The familiar cycle of doom that has consumed every Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson has now claimed Michael Carrick. Recreating the somber posture of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer—who raised his hands in apology after a 4-1 defeat at Watford in November 2021—Carrick offered a similar gesture of remorse to traveling supporters following United's humiliating 4-1 loss to Como in the Champions League.

As the seventh permanent manager since Ferguson's departure in 2013, Carrick appears headed toward the same inevitable fate of dismissal that befell his predecessors, despite sporadic silverware under Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, and Erik ten Hag.

Results are sinking, and internal discord is visibly boiling over: defender Lisandro Martinez clashed with director of football Jason Wilcox following a Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid, while captain Bruno Fernandes openly questioned tactical choices after the Como debacle—symptoms of deeper institutional decay at Old Trafford.

This persistent crisis prompts a fundamental question: should crestfallen managers alone face the wrath of disappointed fans? Can the root of the failure truly lie solely with the dugout every single time?

With years of decline and disastrous decision-making compounding behind the scenes, critics increasingly argue that the crosshairs should turn toward those responsible for appointing managers and steering the club's strategy—raising the grim prospect that Manchester United has effectively become the unmanageable club.

Manchester United's grueling post-Ferguson era has seen a revolving door of seven permanent managers—David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag, Ruben Amorim, and now Michael Carrick—alongside interim stints by Ryan Giggs, Ralf Rangnick, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Darren Fletcher.

Across successive leadership regimes from Ed Woodward and the Glazer family to part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, club bosses have exhausted every conceivable strategy to recapture past glories, only to fail repeatedly.

The recruitment profiles varied wildly: Moyes was Ferguson’s handpicked successor; Van Gaal and Mourinho arrived as seasoned serial winners; Solskjaer was an emotional, caretaker-turned-permanent appointment lacking elite credentials; Ten Hag brought pedigree from a brilliant Ajax youth project; and Amorim was lured as European football's most coveted young tactician.

Yet every single one succumbed to the unwieldy beast of Old Trafford. Trophies—such as Van Gaal’s 2016 FA Cup, Mourinho’s 2017 League Cup and Europa League double, and Ten Hag’s landmark 2017 and 2024 FA Cup triumphs—have offered meager comfort against a backdrop of steady decline.

Critics argue United’s decay did not happen overnight; it is the direct legacy of a botched succession plan following Ferguson's departure in 2013.

The widening chasm in elite management is starkly illustrated by a December 2019 snapshot, when Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, and Jurgen Klopp were all managing rival clubs within a 35-mile radius in the North West while United persisted with the sentimental choice of Solskjaer.

With every passing day, Carrick looks like Solskjaer Mark II. 

Carrick is a former fan favourite who did well in temporary charge, but whose previous managerial career was a sacking at Championship club Middlesbrough. Solskjaer shared that same unwanted distinction, sacked by Cardiff City in September 2014 after only nine months in charge as they struggled in the Championship.

It has all brought United to the point where the question must be asked. Since Ferguson's departure, has it ever been worse than it is now? In recent times, has there ever been less hope than there is now? Has morale ever been lower than it is now?

United will always find a manager should they require one, but their current parlous circumstances mean they are no longer the attraction they once were.

They will not have the pick of the globe's finest. They will need to persuade someone that there is a future at Old Trafford that contains something other than future dismissal, a sobering state of affairs for the self-styled "biggest club in the world".

Given the current state of United's squad, there is no guarantee a manager with a high-class track record would have a quick fix, or any fix at all, without huge investment.

Carrick is front of house and, on current evidence, will pay the price for United's failings. He is a repeat of the Solskjaer mistake, an easy choice made after taking them back into the Champions League, a comfort blanket with supporters that has now been torn away by poor results.

There are significant culprits elsewhere, led by Ratcliffe.

United fans have held regular protests against the Glazers since they took control in 2005, their leveraged purchase loading debt on to the club. They have remained majority owners, despite the level of angered aimed towards them from supporters, unmoved by years of ill feeling.

In turn, Ratcliffe's move into part-ownership alongside the Glazer family has meant fans turned on him for his association and business partnership with the hugely unpopular Americans.

Ratcliffe, like other successful billionaires before him, has found running a football club is a different world to the one he inhabited previously.

He has suggested he leaves big footballing decisions to others, such as Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada, but instability and rank bad decisions have come with Ratcliffe as United's leading figure.

United were set to sack Ten Hag before the FA Cup final win against City, but the Wembley win earned him an unlikely stay of execution. He was then given a contract extension and £200m in transfer funds, only to be sacked six months later. The pay off to Ten Hag and his staff was more than £10m.

It was a catastrophic move to keep Ten Hag, both financially and in a footballing context.

Then there was the farce of the pursuit and subsequent sacking of sporting director Dan Ashworth in 2024.

He arrived in July with a reputation as one of the game's shrewdest administrators, regarded as a prized capture, only to leave after a behind-the-scenes disagreement five months after his appointment.

The impression of a club in chaos, in which United still exists today, was confirmed by the stark fact Ashworth actually spent as long on gardening leave waiting to join from Newcastle United as he did in post at Manchester United.

It was suggested Ashworth had been held responsible for Ten Hag staying, but another theory was that he wanted to target English managers such as Graham Potter and Gareth Southgate rather than Amorim.

United instead pursued Amorim, whose obsession with a 3-4-3 system had already persuaded Liverpool to look at Arne Slot to succeed Klopp. It was the fault that holed his reign below the waterline.

Amorim was gone after 14 months, but not before a parting blast at United's hierarchy and a hostile meeting with Wilcox.

Even before Carrick's appointment, morale at Old Trafford had been low after savage cost-cutting under Ratcliffe, with many staff leaving, among other "efficiencies".

This season ill feeling among an already dissatisfied fanbase boiled over after United launched a ticket-touting investigation in the summer.

Although they admitted to underestimating the number of fans who shared their account details, and toned down some of the threats around season-ticket confiscation if supporters failed to respond as requested, United officials defended the investigation.

If the football has been underwhelming, finances - which Ratcliffe promised to improve - still remain an issue.

Figures revealed in September confirmed overall debt remains at £1bn, despite Ratcliffe's cost-cutting. United did announce record revenue of £678m and a £23m operating profit despite not playing in Europe for the first time in a decade. This represented a huge shift from the £113m loss in 2023-24.

United also confirmed spending £64m buying land for the new stadium, which Ratcliffe hopes can be his legacy at the club and proof of his desire for success.

In August Berrada said the club remained on track to build the projected 100,000-capacity stadium at an estimated cost of more than £2bn.

However, it is the record of bad decisions backstage and lack of success on the pitch that is the unpalatable cocktail currently poisoning United.

It leaves them facing the possibility of more churn and instability as the clubs they would regard as competitors threaten to become a spot in the distance.