Manchester United fans are conflicted, but Michael Carrick must be judged on his own merit

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick may be close friends, but they are very different individuals. They played together for one season and worked together when Solskjaer was managing United.

Both spoke to United in January about returning as interim manager, both met director of football Jason Wilcox in person. Carrick got the job and Solskjaer — who long predicted that Carrick would one day manage United — wished him well. That’s football.

Solskjaer started out as United’s interim manager before being given the job permanently. For much of that time there was some great football — against Pep Guardiola’s prime Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Solskjaer’s win rate of 54 per cent (Sir Alex Ferguson’s was 59 per cent) was the same as Erik ten Hag’s and better than those of Louis van Gaal, David Moyes and Ruben Amorim.

In his full seasons, United finished third and second. In his half seasons, United made 6th. But he didn’t win a trophy, taking United to the semi-finals of both domestic cups and a Europa League final, losing on penalties against Villarreal.

Things began to unravel after Cristiano Ronaldo rejoined in August 2021. So think twice when opining that United don’t want to make the same mistake in appointing a manager that they made with Solskjaer.

There have been plenty of those comments as United weigh up their options for next season. As interim, Carrick has won nine of his 13 games so far, lifting United from seventh in the table and an average of 1.52 points per game to third and 2.2 points per game.

United need only two points from their four remaining games to guarantee Champions League football next season, ahead of the set target at the start of the season of a Europa League place finish. Their goal difference has lifted from +4 after 21 games to +14 after 34. It has not quite been 100 per cent, but it has been transformative.

Carrick’s win rate of 69.2 per cent is better than any manager in United’s history who has been in charge for more than 10 games. Even then, his 66.6 per cent win rate as caretaker in 2021 is favourable. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s was 75 per cent after three wins in four, two coming against relegation strugglers Leicester City,

If Carrick left the club at the end of the season, then he could hold his head high and be viewed as a success. The trophies and the league were out of sight before he took over.

So it is unsurprising that he’s the current favourite to get the gig next season — if he wants it, and it’s safe to assume that he does.

That’s due to several factors. He has shown that he can manage United and win a lot of games, most of them against the best teams. He knows the club. He and his coaches are in situ and affordable. And the current market helps — the best managers tend to be employed and are hard to get. There’s no highly desired giant twiddling their thumbs at home as there was with Jose Mourinho in 2016, though there are stellar names managing countries in the World Cup, as Van Gaal was in 2014.

And timing is everything. Had it been different, both Guardiola and Klopp might have had their names on the manager’s office door at Old Trafford.

United are no longer a pre-eminent force, but that doesn’t make the job significantly less desirable, though the absolute best head coach might want a team with players ready to win the Champions League. The reality is that numerous agents have been in touch with the club to sound them out. The Premier League is highly attractive, and United is its best-supported club.

But Carrick is leading a club who will most likely be playing Champions League football next season, an aim that was given to the players in January, having started in August with Europa League football being seen as a pass.

This is not Carrick’s team either. The football they are playing isn’t exactly how he wants, but it fits the players he has, something that his two predecessors didn’t seem to be able to organise. He’s stable and calm, which is what United needed and wanted after the emotional and charismatic Amorim.

Carrick may be more assertive with the media if the job is his; he can be more of his own man. Should United continue to recruit players well, then it’s not unreasonable to expect further progress, but financial restrictions and wealthier rivals means United can’t be as dominant in the market as before. Carrick enjoys a positive relationship with Wilcox, but so did Amorim until he imploded.

United fans are happy about the job Carrick has done and divided about what comes next. One United We Stand fanzine poll on Tuesday asked: “Who do you want as MUFC manager next season?”. In reply, 27 per cent said Carrick, three per cent said “Someone else” and 70 per cent voted: “If the ideals are not available, then Carrick.”

The Carrick doubters do so, in part, because of his past body of work. At Middlesbrough, he started fine and ended badly, as happens with most management jobs. The same was said of Solskjaer and his spell at Cardiff City (forgetting that he’d excelled in Norway).

So who are the ideals? Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique can lay claim to being the best on the planet. In 2013, I spent an afternoon with him on a beach by his house in Barcelona. He was utterly captivating, hugely impressive. He was also out of work after a year where he’d failed to get Roma into European competition. Success in football is seldom linear. And he has never managed in English football.

If Carrick gets the job, then the critics won’t be far away. They’ll certainly come out should form dip. We’ve seen it already. Just one defeat at Newcastle United and then losing at Old Trafford against Leeds United was enough to see people saying, ‘He’s not the man for me’. But who are ‘people’ and how much does online noise matter? There’s an over-emotional reaction to everything United do, good and bad.

No manager is a guaranteed success. I don’t know if Carrick is going to be an elite coach, but the last time United went to market to look at coaches before appointing Amorim, the three names of most interest were Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Tuchel and Thiago Motta. Amorim, who wasn’t even in the initial running, ended up with the job.

There’s no crystal ball here, no hard and fast succession planning, and even when there was with David Moyes, it didn’t work out at United. Every type of manager has been tried since 2013, and there’s an unfair narrative around appointing former players.

Carrick is managing a calm dressing room, rid of some of its most negative influences. He’s got an edge when he needs one. He’s not compliant; he’s his own man. And it’s a bonus that he played for the club, knows the club and actually goes to youth games — very much in the English — and United style.

He was impressing, too, as a UEFA analyst at the start of this season. Wins are the balm for ills at Manchester United, but when the bad patches come he needs to be afforded the leeway foreign coaches have been allowed.

United fans are in a flux and conflicted. That’s understandable, but if it’s Carrick or not, he deserves to be judged on his own merit. United have been patient and ignored any calls to give him the job after a few wins. But it’s not unreasonable to say Carrick deserves more of a chance to continue in a job he’s done better than most could have expected.

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