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Ferguson won a record 13 league titles at Manchester United, lifting the last in his final season in charge 13 years ago - and that is the club's latest Premier League success.
Since then, United have had a total of 11 different faces in the dugout.
Ex-players Ryan Giggs, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Darren Fletcher have all held caretaker positions, while Carrick has taken temporary charge twice; earning a two-year deal in the summer but then lasting just 15 matches this season before he was sacked.
With just one win in their opening 10 games this campaign, United have endured their worst start to a Premier League season and sit in 18th place in the table.
But how did Carrick perform in comparison to the other appointments since the golden era under Ferguson?
(July 2013–April 2014)
David Moyes had the mammoth task of stepping into his compatriot's footsteps as the first new manager at Old Trafford in more than two-and-a-half decades.
Moyes was Ferguson's No. 1 pick to take over in 2013, but after impressing at Everton during a lengthy 11-year spell, he could not cut the mustard at United.
He failed to last a full campaign, facing the sack a month before the season's end with the club sitting in seventh place. Moyes had a Premier League win percentage of exactly 50% - ranked fifth out of seven permanent appointments.
United reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals that year - which they have only done once since - while Moyes' side also reached the League Cup semi-finals before Giggs saw out the remainder of the season.
(April 2014-May 2014 *caretaker)
Giggs was brought in on a temporary basis for four games following Moyes' departure.
The former Man Utd winger guided the team to two wins, against Norwich City and Hull City, one draw, and one loss before the club appointed a permanent successor.
Giggs' brief tenure will be remembered for the moment he substituted himself onto the pitch late on against Hull. That was Giggs' 963rd and final appearance for the club.
(July 2014–May 2016)
Louis van Gaal was the permanent successor to Moyes in the summer of 2014, lasting two full seasons at the club and delivering The Red Devils' first piece of silverware since the Fergie era.
He claimed victory over Crystal Palace in the 2016 FA Cup final but was sacked a couple of days later despite improving on Moyes' seventh-placed finish.
In his first season, he qualified for the Champions League having led the team to fourth, but his position became untenable among the United board - despite bringing home silverware - a year later after dropping to fifth.
(May 2016–December 2018)
Former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter boss Jose Mourinho was a shock appointment at Old Trafford, but he arrived with a wealth of success in both England and across Europe behind him.
He had two Champions League crowns, three Premier League wins, two Serie A titles and a La Liga winners' medal to his name before taking the reins in Manchester.
Mourinho famously called his time at United "one of my greatest achievements" after guiding the club to a second-placed finish.
With a 58.3% win ratio across all competitions (and 53.8% in the Premier League), he is comfortably United's best-performing coach since Ferguson.
He claimed League Cup success in 2017, before adding to his European honours with the UEFA Europa League the same year.
With United sixth in the table halfway through Mourinho's third season, he was sacked.
(December 2018-March 2019 *caretaker; March 2019-November 2021)
The longest spell of any manager since 2013 was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who took charge 168 times as boss from 2018 to 2021.
Solskjaer was placed in interim charge following Mourinho's dismissal and was then given a three-year contract in March 2019.
He failed to win anything with the club he famously claimed the Champions League with back in 1999 as a player, but he did have the third-best win percentage on this list with 54.2%.
Solskjaer managed to get United competing in the Premier League again with third and second-placed finishes in 2019/20 and 2020/21, respectively, but was sacked the following campaign with the club in seventh.
(November 2021-December 2021 *caretaker)
Carrick first took the reins at Old Trafford back in 2021, overseeing two wins in his three matches in charge - including against their great rivals Arsenal, while he also was in control of a draw against Chelsea as he impressed in his short tenure.
He impressed so much that he was the natural choice a few years later when his old club were once again in need of a caretaker.
(December 2021–May 2022)
Ralf Rangnick took over on an interim basis and helped the club jump one place for a top-six finish.
Despite having overseen the fewest games of any manager on this list, his success rate is right at the bottom with 37.9% from 29 games.
He managed only three games fewer than Carrick, who had a 46.9% win rate.
(May 2022–October 2024)
Next came another lengthy appointment by United's standards in the past decade, with Erik ten Hag lasting around two-and-a-half years.
Only Mourinho had a better win percentage than Ten Hag's 54.7%, but United reached new lows during the Dutchman's time at Old Trafford.
After a third-placed finish in his first season, United finished eighth the following campaign but then plunged to 14th before he was sacked in October 2024 after 128 games.
Ten Hag did bring success elsewhere, however, with an FA Cup and League Cup.
(October 2024-November 2024 *caretaker)
After Ten Hag's departure, former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy stepped up from the assistant role into the caretaker job while the club searched for a permanent solution.
Three victories and one draw followed, but the next manager opted to bring in his own backroom staff, meaning there was no place for Van Nistelrooy on the touchline.
(November 2024–January 2026)
Ruben Amorim had been ripping it up with Sporting CP in Portugal and was one of the most sought-after young coaches in European football when he took charge at Old Trafford.
This was the appointment many felt would finally turn things around for United, but it did not work out that way - and it instead got a lot worse.
He was given 14 months to work the same magic that transformed Sporting into title contenders, before helping the club end a 19-year wait for national success.
But things never clicked for Amorim at Old Trafford, as the club suffered their worst Premier League finish in 15th. The same season, he led United to the Europa League final, but they lost to Tottenham Hotspur.
(January 2026 *interim)
After Amorim left, Darren Fletcher led the team for two games. Stepping up from his usual role of Under-18s coach, Fletcher oversaw a defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion and a draw with Burnley.
The club then decided to re-appoint Carrick as caretaker for a second time, with Fletcher stepping back to his role with the youth team.
(January 2026-May 2026 *caretaker; May–November 2026)
Supporters believed that Carrick was going to bring back the good times when they surged to a third-placed finish last season during his initial caretaker stint.
He was given the job on a permanent basis in the summer as United invested in their squad, but the reality of moving away from a one-match-per-week schedule soon hit them.
United have recorded their worst start to a Premier League season, have not won in their past eight league games, and are in the relegation zone with the festive season just around the corner.
They have been buoyed recently by two dramatic comebacks - to beat AS Roma in the Champions League from 2-0 down, and to come back from two goals down twice against Aston Villa to salvage a 4-4 draw.
But evidently, it was not enough for Carrick to keep his job, as the club begin their search for an eighth permanent manager since Ferguson left 13 years ago.
How Man Utd managers rank for win percentage since 2013
| Games | W | D | L | Win % | PL position when sacked | |
| Mourinho | 144 | 84 | 32 | 28 | 58.3 | 6 |
| Ten Hag | 128 | 70 | 23 | 35 | 54.7 | 14 |
| Solskjaer | 168 | 91 | 37 | 40 | 54.2 | 8 |
| Moyes | 51 | 27 | 9 | 15 | 52.9 | 7 |
| Van Gaal | 103 | 54 | 25 | 24 | 52.4 | 5 |
| Carrick | 32 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 46.9 | 18 |
| Amorim | 63 | 24 | 18 | 21 | 38.1 | 6 |
| Rangnick | 29 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 37.9 | 6 |
How Man Utd caretaker/interim managers rank for win percentage since 2013
| Games | Won | Drew | Lost | Win % | PL position when replaced | |
| Van Nistelrooy | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75 | 13 |
| Carrick (2021) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66 | 7 |
| Giggs | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 7 |
| Rangnick | 29 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 37.9 | 6 |
| Fletcher | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
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