\u201cBut what they\u2019ve said is they\u2019re not going to be bounced into\u2014irrespective of wins or draws or losses on the pitch in this next couple of months\u2014making an appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to wait towards the end of the season. If Michael at that point makes himself available for the job … and says, \u2018I want to put my name in the hat,\u2019 at that point, like in any other recruitment role in the country for any other business, [he] would go into a process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gary Neville\u2019s Six-Man Shortlist for the Next Man Utd Manager![\"Eddie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01k3dp95h2qbd63wp0n8.jpg\" "\\"Eddie")
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Eddie Howe has been struggling at Newcastle. | Stu Forster\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Neville has previously insisted<\/a> that his former teammate is not in a position to take on the United job beyond the end of the season. \u201cI think it\u2019s right that Carrick keeps the job until the end of the season and then hands the baton over to a [Thomas] Tuchel or a [Carlo] Ancelotti, someone of that world-class ilk,\u201d he mused after United\u2019s victories over Manchester City and Arsenal.<\/p>\n However, two more triumphs at the expense of Fulham and Spurs have softened Neville\u2019s stance somewhat. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is perfect,\u201d he said of Carrick\u2019s start. \u201cThis is exactly what they [United\u2019s board] would\u2019ve wanted, where there is complete and utter uplifting performances. There\u2019s more faith being built in the players and they look like they can play football at the level that they were when they signed.\u201d<\/p>\n Neville did also warn: \u201cAll I will say right now is that if Michael Carrick is selected or not selected, no one can be 100% sure of what the right decision is when it comes to Manchester United<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The same can be said for any appointment United make, which is perhaps why Neville has reiterated his desire to see a big-name managerial arrival. England\u2019s Tuchel and Brazil coach Ancelotti were once again put forward, along with Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann. All three former Bayern Munich managers could be available after competing at this summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n Newcastle United<\/a> manager Eddie Howe also got a shout-out from Neville. The flailing Magpies coach also has Roy Keane\u2019s temperamental blessing but, by his own damning admission, is \u201cnot doing [his] job well enough\u201d at St James\u2019 Park. Luis Enrique is fairing better at Paris Saint-Germain and proved to be the final marquee arrival Neville spitballed.<\/p>\n Manager<\/p>\n Age<\/p>\n Current Job<\/p>\n Carlo Ancelotti<\/p>\n 66<\/p>\n Brazil<\/p>\n Luis Enrique<\/p>\n 55<\/p>\n PSG<\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel<\/p>\n 52<\/p>\n England<\/p>\n Julian Nagelsmann<\/p>\n 38<\/p>\n Germany<\/p>\n Eddie Howe<\/p>\n 48<\/p>\n Newcastle<\/p>\n Michael Carrick<\/p>\n 44<\/p>\n Man Utd<\/p>\n Man Utd Can\u2019t Get Scared by Ghosts of the Past Ole Gunnar Solskj\u00e6r went head-to-head with his former assistant for the current job. | ADRIAN DENNIS\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Once the initial wave of euphoria has been waded through, the overriding reaction to Carrick\u2019s flying start is that this is simply the second-coming of Ole Gunnar Solskj\u00e6r. The Norwegian former interim is only other Manchester United manager in the last 80 years to win their first four matches for the club. He was hastily handed a full-time contract and ended his permanent tenure crying in the Vicarage Road dressing room so must be branded a failure.<\/p>\n The theory goes that the same fate will inevitably befall Carrick should he be given the reins on a long-term basis. But history rarely repeats itself so precisely.<\/p>\n Carrick and Solskj\u00e6r are very different figures. The former striker was detrimentally enthralled by the history of Manchester United, repeatedly harking back to the good old days and holding Sir Alex Ferguson in such high regard that he refused to use his parking space. Carrick is a decidedly more grounded character, plodding through his media appearances by trying to say the square root of nothing, let alone embarking upon any nostalgia trips.<\/p>\n It\u2019s far too early to say if Carrick\u2019s United will also face the same problem of breaking down low blocks which dogged Solskj\u00e6r\u2019s tenure\u2014City, Arsenal and Fulham<\/a> all came onto them while Spurs played for more than an hour with 10 men\u2014but the early signs of sharpened passing and inventive movement out wide are promising.<\/p>\n United\u2019s hierarchy have to make their next appointment independent of what has gone before this current season. All too often clubs hire a coach as an over-correction on past incumbents; a strict disciplinarian (Jos\u00e9 Mourinho, for example) is replaced with a fun-loving vibes merchant (Solskj\u00e6r, anyone?).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era of decision-making has inspired little optimism of any coherent thought process\u2014the contract Erik ten Hag was handed after finishing eighth two years ago wouldn\u2019t have expired until this summer.<\/p>\n If a manager with the proven track record of winning and working well with a sporting director model like Enrique becomes available, how could United pass that up? Yet, if the only reason not to give Carrick the job next summer is because the last interim<\/a> who was made permanent supposedly failed (after finishing third and second in his only two full seasons) then that is a ghost the club should look through.<\/p>\n READ THE LATEST MAN UTD NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MORE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary former Manchester United fullback Gary Neville revealed that the Red Devils have already begun their search for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-463673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Ole](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01kevzx756pbhn270pbm.jpg\" "\\"Ole")
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