At the end of a remarkable 72 hours of drama and mystery at Manchester United, Michael Carrick has survived as head coach. For now, at least.

Is it a fresh start or merely a stay of execution? Time will tell, but it feels as though Carrick won’t have long unless he can buck the trend of disastrous results and lifeless performances this season, starting at Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime.

It seemed unlikely that Carrick would even last until then when he left the pitch at Old Trafford on Sunday after a 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth with tears in his eyes and a wave of the right hand towards the Stretford End that looked suspiciously like a goodbye.

Carrick had the look of a broken man and admitted in his post-match press conference that he didn’t know whether he would be sacked.

Two men who would have a big say in that decision, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, had been down to the United dressing-room but did not stay long to chat with him.

That night, representatives from United were conspicuous by their absence from the Northern Football Writers’ awards dinner in Manchester – where David Moyes was honoured for a managerial career that included an all-too-brief spell at Old Trafford – perhaps realising that the club were about to go into crisis mode.

Discussions among the United hierarchy over Carrick’s future assumed even greater intensity in the wake of a defeat that left his team one point above the relegation zone.

Berrada and Wilcox arrived at the club’s Carrington training complex on Monday morning ready to hold conference calls with minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, as well as co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer once it was morning in America.

It would not have been lost on the two executives that their own positions could come under scrutiny if United decided to appoint a third head coach this year.

They were also in no doubt about the depth of feeling among United’s fanbase who threw their support behind Carrick on Sunday while rounding angrily on the Glazers, Ratcliffe, Wilcox and the players. Sacking the one man who is still popular with the fans was a big step.

Then there would be the process of agreeing on a replacement – Daily Mail Sport revealed that Wilcox favours a Premier League proven manager over Julian Nagelsmann, the preferred choice of director of recruitment Christopher Vivell – as well as the cost of making a change.

Carrick is only six months into a two-year contract and would be due a pay-off, although it’s unclear if there is a break clause at some point.

Meanwhile, Eddie Howe – the main rival to Nagelsmann – would cost United £3million in compensation even though he left Newcastle in the summer.

The players had a day off on Monday, but Carrick arrived at the training ground shortly before a behind-closed-doors game between United’s Under-21s and Hull City was due to kick off at 2pm.

He watched it with his No.2 Steve Holland and Under-18s coach Darren Fletcher before leaving three hours later with his son Jacey, still very much in the dark over his future.

The first signs that Carrick might beat the axe emerged on Monday night when sources hinted that it might not go the way everyone was expecting.

Then the 45-year-old returned to Carrington just before 8am on Tuesday morning dressed in his club tracksuit ready to take training as the players reported back still unsure over his fate.

Carrick was later pictured welcoming fans with life-limiting illnesses to the training ground along with captain Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Carlos Baleba and Kobbie Mainoo as part of a Dream Day organised by the Manchester United Foundation.

Shortly before noon as Carrick was leaving the training ground, it emerged that he was being given an opportunity to turn the season around and would be in charge for the trip to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

‘I’m surprised but I’m happy because I was absolutely certain that what I witnessed on Sunday would be the end of Michael,’ his old teammate Gary Neville told Sky Sports.

‘I have no idea how it’s going to go in the next couple of weeks, but I hope he can somehow get those players to start playing for him again because they haven’t played for him for the last few weeks.’

There is sympathy among the United hierarchy that Carrick has been let down by largely the same group of players who only lost two of 17 games under him last season to finish third.

No-one more so than Fernandes who threw his head coach under the bus with his post-match comments in Como last week and was benched against Bournemouth as a result. Carrick must decide how to re-integrate his best player before it’s too late.

Former United assistant boss Mike Phelan, who worked with Carrick on the coaching staff under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, said to Sky Sports: ‘The players all need to look at themselves and think, “are we doing the best we possibly can to support this manager?”.

‘He will expect them to turn up and be consistent and really play football. Stop talking. Play football.’

Carrick has been unlucky with a spate of injuries to key players this season, but it’s hoped that Mainoo will be available at Stamford Bridge for what feels like a huge game.

The comparisons with two of his predecessors, Erik ten Hag and Solskjaer, are intriguing.

Ten Hag appeared to be a dead man walking before the 2024 FA Cup Final as United interviewed candidates for his job, but won that game and survived for another five months.

Solskjaer was also on the brink after a 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool five years ago this week, and looked to have survived when he won at Tottenham the following week, but only lasted another three games.

Now it’s Carrick’s turn to see how long he can dodge the bullet.