Manchester United's treatment of Michael Carrick is an absolute disgrace and shows a total lack of respect for a man who has given absolutely everything to a once-great football club. He is a commendable human being who wears his heart on his sleeve, and a legend at Old Trafford thanks to his incredible playing career. He cares so deeply about United, which was clear when he was virtually holding back tears on the touchline during their defeat to Bournemouth.

Carrick's turbulent spell in charge of the Red Devils certainly hasn't been through a lack of effort. He has tried his best to save the club from sliding even further down the pecking order of English football, but there is only so much one man can do.

He has been granted a stay of execution, but the real problems at United are both above and below him. They are led by donkeys in the boardroom, grossly incompetent people who know nothing about football but have somehow found themselves in command of the country's biggest club.

Isn't it mad that Omar Berrada had never been a chief executive of any side before falling upwards into the United role?

Director of football Jason Wilcox was working at academy level only three years ago before he was poached by the Red Devils after an unremarkable spell at Southampton. In what world is he qualified to run things at Old Trafford?

Carrick has also been let down by his players, a group of self-serving, entitled mercenaries with not a shred of professionalism between them.

And that's before you even talk about their ability, or complete lack of it. Many are nowhere near good enough to play for a club of United's stature and wouldn't have even made the squad when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge. He simply wouldn't have stood for it.

As if the sheer incompetence of United's top brass wasn't enough, they have been outright disrespectful in the way they have treated Carrick, especially before it emerged that he would be staying on due to a lack of attractive options to replace him.

That essentially suggests that United are reluctantly settling for Carrick, even though there are obvious doubts over whether he is the right man to take the club forward.

The decision to keep him in charge to face Chelsea on Saturday was clearly a panicked one, made through a combination of fear of the unknown and concerns over the cost of sacking him just five months into a two-year contract.

It's a disgraceful way to treat a man who continues to give so much, yet receives so little from the clueless suits in the United boardroom. How can he feel empowered to keep going when he doesn't have the confidence of those above him?

Even when you take the footballing aspect away from it, it's no way to treat any human being. Has anybody stopped to ask how this sorry episode could impact Carrick's mental health, which might well have already taken a battering?

It's a symbol of United's decline from one of the great football institutions to a plaything for bungling billionaires who have no regard for anyone or anything other than lining their own pockets.

Heads should roll for this, especially those at the very top of United's chain of command. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is not fit for purpose, and if he had any regard for the wellbeing of the football club he claims to love, he would tender his resignation.

Berrada, Wilcox and head of recruitment Christopher Vivell must follow Ratcliffe out the door as quickly as possible.

And that's before we even get onto the Glazers, who are still doing their very best to systemically kill the club from a safe distance.

The only way for United to drag themselves out of this mess is a total rebuild at all levels. That includes players like Bruno Fernandes, who has shown himself up as a petulant waste of space who epitomises everything wrong with modern football.

It has become increasingly clear over the last few weeks that fundamental changes at the boardroom and ownership level are United's only hope of returning to former glories.

Otherwise, expect this same cycle to continue ad nauseam until the penny finally drops.