"From Legend to Relegation Zone!" — Manchester United Finally Pull the Trigger on Michael Carrick After Worst Start in 40 Years, Pochettino Waiting in the Wings

Abdulhameed Sherif · Sports · Nov 12, 2026

Manchester United have officially sacked head coach Michael Carrick, ending a six-month permanent reign that began with Champions League qualification and collapsed into the club’s worst league start since 1986.

The axe fell swiftly. Michael Carrick arrived at Manchester United’s training ground shortly before 8 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2026, and by 10:18 a.m. he was gone—his second spell at the club, this time as head coach, terminated after just 16 matches in the permanent role. The club confirmed the decision in a statement released at 10:37 a.m., with United’s hierarchy having reached the “extremely difficult conclusion that a change is necessary in order to achieve our ambitions”.

The statistics behind the sacking are damning. United have won just one of their opening 10 Premier League games this season, collecting a mere eight points and sitting 18th in the table—inside the relegation zone—a point behind 17th-placed Coventry. Across all competitions, the Red Devils have managed only three wins in 15 matches, losing seven and drawing five. Their solitary league victory was a 5-2 win over Ipswich Town, and they are without a win in eight league matches. The 4-4 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday, which saw United twice fight back from two goals down, was not enough to save Carrick’s job.

This is, by any measure, United’s worst start to a league season since 1986. Carrick’s points-per-game average has plummeted from 2.29 during his interim spell last season to just 0.93 in the current campaign. Last season, he had won 12 of his 17 league games in charge, guiding United to a third-place finish and Champions League qualification—a run that earned him a two-year contract in the summer. But the collapse that followed has been brutal and unrelenting.

The decision was driven by a review led by director of football Jason Wilcox, with final approval from co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family. Ratcliffe had met with executives Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox in Monaco before the call was made. Carrick had pleaded for more signings in August, saying “We want more, we need more,” but he lasted less than six months of his two-year deal.

The club’s statement was gracious to a man who won five Premier League titles and a Champions League as a player at Old Trafford. “Michael is, and always will be, a Manchester United legend,” it read. “Just as he did as a player, he has conducted himself with the highest standards of dedication and professionalism throughout his time back with the club. His leadership and achievements last season will always be fondly remembered”. But sentiment could not mask the reality: United are in a relegation battle, and the club intends to appoint a permanent successor “as quickly as possible”.

That successor is expected to be Mauricio Pochettino. The Athletic reported that United had already been finalising a deal for the former Tottenham and Chelsea boss—now in charge of the USMNT—before formally sacking Carrick. Pochettino is “ready to accept an offer,” and United have opened talks. His release clause is in the region of $10 million (£7.4m) , and his longtime assistant Jesus Perez is set to follow him to Manchester. Pochettino has long desired the United job, and the club’s hierarchy believes he is the man to stabilise a ship that is listing dangerously.

For Carrick, the exit is a painful bookend to a brief but dramatic tenure. He took interim charge in January 2026 after the sacking of Ruben Amorim and delivered a remarkable run of 12 wins in 17 league games, restoring pride and securing Champions League football. But the step up to permanent management exposed the fragility of a squad that had been allowed to drift, and the results spiralled. As one analysis put it, the end of Carrick’s reign “feels sad but inevitable”—United fans know this isn’t just on him.

Now the attention turns to Pochettino, who inherits a team low on confidence, short on wins, and staring at the unthinkable prospect of a relegation fight. His first task will be to lift United out of the bottom three before the trip to face Liverpool at Anfield after the international break. The Argentine has managed in the Premier League before, at Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea, but he has never walked into a situation this toxic, this urgent, or this close to the abyss. Manchester United have sacked their legend to save their season. The question now is whether the man they believe can rescue them is ready to answer the call.