Michael Carrick raised his hands to the away fans at Como, a gesture Ole Gunnar Solskjaer once made after a defeat that cost him his job, and in that echo a wider pattern comes into view. Since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped away in 2013, Manchester United have cycled through seven full-time managers, each one lifted up and then let go, while the club's footing has grown less certain. The question raised here is less about any single coach than about the hands that choose them and the structures in which they must work. Whether the cycle can be broken depends on whether the people at the top are wi
Have Man Utd become the unmanageable club? Carrick joins a long line of managers caught in the cycle
Carrick looks like Solskjaer Mark II
Mark
Why does this column keep returning to the Watford game?
Mimi
Because Carrick raised his hands to the fans after a 4-1 loss at Como, exactly as Solskjaer did after losing 4-1 at Watford in 2021. It was the game that ended Solskjaer's time.
Mark
So the argument is that the managers aren't the problem?
Mimi
Mostly. McNulty says seven full-time managers with very different profiles all ended up sacked, which points upward to ownership and recruitment.
Luke
Worth saying this is opinion. The sackings are fact. The claim that United have become unmanageable is his reading of them.
Mark
What about the Ten Hag decision?
Mimi
United were set to sack him before the FA Cup final, then gave him an extension and £200m, and sacked him six months later. The payoff was over £10m.
Luke
The intent to sack him before the final is reported as fact in the column without a named source. And the Ashworth theories are explicitly just theories: one says he was blamed for Ten Hag staying, another that he wanted English managers.
Mark
And the dressing room?
Mimi
Martinez criticised Wilcox after Atletico, and Fernandes questioned tactics at Como.
Luke
We don't have their exact words here, so how serious the rift is remains unknown.
Mark
Is there any positive in the finances?
Mimi
Record revenue of £678m and a £23m operating profit, but debt is still £1bn and the stadium is projected above £2bn.
El Pulso
- A fourth-half defeat at Como has pushed Michael Carrick toward the same edge that claimed Solskjaer, and the dressing room is showing cracks.
- Captain Bruno Fernandes questioning tactics and Lisandro Martinez taking aim at director of football Jason Wilcox have turned private unease into public friction.
- Seven sackings since 2013 have left fans weary, and the Glazer debt and Ratcliffe's cost-cutting have drained morale across the club.
- Ticket-touting fallout, a stalled-looking £2bn stadium plan and £1bn of debt are narrowing United's appeal to the elite managers they once could attract.
- With rivals pulling away, the club faces a fresh managerial search that may repeat old mistakes unless the leadership structure changes.
Michael Carrick raised his hands to the away fans at Como, a gesture Ole Gunnar Solskjaer once made after a defeat that cost him his job, and in that echo a wider pattern comes into view. Since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped away in 2013, Manchester United have cycled through seven full-time managers, each one lifted up and then let go, while the club's footing has grown less certain. The question raised here is less about any single coach than about the hands that choose them and the structures in which they must work. Whether the cycle can be broken depends on whether the people at the top are willing to be examined as closely as the men they hire.
Michael Carrick stood before the travelling supporters at Como after a 4-1 Champions League defeat and raised his hands. Solskjaer made the same gesture after a 4-1 loss at Watford in 2021, and that defeat cost him his job. For the columnist Phil McNulty, the resemblance is no accident. The cycle that has ground down every Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013 now has Carrick in its grip.
Carrick is the seventh full-time manager to be appointed since Ferguson departed, following David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim. There have been good moments along the way, including an FA Cup under Van Gaal, a League Cup and Europa League under Mourinho, and an FA Cup under Ten Hag. Yet every full-time appointee has ended up sacked. The dressing room is now restless, with Martinez criticising Wilcox after a defeat at Atletico and Fernandes questioning tactics at Como.
McNulty argues that United have tried every kind of manager, from a Ferguson-backed choice to proven winners and fresh young talent, and all were dismissed. He traces the root of the trouble to a botched succession, and to a leadership that has repeatedly made poor appointments and shifting decisions. Ten Hag was nearly sacked before an FA Cup win, given a contract extension and substantial funds, then dismissed months later with a large payout. Dan Ashworth left as sporting director after a short and troubled spell, and Amorim departed after 14 months with a sharp public complaint.
