Gary Neville said Manchester United cannot consider keeping Michael Carrick as head coach beyond the end of the season, as Roy Keane called on his former club to go for the “best of the best”.
Ruben Amorim’s sacking last week — after 14 underwhelming and increasingly acrimonious months — saw Darren Fletcher temporarily parachuted in before another ex-Red Devils midfielder took the reins.
Carrick was named United head coach for the remainder of the season on Tuesday and co-owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer are reportedly at the Carrington training complex on Thursday.
The Press Association understands the club moved their scheduled executive committee to Manchester to ensure leadership are onsite to support the new boss and minimise disruption ahead of his first game.
The 44-year-old faces Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime as he begins his quest to seal Champions League qualification, and Neville is “quite emphatic” that his old team-mate cannot be given the job beyond this campaign whatever happens.
“I hope he does really well,” Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast. “There cannot be any consideration that Michael takes the job beyond this season, for Michael and for the club.
“If he wins every game, look, we could be sat here in the season where he’s done unbelievably well, and we’re always thinking the fans are up and they’re in the Champions League places, fifth or whatever. It could happen if there’s a good run and we could all be getting swayed with it.
“I honestly feel like [you have to look at others] at the end of the season when you’ve got [Mauricio] Pochettino, [Thomas] Tuchel and [Carlo] Ancelotti.
“I’ve said Ancelotti. I just feel purely because he’s 66 years of age, he’s got probably the best job in the world right now. He’s probably got one job left at club level.
“If there’s one person who’s got the patience, the composure, the experience of the Premier League.”
United decided to give former Middlesbrough boss Carrick the short-term role in order to allow director of football Jason Wilcox to undergo a thorough recruitment process over the coming months.
Former captain Keane mentioned Atlético Madrid boss Diego Simeone and Paris Saint-Germain head coach Luis Enrique as potential options and snapped back when Neville suggested the latter was unrealistic.
“But isn’t that bizarre, we’re talking about options and you’re ruling people out,” Keane said. “But United should be thinking ‘let’s try and get the best of the best.'”
Keane was also forthright when it came to the mentality of players and staff potentially being influenced by outside noise, including from former United players like him.
