Gary Neville fumes at ‘classless’ Man Utd handling of Michael Carrick
· Yahoo Sports
Gary Neville has branded Manchester United “classless” over their actions in the days before Michael Carrick’s sacking.
Carrick’s departure from the club was finally announced on Thursday morning and the Press Association understands Mauricio Pochettino has been lined up to replace him.
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Official confirmation of Carrick’s sacking came after a period of limbo for the former United midfielder, who had reported to Carrington again on Thursday after taking training on Tuesday and Wednesday amid reports he would be removed from his role.
His fate was sealed the day after a meeting took place between the club’s powerbrokers in Monaco, where director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada travelled to see co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Speaking on the Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, which was recorded prior to Thursday’s confirmation, former United defender Neville said the process feels “clumsy”.
He said: “We’re sat here today recording this programme knowing that Michael Carrick is going to be sacked tomorrow, knowing that they’re speaking to Mauricio Pochettino, knowing that they’ve spoken to (Julian) Nagelsmann, (Eddie) Howe – and they should be doing that by the way, I’m not saying they shouldn’t be doing that…
“But I think the fact they’re in Monaco now and they can’t sack him today knowing that it’s happening, to me it just feels a little bit clumsy, it feels a little bit classless.
“I think if you live in Monaco, you can’t leave a guy hanging for 24 or 48 hours just because you live in Monaco, that can’t happen.”
In May, Carrick was appointed on a permanent basis until 2028 having taken interim charge in January, but the club have struggled so far this term.
United are in the Premier League relegation zone with just eight points having won only one of their 10 league matches this season.
Pochettino has previously managed Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea before becoming United States head coach and Neville praised the Argentinian for the physical fitness instilled within his teams.
“One thing we do know about him is he does run his players, he does put physical fitness really at the top of the agenda. He’s always had fit teams, whether they’ve won or not won,” Neville said.
“We used to train at Tottenham’s training ground when I was with England and they used to have that Tuesday – I’m calling it terror Tuesday, but it wasn’t called terror Tuesday – it was called something like that, his run was famous at that time in terms of what he does with every team, he does run them.
“They were always fit his teams, to be fair. That’s one thing I think he will deal with straight away, he’s obviously got a lot of experience now, he knows how to coach a team.”