Michael Carrick, who was linked with the Lincoln City job before the Imps appointed Mark Kennedy in May 2022, has been sacked by Manchester United.
City were looking for a new head coach after Michael Appleton left at the end of the 2021/22 season. We had finished 17th in League One, a year after losing to Blackpool in the play-off final, and while hunting a new boss, Carrick’s name came up.
Metro reported on 12 May that Carrick was under consideration and interested in the job. Adam Crafton, reporting for The Athletic, disputed that Carrick was in the running and pointed to Kennedy, then Birmingham City’s assistant head coach. The Imps confirmed Kennedy’s appointment on a four-year deal that same day, with chairman Clive Nates highlighting his emphasis on player development and his plans for an attacking style of play.
It is my understanding that at the time, while pursuing Stephen Bradley first, and then Mark Kennedy, Carrick’s name was linked in the press. I don’t think we’d considered him, but as he was linked, I believe the Imps reached out to see if he was interested, and he was not. It feels like it was media speculation intended to get him a better job, and he wound up quickly at Middlesbrough.
It was easy to see why the Carrick link caught the eye. He had spent 12 years playing for Manchester United, winning five Premier League titles and the Champions League, but his managerial experience amounted to three games as caretaker at Old Trafford in late 2021. Even so, that spell had yielded wins against Villarreal and Arsenal and a draw away at Chelsea.
Carrick’s route out of Manchester United
Carrick returned to Old Trafford as interim boss in January 2026 and won 12 of United’s remaining 17 league games, taking them to third and back into the Champions League. United made his appointment permanent in May on a two-year contract. Less than six months later, United had won just one of their first ten league games and were 18th, their worst start to a Premier League season.
The pressure had been building since late October, when United lost 4-1 at Como in the Champions League and 3-0 at home to Bournemouth in successive games. They rallied to beat Roma 3-2 in Europe and twice came from two goals down to draw 4-4 with Aston Villa on Sunday. The point left them in the relegation zone.
United confirmed Carrick’s departure on Thursday, saying the club had reached the “extremely difficult conclusion that a change is necessary in order to achieve our ambitions”. BBC Sport reported that United had given Carrick time to turn things around after the Bournemouth defeat, but the board saw too little improvement and deemed the club’s position unacceptable.
United have agreed a deal for United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino and his staff, with the move still being finalised, according to the BBC. United’s first game after the international break is away to Liverpool on 22 November.
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