Manchester United confirmed the departure of Michael Carrick and his staff on Thursday, ending a week of speculation and open negotiation with his potential successor, all while he continued on at Carrington. The decision was the obvious, and correct, call after the worst start ever to a Premier League campaign. Carrick has just one win under his belt going into the second international break, and the Reds continue to leak goals.
Carrick wasn’t up to the task of correcting the course with the current
course. It’s always easier to replace the manager than to replace the players, but in this case it is also the right thing to do.
It also would have been right for the club hierarchy to show an ounce of respect to the manager who guided the team back into the UEFA Champions League when they upended the club’s season in January by sacking the previous manager, not for his performance, but for his pointing the blame upstairs and questioning the club’s extremely questionable leadership.
It would have been right for either notable executive or any of the club’s owners to provide a word of thanks for a man who served the club as a player for more than a decade and anchored the midfield in a team that won five PL titles and the Champions League.
It would have been right to communicate properly with Carrick and his staff about the club’s decision to move in a different direction at the start of the rather than huddle together in Monaco and brief the media constantly on the would-be successor.
It would have been right to properly back Carrick in the summer and address the obvious concerns in the team rather than resorting to back-up plans in the most important area of the pitch.
It would have been right to recognize the issues with depth and sign even emergency options in key areas with older, injured players.
But that didn’t happen.
Carrick deserved much more from Manchester United. He wasn’t backed by the fans in recent weeks simply because they wanted him to stay, he was backed by them because they were the only ones who recognized the situation he was in. That the failure was not solely on his shoulders.
Carrick had to go, but the manner of his unceremonious departure is symbolic of the greater rot upstairs within the club that has destroyed the foundation. The same people who couldn’t muster a single word on Carrick’s service are the same people who are finding the next manager for the third time in as many seasons, and offer little confidence that they’ll back that manager either.
