Manchester United\u2019s latest home defeat to Bournemouth should, on paper, have produced anger aimed squarely at Michael Carrick. Instead, parts of the Old Trafford crowd chose a different response after watching their side lose for an eighth straight match.<\/p>\n
As the manager was still on the touchline, supporters sang: \u201cIt\u2019s Carrick, you know,\u201d to the tune of Pilot\u2019s 1974 song Magic. They followed it with: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s not Scholes.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the mood shifted sharply once Carrick headed down the tunnel. Boos rang out, quickly joined by explicit chants that underlined the depth of frustration around the club.<\/p>\n
The reaction reflected a wider anger that has existed for years. Manchester United fans have been protesting against the ownership since the Glazer family took control on June 28, 2005. Kobbie Mainoo, by then, was only two months old.<\/p>\n
Supporters have long objected not simply to the presence of the Glazers, but to the way the takeover was financed. The debt-laden structure left the club carrying heavy interest payments, while the owners remained protected in the boardroom. For many fans, the message has stayed the same: \u201cSell United and f— off home.\u201d<\/p>\n
That anger briefly eased when Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS arrived with a takeover offer in December 2023. Ratcliffe took control of day-to-day sporting operations, initially buying 25% of the shares before increasing that to 28.9%. Yet the Glazers remain involved, and the frustration has only deepened as results have failed to improve.<\/p>\n
INEOS has made key appointments, including Omar Berrada as CEO and Jason Wilcox as technical director, but the club is now approaching a fourth permanent manager since their arrival less than three years ago. The transfer windows have also fallen short of expectations, leaving the squad short of what is needed on the pitch.<\/p>\n
Carrick can only influence preparation and tactics. Once the match begins, responsibility shifts to the players, and that is where supporters have seen the biggest failings. Bruno Fernandes, benched for the Bournemouth game after speaking out against Carrick\u2019s tactics, is among the senior names who have disappointed this season.<\/p>\n
The team have looked sluggish, often outran, and short of the effort supporters demand. That is why a banner calling for the standards of Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Bryan Robson was brought back out against Bournemouth.<\/p>\n
Carrick is not beyond criticism, but many fans believe the deeper problem lies above him, not on the touchline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United fans sang Carrick\u2019s name before turning back on ownership after another heavy defeat to Bournemouth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,172],"tags":[1836,59],"class_list":["post-22081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-epl","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}