The Manchester United job is a poisoned chalice. They have tried former players, iconic managers and even one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s mates since the legendary Scot retired, with Michael Carrick now on the brink.

United are eight games without a win, and Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth feels like the final nail in the coffin for Carrick, who was serenaded and applauded off the pitch at full-time. As soon as he disappeared down the tunnel, the players were booed into oblivion.

If that doesn’t tell you that managing the Red Devils is an impossible job, and that there are many more issues than the man in the hot seat, we’re not sure what will.

It has ended in tears for every United manager since Sir Alex, and with Carrick expected to lose his job, we have ranked all eight permanent managers appointed since Ferguson retired after delivering the club’s most recent Premier League title in 2013.

8) Michael Carrick

Not counting Carrick’s interim spell, there is no doubt he has been the biggest failure of the eight permanent managers appointed since Ferguson called it a day.

Manchester United have won only one of their eight Premier League games this season, conceding 13 goals and losing three times. They have also been comprehensively beaten in the Champions League by Como and Atletico Madrid, on top of being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton despite being 2-0 up on the night.

The football has been awful and Carrick will rightly lose his job, but everyone knows changing the manager will not solve much, at least not in the long term. There might be a new-manager bounce, just as there was during Carrick’s interim spell, but it is a cycle that keeps repeating itself. The real issues lie much higher up than the manager, and Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada should be held accountable for the mess they have helped create.

They can hold their hands up and admit they have not been good enough, but they will not lose their jobs. United could get relegated and they would probably remain untouchable. We feel for Carrick, but his position has become untenable. An eight-match winless run, capped by a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, leaves the club with little choice.

7) Ruben Amorim

Virtually from start to finish, Amorim‘s reign was shambolic, dragging the fallen Premier League giants to an embarrassing new low in 2024/25.

That 15th-place finish is the main reason for Amorim landing in this position, with performances and results never worse post-Ferguson than during the Portuguese head coach’s ill-fated 14 months at Old Trafford.

Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his recruitment team also have serious questions to answer, but Amorim didn’t help himself in the slightest by naively sticking with his failing system, despite it being constantly proven that his squad operates better in another formation.

Amorim’s refusal to change saw him die on his sword, with his berating of his players and pundits doing nothing to help his situation, especially with such little evidence of progress during his tenure.

He should not have lasted as long as he did, but four reasons behind his overdue demise left his successor with an extremely low bar to overcome.

6) David Moyes

On one hand, you can say Moyes was always destined to fail given the monumental challenge of replacing Ferguson, but he still inherited a Premier League-winning squad and turned them into a group of players incapable of challenging for Champions League qualification.

The Man Utd board put a lot of faith in the appointment of Ferguson’s fellow Scot and managerial friend, handing him a whopping six-year contract having been recommended the appointment by Fergie himself. He lasted a grand total of 10 months after a silly amount of defeats and the Red Devils finished seventh in the Premier League.

At least he managed to beat Wigan Athletic in the Community Shield. Every cloud.

5) Ralf Rangnick

Man Utd brought in gegenpressing extraordinaire Rangnick to help steady the ship following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021/22. His appointment was made with the view of him stepping into a role behind the scenes, where he appeared to be better suited. Ten Hag had other ideas, though, and did not give the thought of working with Rangnick the time of day when he arrived from Ajax in May 2022.

Rangnick’s time at Old Trafford epitomised the colossal mess at the club. He only took the manager job to become a consultant months later, which he probably would have been excellent at, only for him to leave before getting the chance, swiftly becoming Austria manager after entering free agency.

The German spoke well – almost too well at times – saying the sort of thing the Manchester United hierarchy did not want to hear. His “open-heart surgery” claim had a brutal truth to it and did not go down well.

On the pitch, results did not improve following Rangnick’s arrival and United ended up finishing sixth in the league, 13 points off fourth.

4) Erik ten Hag

Ten Hag should have been sacked at the end of last season after the club’s worst finish in Premier League history. An unlikely FA Cup final win over Manchester City saved him and after speaking to a few managers, Sir Jim Ratcliffe decided to extend the Dutchman’s contract after he and his minions swallowed his mitigation around injuries.

It proved to be the silly decision we all knew it was at the time. The summer transfer window was filled with promise but none of the new faces have impressed and the football did not improve. In fact, you could say it somehow got worse. That home defeat to Tottenham turned every Man Utd fan’s stomach.

Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup in his first campaign, which went along nicely with a top-three finish in the league and an FA Cup final, which his side lost to Man City. His second season was a direct contrast: beating Pep Guardiola’s side at Wembley after shambling their way to eighth in the Premier League.

The 2023/24 Champions League campaign was truly awful, finishing bottom of a group when it seemed harder than finishing first. Their Carabao Cup defence ended painfully when the Red Devils were hammered Newcastle United – the team they beat in the previous season’s final – at home, and results in the Premier League were mind-bogglingly inconsistent.

Still, on paper, two trophies in two seasons is a fine return. On grass, it was a different story. Ten Hag’s dismissal was inevitable and a sign that Ratcliffe might not be as clued up as Man Utd fans had hoped.

3) Louis van Gaal

Van Gaal benefits from leaving Man Utd at the right time. What a character he was, though. From his rants in press conferences to throwing himself on the ground in remonstration to the fourth official after an alleged Alexis Sanchez dive, Van Gaal brought light to Our League and for that, we will forever be grateful.

While the experienced Dutch manager entertained the masses with his antics, his football – which does have an element of importance – left a lot to be desired. He was very pragmatic and adopted the patient, possession-based approach that has served him well throughout his career. That is the nice way of putting it. More bluntly, it was dull as f***.

Said style did bring an FA Cup to Old Trafford, the first trophy post-Fergie. And the club’s hierarchy were so thankful to Van Gaal that they decided to sack him straight after the Wembley triumph.

2) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Say what you want about the man. Take into account all of the semi-final defeats. Do whatever you want, mate. We don’t care. Man Utd played their best football post-Fergie under Solskjaer, who was sacked in November 2021 after a hammering at Watford.

The club legend got the job full-time after a mightily impressive spell as caretaker boss that included an iconic Champions League comeback away to Paris Saint-Germain, to which Rio Ferdinand reacted in a completely normal manner, saying on BT Sport after the result:

“Man United might not thank me, but get the contract out, put it on the table, let him sign it, let him write whatever numbers he wants to put on there – given what he’s done since he’s come in – and let him sign the contract and go. Ole’s at the wheel, man – he’s doing his thing. Man United are back!”

In fairness, we all egged Man Utd on. He was at the wheel during his caretaker stint but Ole eventually crashed and burned.

Solskjaer did bring the best out of Bruno Fernandes, giving him the freedom to express himself and the Portuguese thrived as a result. He even made Anthony Martial look like a competent footballer. The comeback wins, counter-attacking football, and incredible 20-minute spurts in games when United would kill the opposition were the highlights of a fun time with the Norwegian at the helm.

1) Jose Mourinho

The Special One got the job after Van Gaal’s sacking and has been the most successful boss since Ferguson retired in 2013. Again, his football was far from incredible to watch but it provided results and this is a results business.

His first season saw Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic shine as the Red Devils won the Carabao Cup, the Europa League and finished sixth in the Premier League, which was insignificant as Europa glory brought the club Champions League football anyway.

The following season brought two-time Champions League-winning manager Mourinho the “greatest achievement of his career”: finishing second in the Premier League, 19 points behind centurions Manchester City.

As it usually does, things went sour in Mourinho’s third season in charge, losing his job in December 2018, which saw Solskjaer take charge.