18 Feb 2026 07:39:03
{Ed's Note - Shappy has posted a new article entitled, What United Should Look For in the Next Manager

1.) 18 Feb 2026
18 Feb 2026 13:36:50
Who on here would have suggested Carrick as our permanent manager when Amorim was being questioned? I'd go as far as to say no one.

We have been short sighted so many times before. In my opinion a few good results (if you call a draw at West Ham and almost collapsing against Fulham good results) shouldn't put Carrick at the front of the list. But this is all about opinions.

I really enjoyed reading your article Shappy. For me I'd be leaning heavily towards Luis Enrique as you suggested. I think he would be unobtainable though and Marco Silva becomes my second option with McKenna third.

2.) 18 Feb 2026
18 Feb 2026 15:25:44
I wouldn't have suggested him and I still don't its too early.
I wouldn't suggest mckenna under any circumstance
Nor would I consider Silva.

3.) 18 Feb 2026
18 Feb 2026 19:39:36
A lot of people were very happy when we appointed Jose, and ETH, and Amorim. I'm kind of lost what to think now, there are no guarantees whoever we appoint. Enrique is the current flavour of the month but as we have seen on here, we all have different thoughts on who we might want, or more clearly who we don't want.

One thing that is true is that up until last year our recruitment had been bang average, and that's being generous. That hasn't helped any of the Managers we have had, even LVG and OGS were clear they didn't get the players they asked for.

4.) 18 Feb 2026
18 Feb 2026 21:41:31
Agree ajh no standout. I wouldn't be too keen on Enrique.
De zerbe intrigues me.
Glad its not tuchel.

5.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 07:08:22
Honestly think it’s the worst pool of managers to choose from that I can remember. Not 1 standout. A bit like the standard of players around also just pretty average all around.

6.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 08:23:09
JD, it's all about opinions. No manager in the EPL has more points than Carrick since he took the job. He is currently the best manager in the league based on form.

Obviously the old saying is form is temporary, class is permanent, and we still have a lot to see from Carrick before we can safely give him the job.

But right now I see him as being in the driving seat. Managers are similar to players in that they need to find the right club to show the best of themselves. Great players have moved to the wrong club and looked awful, average players have found themselves at the right club and look top class.

Just because a manager has a good CV and has been great at another club that is no guarantee that they would be great at United. We've seen plenty of evidence of that over the past decade.

I've currently got Carrick as first choice because he is actually showing success in the role. If the performances and results drop off then that opens the door to other candidates. But if Carrick goes unbeaten for the rest of the season and finishes 4th or even 3rd then I think that makes it very difficult for the club to pick someone else who is not guaranteed to do better than him, especially as there is little to no evidence to prove they would do better.

There are a lack of standout candidates right now. Probably only Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann neither of which are guaranteed to be available or have even expressed an interest in our club of they were.

Everyone else is probably on a similar level to Carrick, shown promise but ultimately unproven. It wouldn't make sense to replace Carrick with someone at a similar level but would actually be less proven than him in the role.

For me it's Carrick's to lose.

7.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 09:50:56
Blackpool, I think it's the result of a shift in how clubs are run.

The all powerful manager who runs the club is a thing of the past, we are seeing more of a shift to a "head coach" model, where the responsibilities of the head coach are far less impactful than that of a manager.

The money involved now means clubs simply cannot afford to give so much power and control to one person, especially a person who is unlikely to stay more than 3-5 years at most even if they are successful, often less than 3 years.

With this new model we are seeing younger managers/head coaches than ever before. Guys in their 30's and in some cases in their 20's in roles that 20 years ago wouldn't have been given to anyone before their were 40 at least. Possibly because innovation is valued higher in a manager now than experience.

Just look around at who is managing some of the top clubs in world football right now.

Alvaro Arbeloa is manager or Real Madrid having never managed at senior level. He took over from Xabi Alonso who was only a senior manager for 3 seasons at one club before taking over at Real Madrid.

Vincent Kompany managing Bayern Munich, not even 40 yet. He had two years at Anderlecht and two years at Burnley which culminated in relegation to the Championship before he got the Bayern job.

Mikel Arteta hadn't managed at senior level when he was given the Arsenal job.

Liam Rosenior had 2 years at Hull and 18 months at Strasbourg before taking over at Chelsea.

Fabian Hurtzler was 31 years old when he was given the Brighton job.

Cesc Fabregas at Como, Inigo Perez at Rayon Vallecano,

8.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 10:46:15
Hit send by accident ?‍♂️

Managers like Julian Nagelsmann and Will Still managing top level clubs at the ages of 28 and 30 respectively. Along with many other managers who got top level jobs in their 30's such as Dominic Tedesco, Andoni Iraola, Thiago Motta, Edin Terzic, Sebastian Hoeness, Ruben Amorim, and Carlos Cuesta to add to all the others I've mentioned.

When managers are given reduced control, and they are being sacked sooner and sooner it makes it harder for any of them to cement themselves with the kind of reputation that some of the older managers who were given more freedom to forge.

They had more coaching and life experience by the time they typically started managing at the top level, they were given more time and freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. All of which enabled them to build a stronger reputation.

Younger managers are given less, thrown in younger, and judged more harshly. Which makes it much harder for them to build a strong reputation. Look at Nagelsmann for example, he was one of the best young managers, doing bits at 28 in the Bundesliga. Yet his time at Bayern is considered a relative failure, despite him having one of the highest ever win percentages of all Bayern managers. Despite him being younger than some of the Balon d'Or winners when he took over the biggest club in Germany.

We've got highly talented young managers who are being thrown on the scrap heap as "past it" or "not good enough" who are still younger than Cristiano Ronaldo. Guys who have achieved more in their short managerial careers than people like David Moyes.

