winning games, and he was winning trophies, no one would be talking about the United DNA. So that's the priority. I think the DNA does exist, but it's definitely not as important as, say, former players like to make it out to be."
Carrick, Tuchel, Emery, Luis Enrique - what comes next?
United know their season rests on qualifying for the Champions League, which would give them the best opportunity of attracting world class managers, such as Luis Enrique, Tuchel, and Unai Emery.
"I think the most popular two choices would be, for me, Emery and Luis Enrique," Motty said. "Enrique is a fantastic manager. There's no doubt that'd get the place buzzing again. I just like Emery. I think he's a bit more realistic. I think it's difficult to get him from Villa, but I don't think it's impossible, because I still think Manchester United are a much bigger club than Aston Villa.
"I think if you can show him you're going to back him, if you can say, 'look, this is the plan, this is the budget you have for transfers', you come to a club the size of Manchester United, and it'd be the biggest club he's ever managed. I know he's managed at big clubs. Obviously, Arsenal are a big club, but United are one of the biggest clubs in the world, and in the top five, even despite our troubles.
"I think that could be an attractive proposition to someone like Unai Emery. This might be his only opportunity to manage at that very top level. And he brings almost everything you could want. He's won trophies, he's managed in the Premier League and done well in the Premier League. People might look at the Arsenal tenure and go, it was a failure. I understand that argument, but I don't think it was as bad.
"Mikel Arteta was afforded a lot more time and patience than Unai Emery was. So I think Emery, what he's done at Villa, what he's done at other clubs as well, has shown that he's got a bit about him. And you look at the record at Villa, Aston Villa have been flying since he took him there.
"They were a mess when Steven Gerrard was there. And yes, he's had money to spend, but not ridiculous amounts of money. I think he's managed his squad very well. I think he's made Aston Villa a force to be reckoned with. And I think he'd come into United, he's got that experience of the Premier League. He's got experience of winning silverware. I think he's got a strong enough personality not to get overawed by it. I think that almost feels like a slightly more sensible, even somewhat boring appointment. I think United maybe need a bit of that.
"We need to go, okay, what's the most logical one here? That feels like a logical appointment. Rather than aiming for the next big thing, or the manager who's going to become the next Alex Ferguson, I think we're just kidding ourselves a little bit. I think he just needs to get in. Who's one of the best managers around that you can get? You could do a job here and get the best out of these players, and I think it could be United."
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery gestures on the touchline during the Premier League match at Villa Park.
Unai Emery continues to impress with the job he is doing at Aston Villa. (Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.)
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However, Alice is not sure whether the Aston Villa boss would be willing to work under United's current set-up, especially given Amorim's recent press conference outburst.
She said: "It's difficult because there's a lot of good managers out there, but do they want to come here and work with this leadership? Ineos made it clear they want a head coach. Ineos wants the power. You look at someone like Unai Emery, he would only come here if he was going to be given a lot of power and I don't think we would give Unai Emery a lot of power. I think that's why he's done so well at Villa because there's a lot of control compared to Arsenal.
"My mindset is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I'm thinking if it goes well with Carrick from now till the end of the season, I feel like with the World Cup and the transition being harder for a manager because they have to wait for players to get back to the World Cup to work them, I do feel like McKenna potentially is a stepping stone from Carrick.
"He worked with Ole and Carrick. It'd be a similar style if they spend six months with Carrick for McKenna to come in, who I think is the best out of those three. Potentially, he could take them to the next level because - I know he got Ipswich relegated - but I look at Vincent Kompany getting Burnley relegated and doing well at Bayern.
"I look at the fact that this Ipswich squad right now got completely rinsed and they're still third in the Championship. I maybe look at someone like McKenna as a more realistic option, but look, names like Nagelsmann, Unai Emery, Luis Enrique, obviously I feel like Man United need a bigger name and need a more experienced name, but it just depends with how much control Ineos want to give the experienced names, would we be able to get them?"
"For me, I think there's sort of three breeds of manager that you'll be looking at," Turk said. "So, you've got the Premier League managers who have sort of got a track record in the league already. So, you're thinking Andoni Iraola, Eddie Howe, Oliver Glasner, Marco Silva.
"I would avoid that breed just because I feel like, more often than not, you get a Premier League manager to come to a bigger club in the Premier League and it just, the job seems to swallow them up whole every single time. Like, if you look at what's happening with Thomas Frank now at Spurs, I don't think the expectations and pressure is that big at Spurs, but the size of job and the heightened focus that's now on Thomas Frank, he looks a shadow of the coach he was at Brentford. And it's quite clear he is a good coach because there's years of evidence of that at Brentford.
"You've also got, I suppose, the modern overseas manager, but United have done that the last two times including with Erik Ten Hag, he was also the talk of the town when we got him in, and then both him and Amorim, with their set ways of doing things, ultimately wasn't right for the club and they both fell out with Ineos and it sort of crashed and burned.
"So, there's plenty of exciting coaches in Europe as well, but I would avoid that too. My go-to would be United's next manager has to be someone who has managed a club of this degree before. And for me, obviously there's all this talk about the United DNA and stuff, but I would love Thomas Tuchel personally.
"I wanted Thomas Tuchel when we sacked Erik ten Hag. I think it was relatively close. He met Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco, didn't quite happen. He took the England job, but he's one of the managers out of contract in the summer after the World Cup. I just think Thomas Tuchel is a club manager. I can't see him managing England beyond the World Cup.
"And there's just a glorious opportunity there, I think, to bring him in. He might not play the best football at times, but what he can do is he can turn good players, which United do have a lot of, even though they're not showing at the moment, that it's a decent squad. He turns good players into winners and he's done it at Chelsea. He's done it at other places. I think he could come in and do a decent job. So, he would be my top choice."