Is the answer to the next Man Utd manager question staring us in the face? Plus, we have loads of Ballon d’Or reaction.

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

Didier Deschamps for Man Utd?
Why is nobody talking about the out of work former France National Manager for the Man Utd job?

He’s known as a great tactician, employing a pragmatic counter-attacking style that I’d wager the Old Trafford crowd would appreciate at this moment. He instills his teams with work ethic whilst embracing flair players, and accommodates different styles to get the best out of his available players. He has resigned two times due to disagreements with his board – lack of vision, investment and backing – suggesting he’s a strong character when dealing with Executives. And his managerial record is quite good:

With Monaco he won the French League Cup and guided them to their first Champions League final in 2004.

He took over the relegated Juventus and guided them back to Serie A (albeit with Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedvěd, and David Trezeguet still in the side).

He took Marseille to their first Ligue 1 title in 18 years, in his first season.

Won three French League Cups in a row.

Took them to the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 19 years.

Won the World Cup and Nations League with France and finished runner up in the Euros in 2016 and the World Cup in 2022.
Holds the record for the most World Cup match wins as a manager in tournament history.

Seems like what we need and won’t cost a fortune to recruit – if he could be convinced to come. I haven’t heard a single pundit or so-called expert mention his name. Weird.
Red Jim

Man Utd owes more to Carrick than Wilcox
Carrick’s a good man; He has a character in the age where all the loud mouths get all the attention on social media sewers. Johnny Nic’s column from about a week before this season about where Carrick stands among the current crowd and how we tend not to take seriously people who don’t try to get all the attention was absolutely spot on. So it is amazing that supporters are still singing his praise and haven’t totally broken a decent person. It is telling.

On the other hand Fernandes is an absolute bully; cut from the same cloth of his compatriot Ronaldo. He found a good man and thought why not bully him? Would he dare to do that in those dark days of Amorim? Of course not.

His frustration understandable but I have said it many times over the past few years that Fernandes is the main reason no manager can put together a working system. All his running around may sound very free-spirited but which big club would have allowed them to do that?

Pep would do it? Arteta?!!! At Barcelona? Maybe Real Madrid but did they ever even consider him? so not a Galactico basically! that should be sobering for him. He owes Man UTD, not the other way around.

But the fact remains, Carrick, as it was expected, went the same way Ole did.

A more serious club would learn from history and thanked him greatly after last season, then they would try to persuade a proven manager “Emery” to move to UTD in the summer and if they had great aspirations, they would have bought stars for him.

I know it might sound kinda silly but Carrick could have taken Wilcox job; what has Wilcox done to deserve it more than Carrick? I’m just saying they could keep him, move him upstairs and he would be a great help to try and establish a proper culture. So in no way any of this is Carrick’s fault.

But we are where we are. so moving forward, there should be changes upstairs. As for manager, would have been great if Carrick could somehow make it work till the end of season and then go for Emery. But it’s highly unlikely that Carrick can turn this around.

Under no circumstances should Nagelsmann be appointed. Eddie Howe’s not a bad option, but Conte and his scorch the earth approach wouldn’t be a bad thing right now. Lets see how Bruno can respond to his high demands. January should be a busy transfer window, obviously.

As for Bruno and Martinez; sell both in January. That should be a given. Plus let go of some of the always-men in the summer: Maguire, Shaw, Dalot, Rashford, Zirkzee.

Those open heart surgery comments of Rangnick still rings so true.
Karen Asad

#KeepCarrick
Dear Ed (new haircut? Looks great)

Carrick is Manchester United through and through, young, English and easy on the eyes. His disarming personality sits well on the chest. He’s likely to come good, and it should be at Utd.

This is why (I think) he’s not been sacked as of writing (this email might not age well).

The other candidates: Conte, accomplished but demanding. Nagelsman, never coached in the Prem before. Howe, also young, also English but not Utd.

Also I really want Utd to put a rocket up the asses of the concept of player power.

Twist on Bruno, Lisandro et al in January and make Utd a club run on values and principles again that even neutrals can be proud of.

I might make a commission on links to this story, if there are any.
Dan, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
#trust the process

How the Glazers have sucked Man Utd dry
I hadn’t really looked in detail at the numbers until today, partly because it was too ugly a subject to really engage with beyond superficial awareness, but I’ve finally done so. Let me summarise.

