Kratinos Socratous

🚨 Roy Keane on Manchester United keeping Michael Carrick: “You’ve just been humiliated by Bournemouth at Old Trafford. You’re near the relegation places, haven’t won in eight league games, and the people running the club decide to carry on as normal. Carry on with what? What exactly are we protecting? I keep hearing that Michael Carrick cares deeply about United. Of course he does. He played here, won trophies. Nobody’s questioning that. But since when did loving Manchester United qualify you to manage Manchester United? There are 70,000 people at Old Trafford who love the club. Some have watched this rubbish for years. Maybe give one of them the job. I’ve said from the beginning I didn’t believe Michael was the right man. That’s not personal. But this is Manchester United, not a job you hand somebody because he’s a nice fella. And the people above him are an even bigger problem. I’ll tell you what I imagine those meetings are like. Somebody walks in after Bournemouth and asks, ‘Right, what are we doing about the manager?’ Another fella says, ‘Well, the supporters were still applauding him.’ So what? They were applauding a former player who gave years to the club. They weren’t celebrating getting battered by Bournemouth. But I wouldn’t put it past this lot to think, ‘The crowd still likes Michael. Maybe we can get another week out of him.’ That’s the level of leadership we’re dealing with. And now they’re sending him to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are better than Bournemouth. They’ll punish you if you turn up like that again. What bothers me is that the people running United seem to have started negotiating how badly they can afford to lose. I can almost hear it. ‘Michael, listen. We know Chelsea are a good team. We’re not expecting miracles. Just make sure it isn’t another humiliation.’ And somebody says, ‘If we lose 1-0, at least we can call it an improvement.’ An improvement? You’re Manchester United! When I was there, if somebody came into our dressing room suggesting a 1-0 defeat was respectable, he’d have been told to get out. We lost matches. We got beaten by better teams. But you went into every match believing you could win. That was the minimum. Now the people making decisions seem to be hoping the next defeat doesn’t make headlines for too long. That’s not ambition. That’s damage limitation. Look at the supporters travelling to Stamford Bridge, spending their money, taking time away from their families. They’ll still turn up believing United can win. They’ll sing and demand that the players fight for every ball. How can the supporters have more belief in Manchester United than the people paid to run it? And don’t tell me sacking another manager won’t solve everything. Of course it won’t. Recruitment has been poor, leadership has been poor, and too many players have got away with unacceptable performances. But you don’t keep making the wrong decision because you’ve made wrong decisions before. If Michael isn’t the right man, make a decision. If you believe he is, explain why. Show some leadership. Instead they’re hiding behind a man who served the club brilliantly as a player, leaving him to face the cameras while everybody else disappears. I don’t feel sorry for him. I only feel sorry for the supporters. Because the frightening thing about United isn’t that they’re losing matches. It’s that the people in charge are starting to behave as though losing is perfectly normal.”