Dwight Yorke names ‘standout’ candidate to replace Michael Carrick as Man Utd boss

Dwight Yorke claims Eddie Howe ‘stands out’ as the leading candidate to take charge of Manchester United should Michael Carrick lose his job as head coach.

Carrick picked up the pieces from Ruben Amorim’s turbulent reign to steer United to a third-placed finish in the Premier League and Champions League qualification last term.

It saw Carrick handed the role on a full-time basis in the summer, with club bosses deciding to put their faith in a young coach whose only previous experience of top-level management was with Middlesbrough in the Championship.

But the momentum that United had gained in the back-end of last season has ground to a halt in what has proven a shaky opening two months for Carrick in the Old Trafford hot seat.

To add to United’s troubles on the pitch, Lisandro Martinez’s explosive attack on the board following last week’s defeat at Atletico Madrid has done little to dampen feelings of an early-season crisis.

And while there were some positive signs in the Red Devils’ 1-1 draw with fierce rivals Leeds on Sunday, Carrick’s men now find themselves down in 13th place and without a win in six matches in all competitions.

Speaking ahead of the Elland Road clash, Nicky Butt lifted the lid on a private conversation he claimed he had with Carrick, in which the latter had apparently described management as ‘too much’.

‘I was with Michael before he got the Manchester United job and spoke to him about management,’ the ex-Manchester United and England midfielder said on The Good, The Bad & The Football.

‘He went: “No it’s not for me, it’s too much. My head’s all over the shop. I’d only do it for the big job. The big job is Man United.”‘

Reacting to Butt’s remarks, ex-United striker Yorke told Keys & Gray Unleashed: ‘I’m a bit surprised by Butty because that’s always going to be making headlines.

‘It’s a bit obnoxious from Butty in terms of as a manager where you into arguably the most pressurised job. It’s a privileged job but most pressurised job and most under scrutiny .

‘If you’re not up to it, you’re not prepared to roll your sleeves up and build that culture and build on what you are, you’re hardly ever going to sleep. And it looks like he hasn’t had any sleep for a number of weeks now.

‘He looks like he’s aged, Carrick, and I’ve looked at him on TV and you can see all the wrinkles. I’m much older than him but I look nothing like him because of the expectation and the stress that comes with the job.’

According to Yorke, Butt ‘threw Carrick under the bus’ by revealing a discussion which the pair of them had had in private.

‘I was a bit surprised, I thought he [Butt] kind of threw him under the bus in that sense that management is not really for him,’ he added.

‘When you’re hearing that sort of information come out, you wonder and question: is he really up for the job or is he just there because the job was kind of handed to him in many ways.

‘As anybody else who was in his position, you wouldn’t turn down the Manchester United job. Even if you know it’s a difficult one, you would take it.’

Yorke was confident that United had made the right decision in giving Carrick the gig on an interim basis back in January. However, nine months on and the 1999 treble winner is a little less convinced.

‘That [sacking managers] is the current trend, isn’t it? It’s been the trend for the last five years: you get the manager, you say you’re going to back them and then at some point you end up getting rid of them,’ the former Trinidad and Tobago international went on.

‘Obviously that is something that’s been in the DNA certainly for the past five years.

‘Putting my hands up, I was one that said give Carrick the chance, but then I look back at it now, see what we’re doing, and I’m not sure if that was the right decision.

‘I think his character tells me a lot. You’re under the cosh, you’re not there, you’re not expressive enough at the line, you’re not showing that… everybody says that everybody is different but you need that passion, you need some fire from your manager on the sideline to get them going.

‘You’re winning or you’re losing and it’s the same demeanour. I’m not sure.

‘These guys are brilliant guys when you meet them and you know them like I have done. They’re brilliant. I’m not sure they’re made for managerial jobs when the pressure is on.

‘Like anything else, when the going is good then it’s fantastic. When it’s not so good, I’m not so sure. I’ve seen it with Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and I’ve seen it with Carrick.’

Switching his focus to potential candidates who could come in and succeed Carrick at the Theatre of Dreams, Yorke put forward Howe’s name following the manager’s departure at Newcastle in the summer.

‘The Eddie Howe scenario will raise a few eyebrows and yes, a man with a little bit more experience who has done obviously what he’s done at Bournemouth and at Newcastle,’ he continued.

‘It’s a different managerial level when you come in at Manchester United but you ask yourself the question: who is out there and who will take it?

‘That’s the questions we should be asking ourselves because we’ve tried two foreign managers who have come in and failed miserably, let’s be frank about those two.

‘And certainly, we’ve given two ex-players opportunities to take the club forward. Carrick has done well, obviously Ole did reasonably well as well, but really where Manchester United are at.

‘Who is out there? Howe would be one of those guys who stand out out there at the moment. He’s not in a job, looking for a job.

‘But if you expand it out there even more, who else is out there? There is nobody else and that’s why Carrick will survive for a little bit longer.

‘There are no top managerial candidates out there who can come in and really excite the people and the fans at Manchester United.’

The Red Devils will look to bring their wretched winless streak to an end when they return to Champions League action away to Cesc Fabregas’ Como on Wednesday evening.

Carrick’s men switch their attentions back to Premier League matters four days later at home to Bournemouth.

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