Manchester United have cycled through eleven managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, with every attempted solution ultimately falling short of restoring former glories.
The club has tried everything, from appointing Ferguson’s fellow countryman David Moyes to bringing in the personality and pedigree of Jose Mourinho, yet none of those appointments delivered sustained success.
Even the decision to hand the reins to Ruben Amorim, widely praised for his ingenuity at Sporting Club de Portugal, demonstrated that innovation alone was not the answer.
Now, some 13 years removed from United’s last Premier League title, the club has opted for a more familiar path by turning to former midfielder Michael Carrick.
Carrick retired in 2018 after 12 years as a player at the club, and at 44 years old he represents the youngest surviving member of Ferguson’s trusted inner circle.
He has previous experience in the United dugout on an interim basis and also managed Middlesbrough across three seasons, maintaining a strong reputation despite failing to secure promotion to the Premier League.
The most compelling evidence of Carrick’s credentials arrived between January and May 2026, when United lost just two of 17 games, defeating Manchester City, Liverpool, and eventual league champions Arsenal along the way.
That extraordinary run of form, almost unthinkable at Christmas, prompted prominent sports betting sites to steadily price United as favourites in upcoming league fixtures and Champions League qualification markets.
Balance has been one of Carrick’s most important contributions, addressing a long-standing weakness that saw United routinely fail to combine attacking flair with defensive solidity and midfield reliability.
The squad now features Matthijs de Ligt at the heart of defence during his prime years, and two forwards in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo capable of delivering over 20 goal involvements cumulatively.
Most significantly, United possess a Premier League Player of the Year winner in Bruno Fernandes, whose influence on the club’s second half of the season has been profound.
The 31-year-old is heading into the summer World Cup in North America with Portugal, seeking a third international trophy, which would see him accumulate more international silverware than domestic medals won with United.
That uncomfortable reality underlines how far the club has fallen, given that top players of Fernandes’ calibre would ordinarily expect to win more at club level than on the international stage.
When Fernandes returns to Carrington for pre-season, World Cup champion or not, he will find a United side that is fluid, capable of fighting from behind and defending leads with equal conviction.
That adaptability and collective belief, carefully nurtured by Carrick, may yet prove to be the foundation that finally propels Manchester United back toward the sustained success Ferguson built over more than two decades.
