Manchester United Fans Back Carrick, Reject Ownership After Loss

Manchester United fans sang Michael Carrick's name during a 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth at Old Trafford, then booed the players off and aimed chants at the club's ownership before the final whistle, according to BBC Sport reporter Simon Stone, who covered the match.

How bad was United's run heading into the Bournemouth game?

The Bournemouth defeat extended United's winless run to eight games, the club's worst stretch since the 2015-16 season, Stone reported. It followed a 4-1 loss to Como days earlier, a result Carrick had vowed to put behind him. "We'll be a different team on Sunday. We have to be a different team on Sunday," Carrick said on Friday, according to BBC Sport. United were not.

Is Michael Carrick losing his job?

Carrick could not say whether he will remain in charge for next Saturday's match at Chelsea. "I totally understand the situation. I'm not expecting anything either way. I love this place and I'll always do what I feel is going to be the best for the football club," he told BBC Sport after the loss. Stone described an "air of inevitability" around Carrick's position, with United's hierarchy in what the outlet called serious talks over his future.

Why are fans targeting the Glazer family and Jim Ratcliffe?

Anti-Glazer and anti-Sir Jim Ratcliffe chants began less than a minute into the match, Stone reported. The Glazer family has drawn fan opposition since a debt-financed 2005 takeover of the club. Stone's reporting frames the central tension facing United's hierarchy: fans singing support for the manager one minute and turning on the ownership structure the next suggests replacing the head coach alone will not resolve what supporters see as the deeper problem.

What did the crowd do once Carrick left the pitch?

Once Carrick disappeared down the tunnel, the booing started and continued until the last player left the field, defender Diogo Dalot, according to BBC Sport. Stone wrote that fans "simply feel they are either not good enough or don't care enough, or both."

The Numbers

• 8 — consecutive games without a win for Manchester United, the club's longest such run since 2015-16, per BBC Sport.
• 3-0 — the home scoreline against Bournemouth; it followed a 4-1 defeat at Como days earlier.
• 2005 — the year the Glazer family completed its takeover of Manchester United, a deal fans have protested ever since, according to BBC Sport.

Key Terms

• Debt-financed takeover: An acquisition largely funded by borrowed money secured against the target company's own assets — the structure fans cite when protesting the Glazer family's 2005 purchase of Manchester United.
• Old Trafford: Manchester United's home stadium, where Sunday's defeat and the related protests took place.
• Winless run: A sequence of matches without a win, used here to describe United's current eight-game stretch, the club's worst since 2015-16.

United next travel to Chelsea on Saturday, a fixture Carrick said he cannot say with certainty he will manage, BBC Sport reported.