As Michael Carrick prepares for Saturday’s derby, fans wonder if this is the club’s worst moment – but they are spoilt for choice
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anchester United, without a permanent head coach or European football and knocked out of both domestic cups at the first time of asking, are facing another bleak season. In the almost 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson left, the club have struggled to find stability, with his shadow stretching down from the directors’ box to the dugout, emphasised by the stand named in his honour staring back.
Manchester City arrive at Old Trafford on Saturday in the opposite position, having had Pep Guardiola in post for a decade, amassing 18 major trophies. Michael Carrick will take charge of United for the first time since being appointed until the end of the season at a club who appear to be without a functioning long-term plan. This will be a campaign of only 40 competitive games for United, their fewest since 1914-15, with some fans thankful for being able to cut down on trudging visits. So is this, in the post-Ferguson era, the lowest of the lows?
“We’ve hit more rock bottoms and broken more unwanted records in the past few years than I’d care to remember, but I wouldn’t say this is the lowest point since Sir Alex retired,” says Rick Redman, a season-ticket holder. “That was the 7-0 at Anfield, even though we finished above Liverpool that season. You could argue it was finishing 15th in the league and losing a European final to a Spurs side who had already beaten us three times that same season. This shows the overall problem. There are too many to choose from.”
