Michael Carrick is not the first manager to be sacked in shambolic fashion. He’s not even the first Man Utd manager to suffer such a fate…

Manchester United can’t do anything right. Even on the rare occasion they make the correct decision, they completely f*** up how they go about it.

Carrick turned up at Carrington to take training for the third consecutive day as United’s lame-duck manager all the while the world knows Mauricio Pochettino will be along shortly to take over.

News of United’s intent to hire Pochettino broke on Monday night as journalists were briefed that the Red Devils’ brains trust were minded to sack Carrick, but ‘no decision had been taken yet’.

For that, Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada had to fly to Monaco on Wednesday to discuss the matter with Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Which obviously could not have been done in a more prompt manner that did not involve a jolly-up in the south of France.

Carrick is a big boy – he will know better than most how incompetent and devoid of basic decency the United board are. Still, it remains an astonishing way to treat anyone, let alone a club legend and a fan favourite.

But Carrick is hardly the first manager to be axed in such a manner. He’s not even the first United boss to be sacked shambolically…

Here are five other Premier League managers who deserved more decency when being shown the door…

Louis van Gaal (Manchester United)
Van Gaal was officially sacked two days after winning the FA Cup with United in 2016. But news of the Red Devils’ decision had leaked almost immediately after the final whistle of the 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Wembley.

The first person to put Van Gaal in the picture was his wife.

Truus van Gaal later said: “After the FA Cup final, Louis said, ‘Well, we did it!’ I said, ‘Louis, they say you’ve been fired.’

“He got so angry! ‘Why did you have to spoil my party?”

Van Gaal was told what the world already knew on the Monday after the final, with Jose Mourinho confirmed as his replacement by the end of the working week.

“They told me only after it was leaked out, it was the biggest disappointment of my life,” Van Gaal later told Algemeen Dagblad. “The pressure was enormous with my head in the noose and they went right behind my back.

“I think it was all orchestrated like a film and it was done very much behind my back right from January. United put my head in a noose and I was publicly placed on the gallows.’

“United did not discuss this with me. If they had come to me with the Mourinho plan then I could have said, ‘OK, let’s give it everything for the last six months, complete commitment to each other and the team and then Jose Mourinho can take over.’

“They could have saved the last year of my salary by doing that but after what happened I made them pay every penny.”

Mark Hughes (Manchester City)
Really, Hughes was a dead man walking as soon as Abu Dhabi got their hands on Manchester City. So being sacked in December 2009 is unlikely to have come as a huge shock, especially after two wins in 11 games after a £120million summer spend.

But, as we know now, the City owners aren’t minded to do things the right way.

City confirmed that Hughes was out and Roberto Mancini was in less than 90 minutes after a 4-3 win over Sunderland which the manager was made to oversee, despite his axing being leaked to The Sun prior to kick-off.

Mark Bowen, Hughes’ assistant, later recalled: “I was living in Solihull at the time and I was on my way to the game with my wife and kids in the car when I got a call from the journalist saying he’d been told it was our last game today.

“I got to the stadium and Mark was already in his room, he’d had the same news. It was really surreal. Mark was professional and said let’s get on with the job in hand and win the game but we knew there was no smoke without fire.”

Hughes kept it low-key, waving to City fans before being officially relieved of his duties in between radio interviews and the rest of his post-match media commitments.

Martin Jol (Tottenham)
While Van Gaal’s sacking was leaked immediately after a game and Hughes’s slipped out before one, news of Jol’s axing by Tottenham Hotspur spread mid-match.

Over the years, there have been conflicting accounts of when Spurs actually sacked the Dutchman in 2007. Some have suggested Jol was informed before a UEFA Cup defeat at Getafe at White Hart Lane, while Darren Bent claims he was told at half-time by Ledley King that the manager had been fired.

News of Jol’s exit spread around White Hart Lane during the second half of a 2-1 defeat before it was confirmed in the aftermath that the axe had fallen, with Juande Ramos’s appointment imminent.

Jol must have had an inkling given his blank expression on the touchline and, according to Jermaine Jenas, pre-match in the dressing room. But he later insisted he only discovered what everyone else already knew when he was informed of his fate by his nephew immediately upon the final whistle.

Levy went on to admit that Spurs got it wrong: “Several events clearly did not happen as we all would have wished and things could have been handled differently and better.

“But the first time we met to discuss his position was after the match.”

Ruud Gullit (Chelsea)
Gullit got wind of his sacking by Chelsea the same way everyone got their football news in the 90s: via Teletext.

The Dutchman was midway through his second season as player-manager in February 1998. His first season ended in FA Cup glory and his second term seemed to be going swimmingly, with Chelsea second in the Premier League and ticking along nicely in the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.

Gullit had been discussing a new contract, with his terms due to expire at the end of the 1997/98 season. Amid claim and counter-claim, it was reported that Gullit wanted £2million a year as player-manager, while Chelsea wanted to give him considerably less on a contract as manager only.

Regardless, it all came to a head on Thursday February 12, 1998. Chelsea hastily arranged a press conference to confirm Gullit’s sacking and Gianluca Vialli as his replacement. Of which Gullit learned from page 140 on Teletext.

Gullit held his own press conference the following day but he had more questions than answers: “What is the reason why you didn’t go on with me? I would like to have an answer. Why did it happen? Because the money is not the real reason.

“I’m very upset. I only heard that I was sacked through the press. I think that I gave this club a lot and I will go out with my head held high.”

PL TABLE WHEN CHELSEA SACKED GULLIT

Gus Poyet (Sunderland)
Poyet will know how Carrick feels today as the doomed United boss put the cones out at Carrington since the Uruguayan was also strung along long enough to take training at Sunderland despite his fate being sealed and slipped out.

Like Carrick, Poyet could argue only against the manner of his sacking, not the justification. In mid-March 2015, Sunderland were a point above the relegation zone after one win in 12.

On the Saturday, the Black Cats were thrashed at home by Aston Villa with half the Stadium of Light crowd walking out at half-time in protest with the Villans already 4-0 up.

That prompted Sunderland to approach Dick Advocaat and the writing was on the wall for Poyet.

Sunderland scheduled a meeting with the manager – but not until Monday afternoon. Before which Poyet was made to oversee training.

Still, odd though it surely was, it wasn’t even Poyet’s weirdest sacking.

That came when he received news of being given the elbow by Brighton while on air as a pundit for the BBC during the Confederations Cup in 2013.