Carrick Faces Dismissal as Ratcliffe Meeting Approaches
Manchester United’s new football powerbrokers are preparing to recommend the first seismic decision of the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era: the sacking of Michael Carrick.
Director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada are expected to sit down with Ratcliffe in Monaco on Tuesday and advise that United change head coach, with Mauricio Pochettino emerging as the leading candidate to replace the 45-year-old.
This is no snap judgement. Wilcox and Berrada have spent recent weeks dissecting Carrick’s work and the team’s trajectory. The verdict is bleak. United are in the Premier League relegation zone and sit 17th in the Champions League standings, with only three wins from 15 matches in all competitions. For a club of United’s scale, that is not a wobble. It is a crisis.
Pochettino at the front of the queue
Pochettino, currently in charge of the USA national team, is open to taking the United job. He is believed to have a break clause in his contract that would allow him to leave before the 2030 World Cup, with United required to pay about £7m in compensation to the US Soccer Federation.
The former Tottenham manager has long been admired at Old Trafford. His name now sits at the top of the list being prepared for Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy under the new structure. Eddie Howe also remains under consideration by Wilcox, but Pochettino is understood to be the strongest candidate at this stage.
If Ratcliffe accepts the recommendation in Monaco, United would move quickly. The mood within the club is that a change is no longer a matter of if, but when.
Three-game audition falls flat
Carrick will still take training on Tuesday, a stark illustration of how quickly the ground has shifted beneath him. He already survived one major internal review after the 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth on 25 October, a result that left his position hanging by a thread.
The following day, Wilcox and Berrada met at the training ground to assess whether to act immediately. Carrick was spared, but only just. He was effectively handed a three-game audition up to the international break to prove he and the squad could arrest the slide.
The response never truly convinced. A defeat, a win and a draw followed, but the performances across those fixtures, layered on top of the broader run of form, hardened views at the top of the club. The pressure did not ease. It built.
Inside United, there is now a growing expectation that Carrick will lose his job. The feeling is that the team are drifting, and that the new regime cannot allow the season – and the wider rebuild – to be defined by hesitation.
United were approached for comment.