According to the BBC, over the 21 years since the Glazers stole the club and laid £604m debt onto it, United have seen over £1.2bn leave in interest payments, dividends and other non-footballing costs directly related to this “takeover”. What blows my mind is that the club has paid out over £815m in interest payments alone.

It is nothing short of a blood letting. Which is of course why it’s now not allowed (and should never have been allowed in the first place).

Incidentally, to quote the BBC: “The club’s board had warned in April 2005 about the dangers of this amount of debt, saying it was not “prudent” and risked “a downward spiral in both team and financial performance”.”

United are now holding around £1.1bn in debt, of which £578m appears to be from that original £604m. As a reference, before the takeover, there was £50m debt. Even with record revenues, we are making a yearly net loss of around £40m.

So when people say the ghouls on the board are at fault for the state of the club, this – along with incredible mismanagement of recruitment and contracts – is why.

The contrast with City owners illegally injecting hundreds of millions while ours are removing the same is frankly incredible and mind-blowing.

But I’m sure a guy with a worse record than Carrick or another guy who was sacked by Bayern for being shit even with a quality squad, and then sacked by Germany for the same, will fix everything.
Badwolf

Kane making England proud
While I totally agree with Eoin that the Ballon D’Or is a meaningless distraction in so many ways, the use by others to denigrate Harry is amusing – in that it shows tribalism at its best (worst?)

I don’t support Spurs or Bayern but have always admired Harry Kane, the way he holds himself, endeavours to do his best at all times. Humble, yet brilliant on the field. The antithesis of Ronaldo. He never went looking for the glitzy prizes.

The bigger question is how much more Harry Kane could have achieved if he hadn’t been beholden to that tw*t Levy. Holding Kane back for his own ambition that got Spurs where? If Kane had gone off to better Premier League pastures earlier in his career, he would no doubt have broken the Premier League scoring charts. He isn’t just a flat track bully.

Why do so many fans seem unable to give credit where it is due, even if not for the club you support? So small minded.

I applaud Harry Kane for all he has done to promote England to the wider football world. Well done lad.
Paul McDevitt

…What is it with Liverpool fans and Kane? It’s just weird at this point. It all seemed to start with a penalty he won at Anfield in 2018, a classic drag your foot to hit the keeper effort we’ve seen a million times from strikers all over the world. You might think it’s a bit rich for a fan base who have idolised the likes of Owen, Gerrard, Suarez and Salah to complain about one alleged dive from an opponent but no, here they are 8 years later writing absolute drivel like Mark, LFC’s bitter, myopic entry in this morning’s mailbox.

Quick question Mark – if scoring the level of goals Kane has for Bayern is so easy, how come only Lionel Messi has ever scored more for club and country in a season in the top 5 leagues? How come only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in more straight Champions League games (Harry will equal him if he scores next time out)? How come there have been 5 occasions in history when someone has scored 12 goals in a calendar year for England, and 3 of them are Harry Kane? I haven’t even mentioned his all round play yet which is of course levels above virtually any other 9 you can name in history.

I actually had a Liverpool fan try to argue with a straight face that Michael Owen was better yesterday. Kane has nearly 300 more career goals, and is better at every single other facet of the game. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

It’s time to let it go Mark, and all the other Liverpool fans who go crazy at the very mention of Kane. There are still hopefully a few years for you enjoy a truly extraordinary footballer.
Phil, London

No time for an award never won by an Arsenal player…
I get why people love the Ballon D’or, it’s like the Oscars but for football. And like the Oscars, its also BS. An award that Thierry Henry never won is no standard of excellence.

Personally, I think Harry Kane is a worthy winner, he has been one of the world’s best strikers pretty much his entire career, but again, when no player in the PL winning team is ranked in the top 15, that’s objective BS. Our defence alone was better than any other in the world. Period. Name me a better defence.

It is also an award, that like punditry and press alike, where they undervalue defensive contributions for attackers. The fact that the award has only ever been won by a keeper once in its entire history is crap. I believe no wing back has ever won it either.

I think the Ballon D’or is a perfect example of European football kicking back at the Premier League as a whole. They hate the money of the Prem, they hate the dominance in Europe (even if our clubs choke in finals), and so they pretend that the league is poor, and its players poor, to make them feel better. We may not dominate, but we have the best players. Whatever you need to tell yourselves to sleep at night…I guess.
John Matrix AFC