A meeting and breakfast between Sir Alex Ferguson, Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada, taking place 2 days after Ruben Amorim was sacked, laid the foundation for former Man United midfielder - Michael Carrick - to return to Old Trafford as head coach.
This information was confirmed on Tuesday evening. Carrick's immediate task is to bring the team back to a stable orbit and aim for positive results from now until the end of the season.
Football director Jason Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada closed Amorim's 14-month tenure on January 5, just one day after the 1-1 draw with Leeds United. Amorim left the hot seat with a win rate of 38.1% - the worst number for a Man United coach in the Premier League era.
After temporarily assigning coach Darren Fletcher to lead the team in 2 matches, the Man United sports leadership duo determined that they needed a more experienced option to take the lead until the summer. Finally, Carrick is the chosen name, who has won a full set of major titles in 12 years wearing the Man United shirt, including 5 Premier League titles and 1 Champions League, with a total of 464 appearances.
According to British media, the shortened list includes Carrick, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ruud van Nistelrooy - who all had a short period as interim coaches at Old Trafford. Although Sir Jim Ratcliffe ended Ferguson's 2 million pound/year ambassador role at Old Trafford in October 2024, Sir Alex was still invited back to the training ground to contribute assessments in the process of choosing a new coach.
Omar and Jason talked to Sir Alex. They had breakfast to discuss 3 former players who played under him. There may be criticism of that, but Sir Alex understands Michael, Ole and Ruud better than anyone, so Omar and Jason want to explore his opinion" - the source said.
Sources from Man United do not confirm whether Ferguson directly considers Carrick the number one priority or not. However, a source outside the club said that the 84-year-old former captain appeared very optimistic and fully supported the appointment of his former student.
Also according to British media, Wilcox first contacted Carrick, Solskjaer and Van Nistelrooy on Tuesday last week, 24 hours after Amorim's contract was terminated. All three were discussed in detail about the plan to revive the season.
Carrick and Solskjaer met Wilcox and Berrada directly, while Van Nistelrooy discussed via video call. A source said that the choice of this form stemmed from the fact that the former Dutch striker had a previous working relationship with Wilcox and Berrada, when he was a member of the coaching staff under Erik ten Hag, and then led the team in 4 matches after Ten Hag was fired in October 2024.
Although the season is still halfway and Man United still aspires to win a ticket to the European Cup by finishing in the top 4 of the Premier League, Wilcox and Berrada decided to appoint Carrick on a temporary basis until the end of the season, thereby having more time to select an official coach in the summer.
If Carrick makes an impression, fans and experts can completely call for him to be given the official head coach position. However, at the present time, no commitment has been made.
However, Carrick's immediate problem is extremely harsh. Man United has only won 1 of their last 7 matches in all competitions, and his first two tests were Man City at Old Trafford and Arsenal away from home.
With someone who once admitted to being "addicted" to cars, even saying that he was willing to trade his football career to become an F1 racer, Carrick must have had the feeling that he had just been given the key to a Ferrari when he accepted to lead Man United.
The only thing is, that Ferrari is in a state of alarm at this time: flat tires, engine running on "oil" that is not standard. Carrick has sat in the driver's seat, and he has 4 months to overhaul and adjust the entire system before bringing that machine back to the right track.