The wider picture is shaped by debt from the Glazer takeover and by Sir Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting, which has unsettled staff and angered fans. Fans also reacted badly to a ticket-touting inquiry. Revenue reached a record £678m, but debt remains £1bn, and a planned new stadium has ballooned in cost. McNulty concludes that United will always find a manager, but they no longer have first pick of the world's best, and more churn may follow as rivals move ahead.
Michael Carrick raised his hands to the travelling supporters at Como after Manchester United lost 4-1 in the Champions League. It was the same gesture Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made after a 4-1 defeat at Watford in November 2021, the result that cost him his job. BBC analyst Phil McNulty, writing in a column, argues that the resemblance is not a coincidence, and that the cycle which has caught every United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson now has Carrick in its grip.
Carrick is the seventh full-time manager since Ferguson left in 2013 after 26 years and 38 trophies. The others are David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim. Ryan Giggs, Ralf Rangnick, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Darren Fletcher have had interim spells. There were good days under some of them. Van Gaal won the FA Cup in 2016, Mourinho the League Cup and Europa League in 2017, and Ten Hag the FA Cup in 2024 with a win over Manchester City. McNulty calls that slim pickings next to earlier glories, and every full-time manager ended up sacked.
Carrick's position looks weak. Results are poor, and there are signs of revolt in the dressing room. After the Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid, defender Lisandro Martinez took aim at director of football Jason Wilcox. At Como, captain Bruno Fernandes questioned the tactics. McNulty reads this as a hint of something rotten at the club, and asks whether scrutiny should fall more heavily on those who made the appointments and set the direction.
His case is that United have tried every model. Moyes was a Ferguson-led choice who found the job too big after Everton. Van Gaal and Mourinho were proven winners at Europe's biggest clubs. Solskjaer had no track record to suggest he would succeed but had impressed in temporary charge. Ten Hag came after leading a young Ajax side to a Champions League semi-final, and Amorim was seen as European coaching's hottest young property when he was lured from Sporting. All were sacked. McNulty traces the problem to a badly botched succession to Ferguson. In December 2019, Ancelotti was at Everton, Guardiola at City and Klopp at Liverpool, all within 35 miles of one another, while United had Solskjaer.
McNulty sees Carrick as Solskjaer Mark II: a former fan favourite who did well as caretaker, with a previous managerial career that amounted to a sacking, at Middlesbrough. Solskjaer was sacked by Cardiff in September 2014 after nine months. Carrick, he says, was an easy choice after returning the club to the Champions League, and the comfort he offered supporters has been torn away by results.
Much of the blame, McNulty writes, lies higher up. Fans have protested against the Glazers since their leveraged purchase in 2005 loaded debt onto the club, and they remain majority owners. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, as part-owner, has drawn the anger of fans for his partnership with them. He has said big football decisions are left to people such as Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada, but McNulty says instability and poor decisions have come with him as the leading figure.
The examples he cites are specific. United were set to sack Ten Hag before the FA Cup final win against City, which earned a reprieve. He then received a contract extension and £200m in transfer funds, and was sacked six months later with a payoff to him and his staff of more than £10m. Sporting director Dan Ashworth arrived in July 2024 with a strong reputation and left five months later after a behind-the-scenes disagreement, having spent as long on gardening leave waiting to leave Newcastle as he did in post. One theory is that he wanted English managers such as Graham Potter or Gareth Southgate rather than Amorim. United pursued Amorim, whose commitment to a 3-4-3 system had already led Liverpool to look at Arne Slot to succeed Klopp. Amorim lasted 14 months and left with a parting blast at the hierarchy and a hostile meeting with Wilcox.
Morale had already suffered from cost-cutting under Ratcliffe, with many staff leaving. This season, fan anger grew after a summer ticket-touting investigation. United admitted underestimating how many fans shared account details and softened threats about season-ticket confiscation, but defended the inquiry. Debt remains £1bn, though United reported record revenue of £678m and a £23m operating profit, against a £113m loss in 2023-24, despite no European football. They spent £64m on land for a new stadium, which Berrada said in August remains on track at 100,000 capacity and an estimated cost above £2bn.
McNulty concludes that United will always find a manager, but no longer have the pick of the world's best, and even a top coach would struggle without major investment. More churn looms as rivals pull further away.
Citas Notables
McNulty argues United may have become the unmanageable club, with ownership and recruitment decisions deserving more scrutiny than managers.— Phil McNulty, BBC Sport
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