Gary Neville says managers sometimes need to be fired “for their own good”. Manchester UnitedMichael Carrick’s decision to continue under pressure.
United are 16th in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone after Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth.
Carrick was expected to be sacked after that defeat, but the club have opted to give the 45-year-old a chance to turn things around and he will remain in charge of United’s trip to Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime.
“I think what happened in the 24 hours after Bournemouth was literally going back and forth,” former Manchester United captain Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“I don’t know, but they discussed it in such a way that they got themselves into a mess and thought, ‘We’ll stay with him.’
“I think staying with it is a result of a lack of planning, probably a lack of available options, probably a lack of decision-making around the two people available. That’s when you really struggle.”
Neville added: “Sometimes a manager needs a sack for his own good. I needed a sack at Valencia. I was happy they put me out of my misery.”
Carrick’s position was also in jeopardy ahead of the Bournemouth game after captain Bruno Fernandes criticized the tactics used in last week’s 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como.
Fernandes was dropped for the Bournemouth match but he and Carrick have since held talks to clear the air.
“We’ve all been in football dressing rooms and they’re pretty brutal places,” Neville said.
“If club captain Bruno Fernandes… comes out after a 4-1 defeat at Como and questions the manager’s tactics, where he’s been a drain for 3 months and the rest is the same, that’s only 1 or 2% of what they’re saying internally.”
Carrick’s name was chanted by cheering United fans after the defeat at Bournemouth, which Neville called “effectively a farewell tour”.
Those fans then booed the players as Carrick came down the tunnel.