The last time Manchester United won a league game, schools were closed for the summer and the transfer window was still open.

When things get this bad, managers can be forgiven for heading straight down the tunnel after another defeat - especially if their side have made their worst start to a season in 40 years.

Michael Carrick did not have to think twice before heading towards the United supporters after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge following Saturday's 2-0 defeat.

Those fans had not seen their team win for almost two months, but they showed warmth, appreciation and respect for the manager who has overseen a run of nine league games without a win.

No matter how much worse things get, it is difficult to imagine hardcore United fans turning on their manager.

No team has won fewer Premier League games than United this season. Only goal difference is keeping Carrick's side out of the relegation zone.

Make no mistake, on their current trajectory of 0.77 points per game, United are heading for relegation for the first time since 1974. They would end the season with fewer than 30 points, which would almost certainly mean Championship football next season.

Things have got so bad some United fans think relegation would be a blessing in disguise if it forces their owners to sell the club.

So, despite all the doom and gloom, and the damning statistics, why have United fans not turned on their manager?

Carrick is one of their own

Carrick is a class act and he still embodies the values United are meant to represent as a club.

Carrick played under Sir Alex Ferguson and is an old-school manager in the sense that he wants to keep everything inside the dressing room. Some fans may want him to rant and rave and show more emotion in public but you are never going to get that from Carrick.

When it comes to the media, United are like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Everything that happens at the club is headline news - especially in the social media age. United fans feel like they are under siege.

Carrick is on their side. He gives very little away when he speaks in public. He wears his club suit with pride and always says what is in the best interests of the club. He never makes it about himself. The clue is in the name: United.

Problems lie beyond the dugout

Changing the manager is not going to fix the long-term problems at the club. United fans know that and that is why they are not going to hound Carrick out and watch him being replaced by another manager who has to operate in the same structure.

United have had seven permanent managers since Ferguson retired in 2013 and, despite varying levels of relative success in cup competitions, none of them has been able to mount a genuine title challenge.

A long list of former United players have now joined fans in arguing that things are not going to get better at United until the club has new owners.

The media are sometimes criticised for not highlighting issues with United's ownership structure but anyone who has time on their hands can go and check old newspapers from 2005.

The vast majority of football reporters and commentators who covered the Glazer family's takeover warned that leveraged buyouts - the acquisition of a company using a high proportion of borrowed money (debt) - should not be allowed in football. Leveraged buyouts of the kind the Glazers used to buy United are no longer allowed in English football. That is no consolation for United fans.

United fans don't traditionally turn on their managers

It seems almost inevitable that Carrick will lose his job and his body language sometimes resembles a man who is resigned to his fate.

If Carrick does go this month, he can walk out of Old Trafford with his head held high - and come back whenever he wants.

United fans are proud of the fact that they have historically not turned on their managers. Fans have become disaffected and disillusioned with the managers who have followed in Ferguson's footsteps but there have been no mutinies.

United supporters of a certain age still remember the lone fan who turned up to Old Trafford with a banner in December 1989 declaring that Ferguson should leave after "three years of excuses".

Ferguson did not say goodbye and the rest is history - including 13 league titles and two European Cups.

Fans don't trust chiefs to make the right calls

When Jim Ratcliffe bought a minority stake in United in 2024, the Glazers agreed to let him take control of football operations.

Erik ten Hag was the manager at the time and despite initial misgivings he was given a contract extension after winning the 2024 FA Cup final. He was sacked and replaced by Ruben Amorim just five months later. Amorim lasted 14 months before he was sacked after he criticised the way the club was being run in a press conference.

Carrick took over in an interim capacity in January and he was given the full-time job in the summer after he led United back into the Champions League with a third-place finish in the Premier League.

The key decision makers below Ratcliffe are chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, who both used to work at Manchester City.

Highly-respected sporting director Dan Ashworth left in December 2024 after just five months - after spending five months on gardening leave at Newcastle United.

No great clamour for Howe or Nagelsmann

United's top targets to replace Carrick are former Newcastle and Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe and former Germany and Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann.

Both of them are strong candidates but United fans do not seem to be that excited by the prospect of either of them taking over.

A clean slate and a fresh start may mean they would be able to get more out of this group of players than Carrick but there are no guarantees in football.

If Unai Emery was available, he would be the favourite to take over but he is doing a great job at Aston Villa and is under contract until 2029.

In any case, swapping Villa for United at this stage of his career would mean dropping down 19 places in the Champions League table and eight places in the Premier League.

Clubs in the Premier League are also duty-bound to act in utmost good faith towards each other, which makes any move for Emery fraught with complications.