Manchester United manager Michael Carrick left the Old Trafford pitch on Sunday to the sound of his name being sung by the adoring home support, but he may never lead the team onto the field again.
His players followed him and the message delivered to them and the club captain Bruno Fernandes, who was an unused substitute, was quite different.
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The 3-0 thumping by Bournemouth was a result that marked a 40-year low for the crisis club and plunged it to new depths – and the fans were determined to let United’s owners and playing staff know it.
The opening seven league matches marked United’s worst start since 1986. The latest defeat, their sixth of the season, leaves the club just a point above the relegation zone and without a win in eight matches in all competitions.
What has happened between Fernandes and Carrick?
Fernandes, the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Player of the Year last season, was left among the substitutes on Sunday as a result of criticising Carrick after Wednesday’s 4-1 humiliation at Como in the UEFA Champions League.
The Portuguese player has been the Red Devils’ darling since he arrived in 2020, and seemed to have sealed his place as a club legend in a time of darkness with his accolade achieved on the back of United’s third-place finish, which they have only twice bettered in 13 years.
The award came as a result of his record number of assists in a Premier League season – all the more impressive in a side that lacked a spark anywhere else on the pitch.
The upturn in fortunes under Carrick’s interim position last term, when he replaced Ruben Amorim in January, resulted in his full-time appointment in the summer.
A tenure that may now have run its course, with him and United’s best player seemingly at loggerheads.
How have fans reacted to the Premier League giant’s fall?
The United fans are famously loyal to their managers and players. Boos for anyone associated with the home side at Old Trafford were relatively unheard of until the last two seasons.
Now the boss receiving the adulation on exiting one of world football’s greatest stages – the Theatre of Dreams – may be the one on whom the curtain is being pulled.
Fernandes is no villain in this piece, but United’s fans have delivered a clear message directly to the heart of the dressing room – sending it via the player who could do no wrong in the eyes of the supporters will leave the ears of every member of the squad ringing.
Enough is enough.
Outplayed is one thing, but being outrun and outfought is another.
What is the context of Man United’s demise?
United’s history has been one of rebuilds and comebacks. They have known difficult days – their most successful manager Sir Alex Ferguson was on the verge of the sack in 1990 before winning the FA Cup and beginning one of the greatest runs of trophy-laden eras in football.
Their wait for a league title stretched from 1967 – and the Holy Trinity of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law – to 1994, when Ferguson’s inspired signing of Eric Cantona ignited glory days even the biggest club in the world at the time had never seen.
Now, United are on the edge of a precipice – quite literally if the gap to the drop zone is even to be realistically contemplated. Perhaps United’s cross-town rivals City won’t be the only Manchester club facing relegation this season.
That is demise no one is truly considering yet.
Is it a case of Carrick or Fernandes for Man United?
They are, however, at a crossroads – and the divide between Carrick and Fernandes – his captain, who criticised the tactics that stopped United pressing their Italian opponents in midweek, is likely to see the axe fall on the manager rather than a valuable asset.
“Manchester United need to make the change tonight (Sunday),” former England team-mate of Carrick, Jamie Carragher, told British broadcaster Sky Sports when asked if a sacking was needed.
“The fans have taken the side of the manager, which is not about him being the manager, it’s about him being a huge figure in United’s history – and those players have done nothing compared to teams of the past.
“So Carrick is always going to win that fight – and rightly so – with Fernandes, no matter how talented a player he is.
“But also United – one of the biggest clubs in the world – are 16th in the table right now and that can’t happen – it can’t continue and Carrick needs to be relieved of his duties.
“He wants to be sacked. It’s become untenable. He doesn’t want to be sat in the dugout with those players.
“Imagine going into training with Fernandes after not bringing him on? It’s a rancid dressing room. He wants to be put out of his misery.”
Gary Neville, former Manchester United defender and team-mate of Carrick’s for club and country, added: “Carrick is popular, but the owners, the sporting department and the players are not.
“They will probably make a decision that will disgust United fans, but it is probably necessary.
“The club is a mess.”
What has Carrick said amid rumours of the sack?
The final word of the day belongs to the man in the middle of a power battle that has seen him win the popular vote, but one that is unlikely to sway the United hierarchy.
“I take the responsibility,” Carrick said in the post-match news conference. “I totally understand the situation, I’m not expecting anything, I’m carrying on as normal and I love this place.”
In something of a reference to dropping the club captain and the response he received from the crowd at the end, Carrick continued: “I always do what I feel is going to be the best for the club, whatever decision is made.
“I’ve tried to do everything I can to not be in this position and for a number of reasons, whatever they are, we’ve not been able to stop that happening to the position we’re in.
“I’ve always felt that support and always felt that connection with the [fans].
“I have to say it is mixed emotions, I didn’t really expect that from the supporters. The respect that I have for them and for them to show that back meant an awful lot.”
Emotions are running high at Old Trafford and, even though Carrick denied it, his fanfare at the end may well prove to have been his farewell.
The Theatre of Dreams has become a house of horrors – for the 11th manager since Ferguson retired and with United’s last Premier League title now stretching back to 2013.