*If Sacked, Announcement Could Be On Thursday
There is fresh speculation that the board of wobbling Manchester Utd may sack the club’s manager/head coach Michael Carrick any moment from tomorrow (Wednesday).
The speculation came even as he still turned up at Carrington, the iconic club’s training ground, to oversee today’s session, getting there at exactly 07:15am.
Although there are players on international duty, those players returning from injury or not involved in internationals were still set to train.
Carrick’s future will be decided at a meeting attended by club minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chief Executive Officer Omar Berrada and Director of Football Jason Wilcox in Monaco tomorrow.
BBC Sport reports that there is a growing expectation that Berrada and Wilcox will recommend to Ratcliffe and the Glazer family for Carrick to be sacked.
Berrada and Wilcox will present their recommendation and a decision on Carrick’s future may not come until Thursday.
The club opted to stick with Carrick after the side’s 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth on 25 October, with the intention of reassessing the situation during this month’s international break, which has just kicked off.
Multiple sources have told BBC Sport that the board remain committed to that process, and that no final decision on Carrick’s future has been made,as of today.
The 4-4 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday means United, who are 18th in the table and swimming in relegation waters, have made their worst start to a domestic campaign in 40 years.
As of this morning, Carrick remained head coach and duly turned up to take training.
He arrived at Carrington and neither he nor his coaches have been told their services are no longer required.
It is one of the weird issues around the football industry that word around decisions tends to leak out before they are communicated to those involved.
This tends to be because of conversations that need to take place around potential replacements, and that tends to find its way into the media.
If a change is made as expected, it would be the third season in succession Manchester Utd had backed a manager in the summer, given them transfer funds, then sacked them in mid-season.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Carrick… arriving for today’s training session.
