Man United Need Bigger Solution than Sacking Carrick — Neville

Former Manchester United captain, Gary Neville, has warned that changing managers will not solve the club’s persistent problems, insisting that deeper structural reforms are needed to restore its fortunes.

Neville spoke after United sacked head coach Michael Carrick, with former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino lined up as his replacement.

Carrick’s departure came less than six months after he signed a two-year contract, following a difficult spell in which United recorded their worst-ever start to a Premier League season, collecting just one win in 10 matches and dropping into the relegation zone.

Speaking to NBC on Thursday, Neville said the club risked repeating the same cycle of appointing managers, enjoying a brief improvement and then returning to poor performances.

“Michael Carrick did that last season, so you can paper over the cracks and get a new manager bounce.

“When the new manager comes in, everybody’s happy for a couple of months and all of a sudden, six months later, it happens again. You can keep changing the manager and thinking that’s going to be the answer. But this has been proven now over 12 years; that’s not the answer,” he said.

Neville listed former United managers, including Ruben Amorim, Erik ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, David Moyes and Ralf Rangnick, arguing that their failure to deliver sustained success pointed to deeper problems within the club.

He blamed what he described as weaknesses in the club’s performance and recruitment departments, as well as a lack of effective leadership.

“If you’ve got a poor performance department, poor recruitment department, you’ve not got leadership that is strong right through the spine of the football club, you will fail,” he said.

The former England defender added that United needed leadership aligned from the boardroom and ownership level to the playing staff.

“There are real issues within that football club. You’ve got people doing those jobs who have never done those jobs before in senior positions,” Neville added.