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Manchester United have been operating well below their potential for quite some time. Ruben Amorim may not have been the club’s most disappointing head coach appointment, but he was the man in the premium seat when the Red Devils’ aura finally faded.

Amorim stayed in charge of Manchester United for far too long, yet he still left them in a position that could be repaired last season. After a couple of games under caretaker head coach Darren Fletcher, the club once again placed its trust in former midfielder Michael Carrick.

The assignment for the interim head coach was straightforward enough: deliver results with a side that previously could not even add up to the sum of its parts, let alone outperform it.

Carrick’s spell as interim boss was a success. Securing third place in the Premier League and getting back into the Champions League after a campaign that contained only a modest 40 matches was a commendable achievement, even if Bruno Fernandes’ influence cannot possibly be overlooked.

The surface-level reading is that Carrick managed to unlock United’s potential by creating a sense of simplicity and freedom, particularly by abandoning a formation Amorim was deeply attached to even though it was clearly not working.

There is some truth in that straightforward assessment.

Very good players can either perform or fail on their own, but they can also be restricted by their surroundings and, for many reasons that do not all apply in Amorim’s case, by a head coach who does not suit them, inspire them or get the best out of them.

By easing that internal pressure on an otherwise capable squad, simplifying the approach and moving to a back four, Carrick did something that may sound obvious but was not merely basic work that any incoming manager could have turned into results.

Carrick did not simply walk back into Carrington in January, tell his players that back threes were a bad idea and then immediately beat Manchester City by asking them to just go out and enjoy themselves. It was an actively intelligent decision on his part to assess what he had available and understand how best to release it.

That brought United the outcome they wanted and earned him the role on a permanent basis. With third place and a Champions League berth already secured, he was the clear and logical appointment.

What comes next is the real thing, and it now belongs to Carrick. The word ‘interim’ has gone. There is no bounce effect now, no liberation from unpopular old methods. The only measure is the same one by which every Manchester United manager is judged, and that is a completely different test.

The value of simply ‘getting it’ does not usually carry over from one season to the next. There is a major difference between understanding it and actually doing it. Doing it is now the job in front of him.

There are reasons for optimism. Carrick himself is one of them; it would be unfair to dismiss the very real success of last season, and it offers encouragement.

After all, the former United midfielder has given no reason for anyone to doubt him. His side’s revival in the second half of 2025-26 produced only two defeats and three draws in 17 matches, and that run included victories over City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool, all of whom finished in the top five alongside them.

United have also added some genuine quality in the transfer windows both last summer and this one.

Senne Lammens, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko are all significant contributors, while the same level of impact will also be expected from Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, even if supporters are still hoping for further arrivals. Even returning favourite Marcus Rashford could yet have a role to play.

For Carrick, the standard is high. Qualifying for the Champions League is the minimum requirement for Manchester United, not the end goal, and even that would be viewed by some supporters as below expectations.

Clubs such as United, Liverpool and Villa can also expect stronger competition from heavily spending Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, neither of whom can afford another campaign like the previous one and both of whom are doing everything possible to ensure that does not happen again.

We will learn in the early stages of 2026-27 whether United are properly built for success. At this point last year, despite heavy spending in the summer, there were still clear holes in the squad and a head coach who stubbornly persisted with methods that seemed to cause more harm than merely being ineffective, so failure felt inevitable.

Carrick is now the symbol of what United supporters hope will be a different kind of season, with players performing to their level and functioning as a team capable of replanting the United flag.

His first game of the new season takes United away to promoted Hull City. The second is at home to Ipswich Town. The expectation will be that they win both. It is a familiar benchmark, and one Carrick will now have to accept.