Bruno Fernandes told club leaders Michael Carrick should be appointed Manchester United's permanent manager, saying Carrick had been "ready for the next step" since his first brief spell in charge at Old Trafford in November 2021.
Fernandes made the comments in a report on the 24th local time, describing how Carrick steadied a team that had been slipping and then injected the energy United needed after taking charge again in January 2025, following Ruben Amorim's dismissal. After that return, Carrick led the team to 8 wins in 12 matches and the club was sitting third in the English Premier League when the report was published — a run the piece said had brought UEFA Champions League qualification within reach.
"Watching how he prepared for matches and communicated with us, I felt he was more than just an assistant coach. He was ready for the next step," Fernandes said, adding that "When Carrick arrived, he injected the positive energy the team needed. It wasn't just empty words; he united the team." Those words followed Carrick's earlier interim spell in November 2021, when he managed three matches at Old Trafford, and they come as the squad tries to convert recent momentum into sustained form ahead of a home clash that follows a narrow Stamford Bridge victory, when Fernandes set up the match-winner in Chelsea (see report: and before hosting Brentford in a fixture billed as a stiff test for Carrick's refreshed side (see:
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Fernandes also framed his endorsement in personal terms, saying "We stopped fixating on 'what we should have done' and quickly shifted to a mindset of 'let's push forward to achieve what we want this season.'" He made clear why he remained at the club amid turbulence: "I could not leave while the club was facing difficulties." The report also noted that other players, including Amad Diallo and Brian Mbeumo, are strongly supportive of Carrick as a candidate for the job on a permanent basis.
The endorsement raises an internal tension. Carrick's record in charge is positive but limited — his first temporary spell covered three matches in November 2021, and his second came only after Amorim's exit in January 2025 — and the board must weigh short-term form against long-term experience. Fernandes' position is further complicated by his own contract situation: he has one year left on his deal and revealed he turned down a lucrative approach last summer worth 200 million pounds in total, which included a weekly salary of 700,000 pounds and tax exemptions.
The decisive question now is whether the club will convert on-field momentum and dressing-room backing into a permanent appointment. Fernandes' public push hardens pressure on decision-makers to choose continuity over a fresh search — and on Carrick to prove this run was more than a short-term upturn.
