The small matter of Saturday’s Manchester derby awaits new Manchester United coach Michael Carrick, his staff and squad on Saturday. That tough game is followed by one against league leaders Arsenal away the week after.
The start of 2026 has been an especially turbulent one at Old Trafford. Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim was dismissed after publicly criticising his bosses. United did not want to sack him and had supported him up until then against external criticism. But he blew up during an argument after a disappointing late December draw at home to winless Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The players were concerned by the tactics in that game thinking that United focused too much on Wolves’ strengths rather than their own. This point was raised by sporting director Jason Wilcox the following day.
The pair had enjoyed a productive working relationship and tended to agree on 90 per cent of issues when it came to recruitment, players and transfers. But Amorim did not respond kindly.
Wilcox still wanted to work with him and had backed the Portuguese, even when others at Old Trafford had expressed doubts. The model of a sports director is a newish one at United but after changing far too many managers and picking up the costs of rebuilds after each, United want a system like most major clubs where players are bought for the club and not the manager. And that means that when the manager changes, there won’t be another £200 million rebuild.
Amorim clearly felt that he was a Sir Alex Ferguson type ‘manager’ with more control and not the role named in his contract – the head coach. Can you blame United for wanting to get away from this model? It is surely the most prudent way forward and overdue. United don’t want the wheels of the club to fall off whenever a manager is changed.
Wilcox felt that he and Amorim should work together to get the best out of the current squad with the expectation that United will continue to recruit smarter in the transfer window, despite the financial restrictions and reality of no European football.
United want at least one new central midfielder and a defensive leader. Amorim blew up again with his comments after the draw against Leeds at Elland Road two days later. The following day he was out of a job.
Amorim is the latest United boss to walk away with a handsome pay. He can’t complain about the support he had from fans and the club in the face of a 33 per cent win rate. But it all came to an end far quicker than anyone was expecting. United’s form had frustrated, but the league position was more or less on par for this season’s aim: a European-place finish.
Fans are angry and frustrated. They invested into the idea that good times would come under Amorim and were patient in their support. They liked his brutal honesty and thought he usually communicated well. They hoped his grand plans would eventually work out. They did not and he became the latest United manager to go.
Carrick was briefly caretaker in November 2021 and his win rate over those three games is the best of any United manager but that’s a statistical quirk which will come under threat immediately.
The 44-year-old got the job ahead of his close friend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ruud van Nistelrooy after impressing in interviews last week. The club wanted someone who knew the club for the period which he will coach until the end of the season. His appointment was welcomed by many players at Carrington.
There’s always tension when a manager leaves, always a breath of fresh air when a new one arrives. This is true this week as players returned to training ready to face second-placed City who signed Antoine Semenyo, a player United had targeted and spoken to. He chose City.
Carrick must lift confidence and organise what has come to resemble a collection of good players into a coherent football team. He’s almost certain to abandon the three at the back system used by Amorim in favour of the 4-2-3-1 that he used at Middlesbrough, though his teams can also look like 4-3-3 in attack and 4-4-2 in defence. They play progression and positional football.
Carrick knows the midfielder area best. At Middlesbrough and indeed at United before when he worked as a coach, he’d tell players about their angles and positioning. He has a calm demeanour.
“He’s very similar as a manager to how he comes across in the media,” Middlesbrough captain Jonny Howson explained in 2023. “He’s calm in most situations. He has had to get into us a bit recently so he has got that side, but he’s usually calm whether we’re doing well or not so well.
“The benefit of that is it rubs off on us. He trusts us and you don’t feel pressure if you make a mistake. You feel he’s right behind you. He got instant respect when he walked through the door because of what he’d done as a player at the top of world football. He’s dropped down to the Championship but adapted to the level straightaway. He’s fully part of training; he takes a lot of it but leaves other sessions to his assistants. He wants everyone involved.”
At United, those assistants will be Steve Holland, who grew up in Greater Manchester and excelled as an assistant at Chelsea and with the England national team.
Jonathan Woodgate, formerly a defender at Leeds United, Real Madrid, and Middlesbrough, is another. Fellow former defender Jonny Evans should see the defensive area covered, while Craig Mawson, who has been at the club a long time, will step up to be the main goalkeeping coach after Amorim’s entire staff returned to Portugal with him.
Travis Binnion will also step up from coaching the Under-21s. A former Sheffield United player whose career was cut short by injury, he was the coach who led United’s youth team to success in 2022 and knows a lot of the younger players well.
Failure in cup competitions this season means the team only have 17 games for the remaining 19 weeks of the season. United are likely to arrange friendly games to bring in funds, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
For now, the focus is on the Manchester derby and seeing how the team does under Carrick. He does have the advantage of some of the most important players returning from Afcon; their absences have clearly hit United, but make no mistake, it’s an incredibly tough job – as numerous managers have found out before him.
