Where would Manchester United finish if they appointed Neil Warnock as boss tomorrow?
It’s a fascinating thought experiment and the 76-year-old managerial legend has thrown his hat in the ring with a tongue-in-cheek post on X.
With Ruben Amorim under massive pressure at Old Trafford, his future at the club is under scrutiny like never before.
The 3-1 defeat by Brentford at the weekend means United sit 14th in the table and Warnock replied to a post listing the teams in positional order with alternative funny names or puns.
Instead of Man United, they were listed as: ‘Paging Neil Warnock’.
The veteran boss, who has managed 20 different clubs in his career and has a reputation for coming in to rescue teams from the threat of relegation, replied: ‘Give me a call in January! 4-3-3’.
His reference to the formation is a stick many fans and pundits have used as a stick to beat Amorim with.
The Portuguese boss refuses to switch from his back three and says if the club want something different they must change manager.
Warnock retired from management in 2024 when he stepped down from his position at Aberdeen but is still keeping an iron in the fire as an advisor to Torquay United.
Warnock first developed a reputation as a promotion specialist in the Championship having led Sheffield United, QPR and Cardiff City to the top flight.
A number of clubs also turned to him in the latter stages of his career as a fire-fighting boss brought in to make an immediate impact and stave off relegation at the likes of Huddersfield and Rotherham.
United clearly aren’t at that stage but the beginning of the season, as with the rest of Amorim’s tenure has been woeful.
The club’s board have backed their man previously but if the results do not improve quickly, it seems inevitable that Sir Jim Ratcliffe will wield the axe.
He is the bookies’ favourite to be the next manager sacked in the Premier League and anything other than a win over Sunderland at Old Trafford this weekend could prove terminal.
Earlier this week, Jamie Carragher said it would be the right move for both the club and manager to part company now.
‘I think he’s still in a job because the powers that be at Man United have made that many mistakes on and off the pitch that they almost don’t want to admit right now that they’ve made another,’ he said on Monday Night Football.
‘This has been a disaster for Man United and Ruben Amorim. What he did at Sporting Lisbon was fantastic and he looked like the next big thing as a manager.
But bringing a manager with a system like his never suited the traditions of Man United and the quicker the club make a decision on the manager, I think it’s better for everybody because it has been a disaster for the club but also the manager.’
Carragher has joined Gary Neville in suggesting Amorim’s time may now be up.
‘I felt for the first time, just through instinct, watching it on the television, seeing players’ faces and body language, that there might be an element of players really doubting the system and what’s going on,’ Neville said, speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast.
‘There was something that happened in that game that I mentioned on my podcast two or three weeks ago that I said we couldn’t see again. I said that Mason Mount ended up at left wing-back.
‘There’s sticking to your plan and then there’s your coach that’s got an idea and making sure that he delivers that idea and not flip flopping with his idea with players, which can sometimes undermine what you’re trying to achieve.
‘But then when you’re putting Mason Mount at left wing-back – and he’s ended up at left wing-back again at Brentford in the last five minutes to the game – it starts to look awful.’
‘You can’t put Mason Mount at left wing-back. I’m sorry, it just can’t happen. I can’t watch Mason Mount play left wing-back in a football team.
‘I struggled at times to watch him in his natural position, but actually putting him out there on the left wing, is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.’
Man United face newly promoted Sunderland in the final match before the international break, before a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.