Marco Silva is a perfect example, many fans are turning their nose up at him probably on the back of a short unsuccessful spell at Everton (who were in a total mess top to bottom at the time) . Yet he's gone to Fulham and has managed to get them playing some great football, and last season managed to get them to finish with their highest ever points tally.
How many managers can we say in the league are definitely better than him? Pep sure, Glasner and Emery probably (as they have achieved more with not to dissimilar resources), Slot and Howe possibly but hard to tell as both have had clubs with far more resources to achieve more. Think of it this way if Silva and Slot swapped places last season would Liverpool still have won the league? Probably, but would Fulham have managed their highest ever points total with Slot? That I'm less sure about. The rest he's better than, or at least has shown himself to have achieved better than given his resources.

So only the managers of City and Liverpool, along with Howe, Glasner and Emery (who all play far too defensive/pragmatic to be considered for the United job) have shown themselves to be better or possibly better than Silva. The rest potentially could be better, but haven't yet shown it. The one I feel I might be being a little harsh on here is Andoni Iraola who has managed a club on a similar scale to Fulham (and done better than Silva), yet I don't think I say say he's definitely proven himself a better manager yet as he has been fortunate to have some fantastic players at Bournemouth due to their excellent recruitment.

Last season they had Kepa on loan from Chelsea in goal, Huijsen who moved to Real Madrid, Zabarnyi who moved to PSG, and Kerkez who moved to Liverpool, they also have lost Ouattara to Brentford and Semenyo to City (in January) losing 6 of their starting 11 from last season, mostly to top UCL sides. Highlighting the quality of players Iraola has had to work with.

That also ignores that he still has the likes of Petrovic, Sensei, Truffert, Korupi, Evanilson, Scott, Kluivert and the new lad Rayan (who alongside Korupi looks like a future top class player, while Scott is someone I'd strongly consider as a third option in midfield if we can/need to sign a third midfielder this summer) . Can we just have some appreciation for Bournemouth's recruitment. Rayan signed from Brazil in January, 19 years old, and he has 2 goals and an assist in under 200 minutes of EPL football.

As Iraola has had far better players to work with it's tough to say yet whether he's a better manager than Silva (although I suspect he will prove to be in time) .

9.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 10:59:03
I have to say, I cannot put my finger on a preference. Given that we have tried many different 'types' of managers, some of whom have been serial winners elsewhere, none have been a success at United.

I can, however, say that I'm very pleased it won't be Tuchel and hope beyond all hope that it won't be Southgate.
Too early (if at all) for McKenna. Stumped really.

10.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 22:16:44
I'm not saying Carrick won't be the right choice - he definitely could be, and you make a valid point about current form and finding the right club. I think I'm actually just a bit disillusioned after Amorim was sacked. It wasn't because I thought we were playing great football or that the results were close to good enough, but I did think we seemed to have broken the continuous cycle of changing managers after they lose the dressing room. I sense that wasn't quite the case with Amorim, but either way we are back to searching for a manager when this time there are no exciting options in the market.

Surely the fact there doesn't seem to be a standout must be a worry for us. I do sense the club thought Tuchel was there for the taking and that didn't materialise. It might end up being Carrick, rightly or wrongly, based on a law of attrition. The main worry is that it shows how far we have fallen and the poisoned chalice we seem to have become for managers. They would have been clambering over each other to become our manager 10 years ago.

11.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 22:25:53
I don't think Poch can be discounted yet from the conversation.

12.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 23:04:57
It's the late arrival that concerns me with all the wc managers. Such little time to prep, Eric. Mind you, Poch will probably be available at training before a lot of our players.

13.) 19 Feb 2026
19 Feb 2026 23:08:13
Opinions are fine, Shappy, but to say Silva would probably have won the league with Liverpool last season is an opinion formed on what rationale? That can be nothing more than a gut feeling.

14.) 20 Feb 2026
20 Feb 2026 11:08:14
Ken, It's based on the fact that Liverpool won the league last season with Klopp's team playing in a way very similar to how Klopp would play.

Liverpool have dropped off this year due to big changes in the squad and the manager trying to get the players to play in a different style of play to what they are used to.

Marco Silva has a preference for attacking front foot football, he likes to play with quick transitions from defense to attack, and has used both a high press and a mid-block.

Given his preferred style of play, and the squad he would have had at Liverpool last season (that really suited his preferred style) then I think there is no reason to believe he wouldn't have got the same kind of performance out of that squad.

I think Liverpool even with the big changes in their squad this season would also be doing better right now with Silva as their manager looking to play in a way that they all know, enjoy playing and that suits that majority of squad.

Slot seems to be a little too pragmatic for them, he tends to make the "safe" decision, the cautious one. I think that to the players it probably comes across like a lack of faith in them. Especially given how much faith Klopp used to give his players. If the players don't feel like the manager has faith in them then that tends to knock their confidence which lowers their level of performance.

We are seeing that right now at United under Carrick. I was a big supporter of Amorim, but he was too pragmatic, bringing on CB's to see out games, or adding Ugarte to midfield later on in games. That always seems to lead to a drop in performance and often us conceding goals later in games.

Yet Carrick does the opposite, he brings on more attacking players, he doesn't coach cautious play, but how United can hurt the opposition.

The players are the same, we haven't changed the squad. Yet they all seem happier, more confident and are all playing better football. In fact football that we didn't think they were capable of. Things like the quick, and slick one touch rondos we played against the likes of City and Arsenal, leaving their players chasing shadows.

That kind of football is only possible when the players are confident, and to feel confident they need to believe the manager has faith in them.

Which is why I firmly believe pragmatic managers just won't work at United, and probably at Liverpool also.