Manchester United have appointed Michael Carrick as their interim manager until the end of the season.
Carrick, who made 464 appearances for the club as a midfielder between 2006 and 2018, replaces Ruben Amorim at Old Trafford following the Portuguese coach's sacking after 14 turbulent months in charge.
Steve Holland – who was Gareth Southgate's right-hand man with England – will be Carrick's assistant, while Jonathan Woodgate, Jonny Evans and Travis Binnion are also part of his coaching staff.
"It's an unbelievable feeling to come back through the doors and be part of the club again," Carrick told the in-house Inside Carrington podcast.
"It's a big responsibility, a massive pleasure and a privilege to be here, but we want to do a good job - this place deserves that."
Carrick added he "might have to play certain ways" to win games but insisted he wants his side to show "a really exciting type of football, be positive and express and bring excitement".
"I want to be off my seat, I want to be enjoying watching the boys play and results obviously need to come with that," he said.
United, are currently seventh in the Premier League – three points outside the top four – but were knocked out of the FA Cup on Sunday after being beaten 2-1 at home by Brighton, with former Old Trafford favourite Danny Welbeck having scored the Seagulls' second goal in the third-round tie.
They were dumped out of the League Cup in a humiliating second-round loss at fourth-tier Grimsby Town via a penalty shoot-out, meaning United, with no European football either, will play just 40 games this season – the fewest they have played since 1914/15.
Carrick's former United teammate Darren Fletcher was in temporary charge for the Brighton defeat – and the frustrating Premier League draw against Burnley – which means United have won once in their past seven games. Fletcher will now return to his previous role as the club's Under-18s coach.
And Carrick faces the toughest of starts as manager with his first game being Saturday's Manchester derby against second-place City at Old Trafford, which is followed by a trip to North London to take on table-topping Arsenal.
The 44-year-old has previously been part of United's coaching staff in the Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer eras. He took over as caretaker manager when the Norwegian was sacked in 2021.
Carrick won two and drew one of his three games in temporary charge before leaving the club after the appointment of Ralf Rangnick, also on an interim basis.
In October 2022, Carrick became manager of second-tier Middlesbrough and guided the north-east club out of the relegation zone and into the play-offs via a fourth-place finish, where they were beaten 1-0 over two legs in the semi-finals by Coventry City.
Boro ended the following campaign in eighth place, four points shy of the play-offs. It was a similar story the next season when they finished 10th, again four points outside the top six and resulting in Carrick being sacked.
He managed Middlesbrough for 136 matches, winning 63, drawing 24 and losing 49 – with a win ratio of 46.32 per cent.
Amorim led the team to a 15th-place Premier League finish last season – their worst in the top-flight since being relegated from what was then known as Division One in 1974. They were also beaten in the Europa League final by Tottenham Hotspur last May.
The former Sporting coach finished with a win percentage of 31.9, comfortably the worst of United's permanent managers post Alex Ferguson.
His departure was made inevitable when he publicly hinted that his relationship with his United bosses was strained after a 1-1 draw with bottom club Wolves.
Following another 1-1 draw – this time with Leeds United – Amorim again took aim at senior figures at the club, stating that he should be allowed to do his job without interference. "I just want to say I came here to be the manager, not to be the coach,” he said.
“In every department – the scouting department, the sporting director – [they] need to do their job. I will do mine for 18 months [when his contract ended] and then we move on.”
The 40-year-old was gone less than 24 hours later and the search for a new manager at Old Trafford was underway once again.
