Jason Wilcox is a man under intense scrutiny right now.
First, Lisandro Martinez criticised Manchester United's director of football publicly.
Then the Old Trafford crowd made it clear they blame him for some of the club's recent troubles.
He has also been booed when leaving Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge in recent weeks.
@J_Tanswell, @lauriewhitwell and @MarioCortegana spoke to those with knowledge of the situation to find out how Wilcox is viewed inside and outside the club.
Free to read: bit.ly/4z3I4Il
He should have been cannonballed out of his duties that day. Blood and sand. This is beyond parody now.
Before the FA Cup final win against Man City, Ten Hag was under major pressure and Jason Wilcox and others involved put forward several candidates as possible replacements.
One person Wilcox spoke highly of was Russell Martin, whom he had appointed the previous summer in his role as Southampton’s director of football.
Martin led Southampton to promotion to the PL in 2023-24 via the Championship play-offs [@TheAthleticFC]
Just watching the Milan derby as it’s on BBC and just watched a sequence where Modric (who’s 40) lost the ball but instantly ran and won it back despite it looking a lost cause. More running and effort in him than I’ve seen in any Utd’s players this season.
Paul retweeted
In the process they are willing to write off three matches, creating a likely impossible deficit to Champions League qualification which will cost them hundreds of millions of pounds, and making their job of qualifying out of the UCL league phase this season far more difficult
All because they can’t decide what to do next
It’s insane
🚨 - NEW:
Manchester United’s hierarchy privately PLEDGED to try to get to the next international break before having to act on Michael Carrick’s position during crisis talks this week.
[@lauriewhitwell/@TheAthleticFC]
‘Here Villa , have some points , this relegation battle is brilliant for Prime’s Doc’.
#MUFC decided on plan to get to international break then make assessment on Michael Carrick following crisis talks this week.
Potential (now realised) loss to Chelsea baked in, presumably.
Roma + Aston Villa ahead.
Points per game 2013-24: 1.81
Points per game 2024-now: 1.38
nytimes.com/athletic/7741838…
Said all along the details in the points since best in class Ineos came onboard. Worse than under purely the Glazers.
#MUFC decided on plan to get to international break then make assessment on Michael Carrick following crisis talks this week.
Potential (now realised) loss to Chelsea baked in, presumably.
Roma + Aston Villa ahead.
Points per game 2013-24: 1.81
Points per game 2024-now: 1.38
nytimes.com/athletic/7741838…
This very sentence alone should be his death knell.
Michael Carrick insists no ‘stigma’ attached to Manchester Utd being in relegation zone espn.com/football/story/_/id…
Utd will sign Chris Wood on loan in January desperate for the goals to keep us up and try to pass it off as supporting the manager.
Has anyone told the club hierarchy you can’t shop at Harrods with Iceland vouchers ? Being outspent by Hull and Ipswich when in the champions league shows you how little they know about running a successful football club.
For the next celebrity version of Traitors the contestants should be purely right wing grifters - watching them cretins trying to critically think or on the flip side conceal that they are traitors would make belting tv.
You mean the same DCL we balked at when he was on a free?
#mufc are exploring the market for centre forwards in January, and one name under consideration is Dominic Calvert-Lewin [@lauriewhitwell, @BerenCross]
Paul retweeted
‘Michael Carrick will be given time to turn things around’ and ‘the hierarchy do not want to rush next steps’ should be read and digested for what it really is: an indecisive club without any succession planning or contingencies because it doesn’t have clarity of identity in the first place. A club that often takes the cheap instead of the smart or right route because of the crippling Glazer debt, plus decision-makers who are never aligned - except in their own self-preservation. And it ends up costing more.
It explains the chaotic nature of lurching from one coaching philosophy to its extreme, to revisiting candidates that were on the agenda - some as far back as 2019 - that were already ruled out, to having a shortlist of options with nothing in common to take over a mishmash team that has suffered from horrid squad planning; both in incomings and exits.
Blame the players, blame the name in the dugout while the people who brought them to Manchester United, kept them, created the absolute opposite of a culture of excellence are allowed to rinse and repeat.
But I thought we had a data driven approach by industry leader Michael Sansoni? Surely that should have identified the new coach based on the data driven football we want to play ? Almost as if all these people appointed by Ineos are in made up roles by their mates .
🚨🚨🗣️ @LaurensJulien on the head coach situation at Manchester United:
“I was told that there’s NO plan B [to Michael Carrick] for now. So what’s the point for United to get rid of Carrick then appoint an interim coach between now and whenever they can appoint another permanent coach?
“May as well keep Carrick, half as the coach that he is right now, half as an INTERIM coach until a potential plan B, whether that’s [Julian] Nagelsmann, Eddie Howe, Antonio Conte, Unai Emery, whoever you want there. But right now, the plan B is not ready.
“It’s NOT that they can’t find one [a replacement], it’s just that this process of appointing somebody else if they decide to get rid of Carrick will take a bit of time, which is normal.”
#MUFC [@CBSSportsGolazo]
Back him big time with what ? The money they wouldn’t spend on 3 desperately needed positions in summer ? The money they don’t have to sack him and replace him ?
So what happens when they inevitably have to sack him anyway ? If those making the decisions can’t decide on a single candidate who would get more out of this current bunch then they shouldn’t be making the decisions.
🚨 JUST IN:
Manchester United had PLANNED on sacking Michael Carrick this week but failure to settle on a replacement has granted him another stay of execution. #MUFC [@samuelluckhurst]
