Michael Carrick is on borrowed time at Manchester United, but he is not the only one possibly facing the axe amid the club's latest crisis.

The 45-year-old has been given a stay of execution after overseeing a historically bad start to the season, with Man Utd currently in the midst of an eight-game winless run. Carrick was expected to be sacked after a horrific loss to Bournemouth on Sunday, but he remains in charge - for now.

After lengthy talks post-match and all throughout Monday, it was decided to give Carrick another chance to turn things around. The Red Devils will travel to Stamford Bridge on Saturday to play a Chelsea side coming off a midweek Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool.

Keeping Carrick was a conscious decision by the club hierarchy to send a message to the players, who have been described as "out of control." Man Utd chiefs recognise that they can't keep changing managers over and over again - at some point, the underperforming players need to share in the blame, too.

It is also an attempt to buy time. With senior figures split on who should replace Carrick, persisting with the incumbent allows for more thorough succession planning, especially with another international break coming up.

Wilcox, Berrada under scrutiny

Perhaps the biggest reason why Man Utd are sticking with Carrick for now is self-preservation. Director of football Jason Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada, Sir Jim Ratcliffe's closest allies since he took charge of sporting operations, can ill-afford a third managerial sacking in as many seasons.

Wilcox, in particular, has had to face the music since his move to Man Utd. He was previously criticised by former midfielder Sofyan Amrabat for his handling of the Moroccan's departure from the club. Erik ten Hag had allegedly wanted to keep him.

In January, head coach Ruben Amorim exploded after Wilcox tried to give him tactical advice and took aim at the 55-year-old in a subsequent press conference, which ultimately led to the Portuguese's sacking.

Most recently, of course, defender Lisandro Martinez criticised Wilcox's handling of Man Utd's recruitment this summer. According to sources consulted by the BBC, Carrick's exit could also spell the end of the director's time at the club.

Wilcox has been blamed for Man Utd's unusual approach to the transfer market, which has seen them focus on just one specific area of the pitch per year. This has left them woefully short of high-quality options in some positions, most notably at left-back and centre-forward.

After spending big on forwards in 2025, Man Utd took a different approach to the midfield this year, primarily pouncing on market opportunities and refusing to get drawn into bidding wars for Mateus Fernandes and Elliot Anderson.

This was seen as a sensible strategy at the time, but when you operate this way, you leave yourself with a very limited pool of options. Instead of signing the specific profiles they needed - with the exception of Carlos Baleba - Man Utd brought in whoever they could get their hands on and are now stuck with an unbalanced midfield with too many similar players.

Given all the grievances with Wilcox, it is believed that Ratcliffe could consider "a wider overhaul of senior staff," which would leave the director and potentially even CEO Berrada vulnerable to the sack.

That point hasn't yet been reached, but it would require a remarkable turnaround from Carrick for this latest crisis to simply blow over without major consequences.