Manchester United have sacked Michael Carrick with immediate effect, ending his time as head coach after a disastrous start to the season left the club in the Premier League relegation zone. Fabrizio Romano broke the news on Thursday morning, and Sports Mole confirmed that Carrick was told of the decision in a face-to-face meeting at Carrington after reporting for training as normal.
Carrick arrived at the training ground at 7.50am on Thursday, the same routine he had kept all week while his future was decided elsewhere. This time, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox were waiting to deliver the verdict they had taken to co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco on Wednesday: that Carrick should be removed from his position.
The decision ends a reign of 32 games in charge. United sit 18th in the Premier League with just eight points from their first 10 matches, having won only once all season — against Ipswich on 30 August — and gone eight league games without a victory. It is the club’s worst start to a top-flight season in 40 years.
Michael Carrick sacked after Villa rescue only delayed the inevitable
Carrick had been expected to lose his job after the 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth on 25 October, but the board gave him longer to turn the season around. The reprieve produced a chaotic fortnight rather than a recovery: a defeat to Chelsea, a 3-2 Champions League win over Roma after coming from two goals down, and Sunday’s extraordinary 4-4 draw with Aston Villa, in which United twice fought back from two goals behind before Patrick Dorgu’s stoppage-time header rescued a point.
The Villa draw kept Carrick in the job for four more days. It did not save him. United’s fans continued to back their former midfielder throughout the slump, but Wilcox and Berrada concluded the team was not responding, and Ratcliffe signed off on the change in Monaco.
Peter Schmeichel had warned on Wednesday that the way Carrick was being treated was “very disrespectful”, after the head coach was left taking training for two days while his bosses decided his fate in another country. The United legend’s plea to stick with Carrick went unheeded.
Mauricio Pochettino poised to replace Carrick at Old Trafford
Mauricio Pochettino is poised to be appointed United’s new head coach. Sky Sports reported on Wednesday that United had reached a verbal agreement in principle with the Argentine, and personal terms have already been agreed. United will have to pay a £7.4 million compensation fee to release him from his contract with the United States, which runs until the end of the 2030 World Cup, with further fees required to bring in his coaching staff, including assistant Jesus Perez.
Pochettino is expected to remain in charge of the United States for their two Concacaf Nations League quarter-final matches against Haiti, on 14 and 18 November, before flying to England. United are prepared to wait. His first match in the Old Trafford dugout would be the daunting trip to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, 22 November.
Eddie Howe, Antonio Conte and Julian Nagelsmann are all available for an immediate start and were linked with the role, but Pochettino is now set for the position. He is also expected to be backed in the January transfer window, with United planning to be active at the start of 2027.
For more on United’s run-in, check today’s predictions.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Arne Müseler) — collage by SportsBuddy
