Manchester United are back in a position that fans were dreading they would be in at this point of the season: considering who should be their next manager. At the time of writing, Carrick is still the boss, and it is entirely possible that something could suddenly swing his way, as unlikely as it seems at the moment.
Lots of names have been floated around recently, especially after the heavy and embarrassing loss to Como mid-week, but there is probably only one with the most potential to succeed. Fans are well aware of the toxic atmosphere, the lack of structure and forward planning, and the financial mess in which the club finds itself.
Given these elements, it seems that United can only go for a very particular type of manager; otherwise, they are doomed to stay in this vicious cycle. When we think of the criteria needed, a few things spring to mind: we need someone who is able to work on a budget, with a limited and mish-mash of profiles in a squad, is enough of a tactician, and has Premier League experience, preferably at a big club.
Out of the names in mainstream media—Fabian Hurzeler, Julian Nagelsmann, and Eddie Howe seem to be the ones most mentioned. Hurzeler would be crazy to leave Brighton, given the structure and momentum he has at Brighton, even if United’s pull and appeal are always huge.
Nagelsmann is a bright and young tactician who would need the club to be set up in a pretty specific way for him to succeed, and even then, there are minor question marks over how his teams seem to get counter-attacked. His time at the helm of the German national team has not really done his reputation many favours, even if international football is a different ball game.
Howe is brilliant at setting his teams up out of possession, but his time at Newcastle was marked by a consistent inability to break down stubborn teams in possession—a task that would be needed at United. None of these names seem the perfect fit, nor do they inspire a great deal of confidence, at least for this writer.
Unai Emery has been mentioned in passing, and in my opinion, he would be the best bet. In an ideal world, fans would be able to trust in the club’s structure and setup, but it is clear nothing is going to change and INEOS are pretty much the same as the Glazers, with Jason Wilcox basically being the equivalent of Ed Woodward.
Emery has a track record of dealing with all sorts of players and profiles and is able to make his teams look better than the sum of their parts. This is invaluable and perfect for United, who seem completely incapable of squad building well enough to actually have a group of players with similar qualities, which is obviously a result of the constant manager changes.
Emery has gone through many squad overhauls at Aston Villa and constantly has them performing at a decent level, for many years now. He is respected as a tactician, and his time at Villarreal also showed he is able to work with a shoestring budget and still deliver.
The Spaniard also has big club experience at Arsenal, and while that did not end well, it is not hard to imagine how he would have performed with the champions with the current squad. As good a job as Mikel Arteta has done, Emery did not have the luxuries he does, and likely would have won the league too if he had been backed in this same way with the same quality of players.
His negative experience with the Gunners might even be a positive in the sense that he has been through the highly pressured environment of a big club underperforming. The reason Emery is reportedly not on the shortlist for United seems to be financially related, as it would take quite the fee to release him from Villa.
However, that is a crazy reason for a club like Manchester United not to consider a manager. Fans were told the club were waiting it out for Dan Ashworth as he is THE man and there is no point pursuing any other director of football.
Obviously, that blew up in their face anyway, but putting that aside, if the right person is there, you have to do all you can to bring them in, and finances should not be the issue. After all, what is the point of going with another, potentially less capable or less suitable manager who might struggle to get the club to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
The financial loss of missing out would likely outweigh the cost of just shelling out for Emery or whoever those in charge feel is the best fit. It is not surprising Wilcox’s shortlist includes two of three managers who can be hired for free.
It is hard to feel like much will change with that current shortlist, and we would be doomed to ruin another manager’s future, just as with Ruben Amorim, who also needed a very particular setup to succeed.