In this blood-letting, which felt almost unprecedented in scale, no one was spared.

No one except, pointedly, the manager. The irony, of course, is that Michael Carrick will be the first to pay the price with his job.

But on an afternoon of visceral anger and mutiny in the stands, and surrender on the pitch at Old Trafford, Manchester United supporters left no one under any illusions about who they blame for the ills at a club who feel increasingly diseased. Make no mistake about it, this is a loyal, match-going fanbase at war with those in charge.

The Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe were the target for most of the fury during the 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth as United fans told them to “sell the club and f--- off home” and to “shove their new stadium up your a---”.

But it was not just the owners. The sporting executives who have lurched from one crisis to the next since Ratcliffe took over day-to-day operations in February 2024 and installed a new football hierarchy came under attack, too.

Home fans’ new target

For the first time publicly, the Old Trafford faithful turned on Jason Wilcox, the club’s director of football, whom Lisandro Martínez had singled out during his attack on the board last week. “Jason Wilcox is a w-----,” chanted the Stretford End on two separate occasions.

Omar Berrada, the chief executive who had been caught on camera shaking his head in shock and disbelief when Bournemouth scored their second of three, did not suffer the ignominy of having his name chanted, but cries of “Best in class, you’re having a laugh” also reverberated.

But the most extraordinary scenes were reserved for the very end. Carrick had walked around the pitch clapping the fans who had sung his name for much of a numbing afternoon. By the time he reached the Stretford End supportive chants of “It’s Carrick, you know” were being belted out.

Clearly emotional, the manager walked past, banged his chest in support as applause rang out, and headed for the tunnel. It felt very much like a manager saying farewell. Carrick denied as much afterwards, but he knows the writing is on the wall.

But as soon as he disappeared from view, the mood turned in an instant. Fans rained down boos on the sorry squad of players who had been trailing behind the manager, the latest one to be failed by a team and club locked in a persistent doom cycle. It was like a switch had been flicked. Pure, unfiltered anger and rage.

A new level of ire at the same problems

It felt like the Stretford End had been waiting for that moment to target the final group they feel are responsible for the rot, timing their reaction for maximum effect, and it did not disappoint. Nor did they hold back. If the players thought they had it bad in the 3-2 defeat at home to Brighton last month, when fans rounded on them, this was a different level altogether.

And so: owners, football executives, players. In that order. That is who the fans blame for this gargantuan mess. The support for Carrick does not mean fans do not think he has had a small part to play in the struggles this season. But they are wise enough to know the problems run so much deeper and far beyond the man in the dugout.

A key member of Sir Alex Ferguson’s final, all-conquering side, Carrick will always be afforded a level of affection among supporters, many of whom he has stood with himself in the stands as a season ticket holder.

And there are plenty who will have admired the way in which he was prepared to stand up for the values he feels United represent – and have been disregarded – by dropping Bruno Fernandes and then refusing to bring on his captain even as the team sunk lower and lower against Bournemouth. Astonishingly, Marco Rose’s side have now won three of their last four visits to Old Trafford 3-0 and scored 13 goals in the process.

Fernandes had appeared to call out Carrick’s tactics after the 4-1 humiliation by Como and by leaving the Portugal midfielder on the bench throughout he was sending a message that no individual is bigger than the club. It felt like a personal sacrifice and it will chime with those who feel there have been far too many self-interested people at the club for far too long.

Carrick was too diplomatic to go into the reasons he feels United have fallen off a cliff in the 13 years since Ferguson retired, but he did talk about the importance of “consistency” and there has been nothing of the sort on or off the pitch.

Ratcliffe always said he would walk away if the abuse had reached the levels the Glazers have encountered during their tenure. But it is at the point where supporters make no distinction anymore between the British billionaire from Failsworth and the secretive, lesser-spotted Americans from Florida.

“Just like the Glazers, Jim Ratcliffe’s a c--t” sang the Stretford End on repeat amid unsavoury chants about Joel Glazer, the co-chairman. It was in the 75th minute when thousands of fans rose to their feet to sing “Stand up if you hate Glazer” and before too long everyone else bar Carrick was copping it.

With perverse timing, United had released a new fan-consultation survey on Friday asking supporters for their opinions on the new stadium plans Ratcliffe is pushing but the Stretford End could not have made it clearer what they think about that.

After Bournemouth had taken a 2-0 lead, United fans in the Stretford End unfurled a banner with the word: “STANDARDS” next to images of Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Bryan Robson, three feted former players.

The first time it was brandished was in December 2021 in what happened to be Carrick’s final match as interim manager following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking.

Coincidentally, Carrick has probably now taken charge of his final match as permanent United manager. But no United fan could be fooled into thinking the manager is the main problem here.