Who could handle the Man United job?

Emma Paton (0:07)

After Manchester United's 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth, it looked as though time was up for Michael Carrick. But with news he'll stay in charge for Saturday's game against Chelsea. Is this really a show of faith or just a stay of execution? Welcome to The Athletic FC Podcast.

Hi everyone, I'm Emma Paton, here with me in the studio are The Athletic's Manchester United writer, Cerys Jones. Hello. Hello.

Liam Twomey (0:34)

Hello. Back again. Back again. Fun to see you. Yeah, exactly.

Emma Paton (0:37)

We keep doing this, Cerys and football data writer, Thom Harris, how are we doing? Oh, good, Emma. How are you?

Cerys Jones (0:42)

Very good.

Emma Paton (0:43)

Thank you. It's been an interesting 48 hours since we were last together on Monday morning.

Cerys Jones (0:47)

Yeah, it's been a weird 48 hours in which nothing has changed, which is not what we were expecting. As I said on Monday's show, it felt leaving Old Trafford on Sunday as if that would be Michael Carrick's last game in charge. That was very much sort of the vibe that I got. And then as we went through Monday and waited for news, by the time we recorded the talk The Devil's Podcast at about eight o'clock at night, we'd started to hear that the anticipation was that Carrick would take training on Tuesday. So that led to, okay, well, surely if he's taking training on Tuesday, you know, there's only so long the situation can go on before a game at lunchtime on Saturday.

And so, yeah, by sort of yesterday lunchtime, I think we'd heard this news that Carrick would be in charge for the Chelsea game, that he would have the opportunity to turn it around. But I do think it's fair to say that it's not necessarily long-term backing, it's not necessarily emphatic. I don't think it's an indicator that, you know, Carrick will be in charge for, dare I say, even until the end of the year, let alone until the end of the season. As Laurie Whitwell has reported this morning, like there's multiple considerations at play here, including what the cost would be of sacking Carrick so soon into his contract and bringing in a replacement. There's an international break coming up. I think, you know, as harsh as it sounds to say, there's multiple considerations here that are not just how much faith they have in Carrick, it's everything else that surrounds this decision as well. And that's why we're here talking about other candidates.

Emma Paton (2:24)

Well, on today's show, we will be getting into the decision to keep Michael Carrick, for now at least, and like Cerys said, discuss the managers who could be potential suitors should Carrick depart. Tom, are you surprised when that news came out yesterday that we're hearing that, of course, Michael Carrick is going to stay in his position and he'll be in the dugout on Saturday?

Thom Harris (2:43)

A little bit, yeah. I mean, from a neutral perspective, I'm not mentioning I found I was watching this game on Sunday and it just looked like a bit of an untenable situation, obviously, for him to carry on, not just the game. It was pretty emphatic in the end that defeat to Bournemouth, but the fact that you got Bruno Fernandes sat on the bench, that was all very awkward. I thought there was kind of an expectation that their best attacking player should come on the pitch to try and turn the game around and that couldn't happen because of the dispute that was happening. It all just seems a little bit unsustainable. So, yeah, from the outside looking at him, I am a little bit surprised that he is still there.

Emma Paton (3:15)

Well, the Bruno situation is actually quite an interesting one because we understand as well that they met at the training ground yesterday and they have had these sort of clear the air talks. So, do we now expect him to be back in the starting 11 on the weekend?

Cerys Jones (3:26)

I think that the sensible thing is probably for kind of a line to be drawn under this now. You know, if there is any chance of Michael Carrick keeping his position kind of longer term, the first thing that needs to be shown on Saturday is that the squad are behind him and the squad are willing to kind of play for him and give the intensity, the hard work that he has like very openly asked for, really. If indirectly, when he gave his big speech at the press conference, it was, it felt to me as very clearly like a rallying cry to the players.