All stats revealed 

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It was yet another bad weekend for Manchester United, as the Red Devils crashed out of the FA Cup to Brighton, meaning they will face their shortest season since 1915, having already been knocked out of the EFL Cup early on by Grimsby and not having any European football this term. It’s expected that Sunday’s defeat will be interim manager Darren Fletcher’s last game in the dugout, with Man Utd now set to appoint another interim head coach until the end of the season. United sacked Rúben Amorim as manager after 14 months in the job on January 5.

Former Man United midfielder Michael Carrick has now reportedly emerged as the favourite to be appointed Man United caretaker manager, with club chiefs hoping to have an appointment in place for when players return to training on Wednesday. While a final decision is yet to be reached, talks are said to have progressed with the 44-year-old over the position. Carrick previously had a three-game stint as United’s temporary boss following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dismissal in 2021, and his only full-time managerial job came in the Championship with Middlesbrough. Transfermarkt digs into Carrick’s record as a boss to try and help determine how well suited he is to taking over at Old Trafford.

The managerial stats of Michael Carrick

Carrick got his first taste of full-time senior management in 2022, when North Yorkshire-club Middlesbrough appointed the then 41 year old. When he arrived at Riverside, Boro were 21st in the Championship table. Carrick’s start was electric. He won an incredible 40 points from his first 17 games, as his team shot up the table. Middlesbrough would eventually finish fourth that season and lose in the play-off semi-finals to Coventry. It was some rise and there was plenty of excitement about Carrick’s future as a manager.

However, in his second season, standard’s dropped, and Middlesbrough ended up finishing eighth in the Championship after a very underwhelming second half of the campaign. Things didn’t improve in the 2024/25 season, as once again Middlesbrough missed out on the play-off places – this time finishing 10th in the table. Shortly after, at the beginning of June, Carrick was sacked and eventually replaced by Rob Edwards.

The new boss got a better tune out of that Boro team leading them to second place before leaving for the Wolves job late last year. They still remain second in the table, as things stand, pushing for the automatic promotion places under new boss Kim Hellberg. The improvement since his departure is not a great look on Carrick, but the way he turned things around at the club during his first season in charge should be remembered. Perhaps that instant impact is something noted by the Man United hierarchy, who are hoping for their very own short-term upturn in results.