Gary Neville wades into Man Utd manager debate as he names outstanding candidate | Football | Sport
Gary Neville has named Carlo Ancelotti as the standout contender to take charge at Manchester United and would be prepared to wait until after the World Cup for the Brazil manager. United are hunting for a new head coach following the sacking of Ruben Amorim earlier this week. They are holding discussions with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as they initially seek to appoint an interim boss until the season’s end.
Darren Fletcher oversaw the match against Burnley and is expected to be in the dugout against Brighton this weekend. Ancelotti, meanwhile, is one of football’s most legendary managers has previously enjoyed Premier League glory. The Italian head coach secured the title in 2009/10 with Chelsea, whilst also having managed Everton.
That expertise is crucial in Neville’s view, with the permanent appointment needing to meet four criteria to avoid the setbacks the club has endured since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.
“With the last 12 years being a period of massive underperformance for Manchester United managers, there are certain boxes the next candidate now needs to tick,” Neville penned in the Overlap newsletter.
“1. You have to be able to handle the media and the noise that comes with this club. It is what it is so get over it and deal with it. It’s why you’re getting paid the big bucks.
“2. You have to show that you can have success getting into the top four, that you can cope with Champions League football and that you can get the best out of a group of players that will include egos and superstars
“3. You must understand the Premier League and English football culture because it’s different to competing in many of the European leagues”.
“4. You have to understand the Manchester United way, which means you have to be a glass-half-full kind of manager. Be positive and prepared to take risks and play with pace and excitement. In all likelihood that is going to a variation of 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1.
“You have got to be pretty special to tick all four of those boxes and as such, the outstanding candidate for me would be Carlo Ancelotti, even if it would mean potentially delaying his arrival until late July if Brazil reached the World Cup final.
“No-one comes as close to fulfilling everything laid out above than he does. Ironically the club met with Carlo shortly before his retirement in 2013 and we could have short circuited this entire process and started with him at the beginning of the cycle.
“But by that stage he was close to agreeing to joining Real Madrid for his first spell in charge and so what might have been a perfect appointment never happened.”
