Job is his to lose after closing in on Champions League but unknown is how will the manager cope with a dip in form
Michael Carrick is the calm Manchester United interim manager who moves ever closer to being appointed the seventh permanent leader of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. To coin the cliche: it is certifiably the 44-year-old’s to lose.
Having guided United to third place and eight points clear of Brighton in sixth, two wins from their last five games will all but seal a Champions League berth due to superior goal difference. Defeat Brentford when Keith Andrews’ team visit Old Trafford on Monday and the champagne can be iced.
Entry into Europe’s top-tier competition means a treasure chest of millions, so the Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United’s owners, will be cock-a-hoop if Carrick does execute the primary task he was employed for.
There is a nagging question, though. One that Jason Wilcox and the director of football’s department could really do with an answer to before offering Carrick the permanent post: how will he be in a crisis, mini- or full-blown? Because they both tend to come to United and will define his suitability for a job that can be akin, to paraphrase David Moyes, to a hydra-headed monster.
