When Michael Carrick sat down at Carrington on Friday, he smiled when asked about the worst-kept secret in football.
‘The future for me is going to be decided pretty soon, we knew that,’ said the man who will soon be confirmed as Manchester United’s head coach on a full-time basis.
As Carrick edges ever closer to the job – and a likely announcement before Sunday’s final home game of the season at Old Trafford – Daily Mail Sport looks at what the 44-year-old must do over the summer and at the start of next season to make a success of it.
Don’t do ‘a Solskjaer’
History has been rather unkind to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a United legend as a player and a far better manager at Old Trafford than he is often given credit for.
The Norwegian led the club to second and third places in his two full seasons in charge, albeit some distance behind the leaders. The 2021 Europa League final shootout defeat by Villarreal was seen as a sliding doors moment in his reign, and that’s before you get into the destabilising effect that Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford had on the team.
Rightly or wrongly, Solskjaer’s time in charge has been boiled down to a story of the caretaker manager who got the full-time gig on the back of an eight-game winning start and an unforgettable Champions League night in Paris before nosediving dramatically. Carrick knows there will inevitably be comparisons, and addressed them ahead of last weekend’s draw at Sunderland.
‘A lot happened before in all sorts of different ways, whether it’s the interim getting the job, not getting the job, whether it’s having success or not having success. So I think the past is the past,’ he said.
Carrick is also aware of the perception of his time in charge at Middlesbrough, where a solid start faded away before he was sacked after two-and-a-half years in June of last year.
While he won’t need reminding that it’s a results business, and winning games of football is the best way to keep his job, Carrick knows that it will be even more imperative to make a solid start next season to avoid any more parallels with Solskjaer.
History has been rather unkind to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a Manchester United legend as a player and a far better manager at Old Trafford than he is often given credit for
Michael Carrick knows that it will be even more imperative to make a solid start next season to avoid any more parallels with Solskjaer
Solve the midfield jigsaw
Rebuilding in the centre…