Michael Carrick looked all set for the sack after Manchester United‘s 3-0 loss to Bournemouth at the weekend, but has earned a stay of execution.

And that will be welcomed by the majority of their match-going fans, who were chanting Carrick’s name after the game knowing full well their anger should be directed elsewhere.

Carrick is merely a scapegoat at the moment, with many believing United’s problems run deeper. The scrutiny should be on those higher up in the board room.

With that in mind, one man in the spotlight at the moment is Jason Wilcox, the technical director United appointed in April 2024 and made their director of football the following summer.

Even one of United’s current players, Lisandro Martinez, called out Wilcox after the Champions League loss to Atletico Madrid earlier this month, stating: “I expect more from our technical director.”

The penny seems to be dropping with United fans that Wilcox isn’t the right man to be steering the ship from above.

A closer look at the Premier League table since the start of the 2024-25 season paints a similar picture.

By that point, Wilcox had been in his job for a few months. As a technical director, there wasn’t too much influence he could have on results as soon as he took charge, but the decisions he contributed to over that summer will have started to play their part.

It was the summer that United committed the error of backing Erik ten Hag after their FA Cup win, instead of trusting their gut that he wasn’t the right man to be their manager.

Since then, they’ve been through the rollercoaster of sacking him, handing the reins to Ruben Amorim, sacking him, turning to Michael Carrick as a caretaker and then full-time head coach and realising they might have made a mistake. Or dozens.

Consider some of the players signed in that time – Manuel Ugarte and Joshua Zirkzee standing out for the wrong reasons from the 2024 cohort, before United’s apparent inability to focus on more than one position at once in each of the next two summer windows – and you could say they haven’t exactly helped themselves.

Thus, since the start of the 2024-25 season, United have amassed fewer points than all of Brighton, Bournemouth and Brentford. Each of those clubs have been praised for their progressive approaches recently, and their points tallies justify the process.

Newcastle also rank above the Red Devils in the table since summer 2024, despite having two significantly contrasting seasons in that timeframe.

Here’s the table in full since the start of the first full season since Wilcox’s arrival at Old Trafford.