Manchester United’s football leaders are set to recommend Michael Carrick be offered the permanent head coach role at an executive committee meeting this week, handing the 44-year-old the chance to move from caretaker to full-time manager.
That recommendation follows a run of results that transformed United’s season. Carrick has won 10 of his 15 matches in charge and lost twice since his appointment on 13 January, collecting 33 points — more than any Premier League club in that period. United moved from seventh to third in the table and are now six points clear of Liverpool in fourth with two games to play.
Carrick’s early impact was immediate: he oversaw wins over Manchester City and Arsenal in his first four matches and later presided over victories against Aston Villa, Chelsea and Liverpool that helped secure a return to the Champions League. A seven-game unbeaten run ended in March, but the recovery from a side that were 11 points behind Manchester City and sitting seventh when he returned has been decisive.
United’s chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox believe Carrick is the right man to lead the club into next season, and if the executive committee approves their recommendation, United are expected to open talks with Carrick about a permanent contract. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the ultimate decision-maker on major football calls at Manchester United, and the Glazer family have been content to allow Ratcliffe to lead on football matters.
The players have backed Carrick on the pitch. Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo said the squad were prepared to give everything for him, reflecting the dressing-room buy-in that has underpinned United’s climb into the top three. Carrick already has experience stepping into the vacancy midseason: he had a three-game spell as caretaker after Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s dismissal in 2021, winning twice and drawing once.
There are practical facts that explain why the recommendation has arrived now rather than at season’s end. Carrick’s points haul since 13 January — 33 points in 15 matches — is the single headline number his supporters point to. More tangibly, United will play in the Champions League next season for the first time since the 2023-24 campaign, a change in status that carries immediate financial and sporting implications for recruitment and planning.
There is friction beneath the momentum. United had intended to wait until the end of the season before choosing a successor to Ruben Amorim, and other candidates considered included Andoni Iraola and Unai Emery. That plan has been overtaken by results, yet the final decision remains with Ratcliffe; a recommendation from Berrada and Wilcox is influential but not decisive without Ratcliffe’s sign-off.
Carrick’s personal record at the club gives the recommendation weight. He made 464 appearances for Manchester United as a player, winning five Premier League titles and one Champions League, and he spent just under three years at Middlesbrough before returning to Old Trafford in a coaching capacity. His familiarity with the club’s culture and squad is part of why senior staff favour him.
Practically, a recommendation this week would trigger formal talks. United are expected to open those negotiations if the committee approves. The immediate calendar gives Carrick two remaining league fixtures to consolidate his case: United host Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on Sunday, 17 May, and finish the season away to Brighton on 24 May.
If the committee follows the counsel of Berrada and Wilcox, the next stage is clear: talks with Carrick and a decision for Sir Jim Ratcliffe to make. The facts on the pitch — the wins, the points total and Champions League qualification — make the recommendation substantial; what remains is whether Ratcliffe will turn it into an appointment.
