“The perfect one”: Scholes highlights who should be next United manager, would make players feel like “a million dollars”

Manchester United have seemingly turned a corner this year after Michael Carrick was named interim manager. After Portuguese head coach Ruben Amorim was sacked, Carrick has won six out of seven league games. This run has seen United rise to third in the table and take control of their own fate regarding Champions League qualification for next season. United’s form has led numerous fans to demand that Carrick be installed as permanent manager as soon as the season is over, but pundit Paul Scholes is not in agreement. Good job Speaking on the The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, he claimed, “if you put yourself in the owner’s shoes or whoever is making the decision, he’s putting real pressure on them to get the job. The people making that decision might have to think about it a little bit differently because I don’t think you need the most technical or talented coach.” He claimed that at big clubs, the players know what they are doing and that what they value above all is a man manager. Referencing his own experience as a player, he said, “if you look back to Sir Alex [Ferguson] he was never a coach really but he knew the players, he knew what the players needed and how to treat players to get the best out of them.” He then highlighted former Real Madrid managers Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane as examples of modern-day man managers. Referencing Carrick, Scholes stated, “I don’t know what Michael’s coaching style is like but I can imagine as a man-manager he’s very good because he’s brilliant with people and players. The question over Michael is does he have the experience? I know he’s managed in the Championship but this is obviously different.” Perfect choice In spite of the compliments, Scholes does not believe Carrick is the perfect choice for Manchester United as their next head coach. He claimed it is impossible to know if his former midfield partner could guide United to a Premier League title in the future, but there is one manager who could. ‘”Now the perfect one out there… Ancelotti is still out there, I know he’s with Brazil, but he’s that perfect one for Manchester United where you think he would make players feel a million dollars and he’s got the experience of winning trophies.” He admitted there could be concern that the Italian is too old, but he continued, “the great thing someone like Ancelotti has is experience – I know that sounds obvious – but we don’t know yet how Michael Carrick will deal with going through a bit of adversity.” Carlo Ancelotti Managerial Career Stats TeamFromToGames PlayedGames WonGames DrawnGames LostGoals ScoredGoals ConcededGoal DifferenceWin % AC Reggiana 19191 July 199530 June 1996411714104536+941.46 Parma Calcio 19131 July 199630 June 19988742271812485+3948.28 Juventus FC9 February 199917 June 2001114633318185101+8455.26 AC Milan6 November 200131 May 200942023810181706373+33356.67 Chelsea FC1 July 200922 May 201110967202224194+14761.47 Paris Saint-Germain FC30 December 201125 June 2013774919915364+8963.64 Real Madrid CF25 June 201325 May 2015119891416321101+22074.79 FC Bayern Munich1 July 201628 September 201760429915650+10670.00 SSC Napoli23 May 201810 December 20197338191612773+5452.05 Everton FC21 December 20191 June 2021673114229388+546.27 Real Madrid CF1 June 202125 May 20252341613637512238+27468.80 Brazil26 May 2025Present8422145+950.00 Career Total——1,4098423072602,6771,308+1,36959.76 The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Alex Browne Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Alex has a Master’s degree from Queen’s University Belfast and La Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Having lived in the country since 2011, Alex is The Peoples Person’s Spanish football expert and is fluent in both Spanish and Catalan. He dreams of witnessing a United captain triumphantly hoisting the Premier League and Champions League trophy in the air once more.