Manchester United confirmed the dismissal of Jose Mourinho after two-and-a-half years in charge this morning.
We were beaten 3-1 at Liverpool on Sunday having been completely outplayed whilst 2018 World Cup winner and club record signing Paul Pogba was an unused substitute.
Sunday’s defeat has left us 19 points off top spot and 11 points outside the top four places before Christmas.
His dismissal seemed inevitable following poor performance after performance that resulted in a number of disastrous results this season.
Jose did win the Europa League and EFL Cup in his first in charge at Old Trafford but failed to win anything last campaign and never mounted a serious title challenge.
The bookmakers have just released their odds of the next permanent Manchester United manager. The top five favourites are:
Michael Carrick (10/11)
The board have already confirmed that a caretaker manager will be in charge for the remainder of the season and that could be Michael Carrick given that he’s already part of the coaching staff. A good performance during the second half of the season could land him the job full-time but it does come as a surprise to see him as the odds-on favourite.
Zinedine Zidane (4/1)
The former French star was linked as early as the summer when he left Real Madrid after winning three successive Champions League titles. Zinedine Zidane did win La Liga once in his three seasons but didn’t put up a title fight in the other two. He also had a number of World Class stars on his books at the club.
Antonio Conte (8/1)
Dismissed by Chelsea over the summer having finished fitth last season, Antonio Conte previously won the Premier League title during his first season in charge as well as a very successful spell at Juventus prior. The Italian tactician could well be our next choice and I wouldn’t be surprised to see these odds drop significantly at times between now and the summer.
Nicky Butt (8/1)
Doing an excellent job with our reserve team, could we go down the Barcelona route and promote from within? Nicky Butt has to start somewhere and seems to have got the knack of management based on what he’s producing with our youngsters. Would the first team role come too early though?
Guus Hiddink (10/1)
The former Real Madrid, Chelsea, PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands and Russia manager (among many others) has gone off the radar in recent years. An absolute tactical genius over the decades but Guus Hiddink is 72 now so would the board really consider the Dutchman?
Interestingly, the bookmakers don’t currently have Mauricio Pochettino among the favourites to become our next permanent manager. The Tottenham Hotspur boss has been linked to the job for a while and realistically, he’s won all he can with Spurs – which is nothing.
