Manchester United already know what Michael Carrick must do to be considered for the full-time head coach role at Old Trafford.
Michael Carrick’s tenure as Manchester United head coach has exceeded expectations after he replaced Rúben Amorim in the role.
With United fighting for Champions League spots, the former United boss has recorded epic wins over Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham, and Tottenham Hotspur, rocketing them up the table to fourth in the Premier League table, and just within two points of third-placed Aston Villa.
While Carrick is only in charge of the squad for the remainder of the campaign as the club searches for a longer-term head coach, some have started to wonder if he may already be the answer.
Having a few years of relative success at Middlesbrough prior to his United appointment, plus the elite experience he had as a player, Carrick has many of the traits that United fans feel an Old Trafford head coach needs.
Carrick must ask to be considered
Carrick joined United as their head coach with the transparent understanding that, once his term had been fulfilled, he would step down and make way for a new appointment. But, amid his good form, Gary Neville has claimed United would now consider him for the long-term role, but only if he asks to be.
“I asked the club what is the official position of the football club? In terms of what you’re saying publicly to everybody else?” Neville explained on his Sky Sports podcast.
“They said, ‘We’ve actually begun our process now of starting to look for another manager.’
“What they’ve said is they’re not going to be bounced into, irrespective of wins or draws or losses on the pitch in this next couple of months, making an appointment. They’re going to wait towards the end of the season.
“If Michael Carrick says ‘I want to put my name in the hat’, Carrick would go into a process.”
United are right not to get sucked into emotion
This Premier League season has shown that, no matter the current state of play, anything is up for grabs. Liverpool were top of the league with five wins in five in September, but now sit five points adrift of United in fourth. Tottenham, after a good start, are 15th and six points off relegation.
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While Carrick’s start has been great and shown the 44-year-old to be a man of incredible tactical competence as well as a gift for great man-management, any decision on his future must be saved until the end of the season.
If Carrick sees United finish in Champions League spots, and even possibly within the top three, he deserves to be considered with the rest of the pack for the permanent job, but what the club must make sure they do is make any evaluation with a clean slate and a clear mind.
Other candidates, such as Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann, are just as brilliant and worth considering. The club must make sure that, even if the emotion of the situation leans in Carrick’s favour, they must give all other candidates an equal and fair shot.
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