Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has praised the impact interim head coach Michael Carrick has made and says the club are “thinking about the Champions League.”
Carrick has made an immediate impact at Old Trafford since he replaced Ruben Amorim in January. The 44-year-old coach has won six of his eight games in charge and taken the side to third position in the Premier League table.
Speaking to Sky Sports at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, Ratcliffe, the majority owner of INEOS who also own a stake in Mercedes-Benz, said of Carrick: “He’s doing an excellent job. Clearly, we are thinking about that (Champions League), but there are still seven or eight games to go.”
When asked if Carrick could get the job permanently, the 73-year-old declined to answer.
Michael Carrick has won six of his eight games in charge ((Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
As reported by The Athletic, Carrick won the battle to be Amorim’s immediate successor because the United hierarchy viewed him as an impressive coach whose familiarity with the squad and the club’s inner workings — borne of his previous spells with them as a player and coach — would not leave him overawed by the task at hand.
The club will not rush into appointing their next permanent manager, as the intention has always been to carry out a thorough selection process.
When asked on Friday about United aiming to win major silverware in the near future, Carrick said: “Certainly we want to keep improving and we want to keep moving up the table. I’ve sat here and said that before.
“At the moment, being around where we are, it’s an exciting time because we’ve got something to play for. We would love to be playing for something a little bit more, a little bit higher and really challenging for leagues.”
In February, Ratcliffe said he was “sorry that my choice of language has offended some people” after claiming the UK had been “colonised by immigrants” in an interview with Sky. His comments were widely condemned, including by the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
A section of Manchester United’s supporters making their feelings clear at the recent home game against Crystal Palace, unfurling a banner which read: “MUFC proudly colonised by immigrants.”
United are next in action on Sunday when they host another club who are targeting Champions League qualification, fourth-place Aston Villa.