Neville admits surprise as Manchester United keep faith in Carrick after Bournemouth thrashing

Gary Neville has admitted he did not expect Manchester United to keep Michael Carrick in charge after the club held crisis talks at Carrington on Monday following a heavy defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday.

United’s hierarchy deliberated for two days before deciding to give Carrick the opportunity to arrest the club’s slide, a call that caught even the former United captain off guard. “I’m happy. I’m surprised, but I’m happy because I was absolutely certain that what I witnessed on Sunday would be the end of Michael,” Neville said. “It looked like it when he was walking around on his own with the players behind him — almost like a goodbye lap. He was waving to the fans in an apologetic manner but also a goodbye.”

Neville had been unequivocal in his assessment just days earlier, stating that Carrick was “a dead man walking” and that the club had already held conversations with both Eddie Howe and Julian Nagelsmann as potential replacements. He noted that Carrick’s pre-match press conference had felt like a farewell, describing it as “effectively just the club history, the players who’ve played for the club, the managers who have represented the club.”

Despite his surprise at the decision, Neville expressed cautious optimism. “The fact of the matter, it was very difficult on Sunday,” he said. “How it’s going to go over the next couple of weeks, I have no idea. But I hope he can somehow get those players playing for him again because they’ve not been playing for him for the past few weeks.”

Carrick’s immediate challenge is formidable. United travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea this weekend before a Champions League tie with Roma and a Premier League fixture against Aston Villa — all before the next international break. The run of fixtures will go a long way to determining whether the stay of execution becomes a genuine revival or merely a delayed conclusion.