INSIDE THE SACKING! Broken dressing room, transfer blunders and Carrick's final Carrington humiliation before finally losing his job

Perhaps the first hint that all wasn't well at Manchester United arrived in pre-season.

It was a low-key summer, with trips around Europe and many of the squad's more established stars away for parts of it.

For those of us who followed the club around the continent, it was noticeable that the players being put up to speak were either low-key or shy, reticent talkers unlikely to rock the boat.

As for Michael Carrick, he made his exit from stadiums in Helsinki and Trondheim while the travelling journalists were speaking to players. It would be in Dublin, well into pre-season, before he sat down with external media. Within a couple of minutes, he said, "We want more, we need more," when it came to transfers.

He got one more, a £70million deal for Carlos Baleba wrapping up a transfer window that delivered a midfield rebuild but nothing else. Carrick was never going to say it on the record, but privately, he shared Lisandro Martinez's views that he had been let down in the summer, although Martinez's explosive TV interview in Madrid fractured the dressing room and made Carrick's job more difficult.

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Even still, when the campaign began, there was optimism. There was still momentum from last season, the midfield signings looked promising and the fixture list had been kind. Hull City represented what should have been a routine opener, but United wilted and things unravelled from there.

That set a trend of United looking second-best physically in games. It took until the defeat to Como for Carrick to acknowledge it and criticise the players, but the question has to be asked about the players' fitness levels. United had a long pre-season, far longer than their rivals', and staying at Carrington during the week made it more relaxed.

But that might have led to eyes being taken off the ball. United's squad look short of the physical levels of their rivals and that longer run-in to the first weekend of the season might actually have been a hindrance rather than a help. They've been playing catch-up ever since.

It is still remarkable how quickly things have fallen apart for Carrick. He gave Jason Wilcox, Omar Berrada and Sir Jim Ratcliffe little choice but to appoint him in May, having won 12 and drawn three of his 17 Premier League games in charge as a caretaker. In the end, he's lasted just 15 games into a two-year contract and has won only three of them.

Former teammates of Carrick believe he was just being himself in the role. One described him as "horizontal", meaning laid-back at times. Criticism didn't bother him as a player and it washed over him pretty easily as a manager.

But it was impossible not see how much he cared. If anything, he cared too much. By the end, he looked like a broken man, the pain of what was happening etched all over his face. While previous United managers have sensed the end coming and tried to protect their own reputation, Carrick made every decision with the club at the heart of it, not his own career path.

He should probably have gone after the back-to-back defeats to Como and Bournemouth. United dithered because the board were divided over replacements and Carrick earned a reprieve. Given three games to turn it around, he could argue the signs were more positive. Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox disagreed.

The dressing room continued to play for Carrick, even when his time was obviously coming to an end. They left it all on the pitch against Roma and Aston Villa, and, privately, some were appalled by the way he was treated this week.

The players might have rallied for Carrick, but this wasn't a dressing room singing from the same hymn sheet. Long-serving squad members were disappointed by the recruitment, while some of the new squad members were angry at Martinez for going rogue in front of the TV cameras in Madrid.

There seemed to be no way back for Carrick when his captain criticised his tactics in Como and Fernandes was then discarded completely against Bournemouth. It was noticeable that Carrick refused to ever confirm whether Fernandes apologised.

Martinez did so publicly in response to his comments on Wilcox, but only over their timing rather than their content. It's understood discussions over the make-up of that apology went on for a long time when Martinez met club officials after training.

Carrick made mistakes as well. His success last season was built on a quieter schedule, with plenty of time to prepare for games. He brought simplicity to a set-up lacking it under Ruben Amorim and reaped the rewards.

Two of United's worst performances in Carrick's 17 games last season came in his only midweek fixtures, against West Ham and Newcastle. It was a red flag. This season, midweek games have produced historic defeats to Brighton and Como.

Carrick has also failed to show the tactical nous required to take the team to a new level. His decision to abandon any attempt to press might say something about the team's fitness, but there was little ingenuity in United's set-up, and it hinted at a lack of guile on the training pitches. Suggestions to add to the coaching staff in the summer were rejected.

The way Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton and Cesc Fabregas' Como manipulated space around the United midfield was alarming and reminiscent of the darkest days of the Erik ten Hag era. By the end, it felt like Carrick had lost his way tactically.

But he was certainly hampered by injuries, and this comes back to the board again. Luke Shaw started 38 Premier League games last season because the schedule suited him. It was obvious to everyone apart from those making the decisions at United that it wouldn't last.

The fact that Carrick was forced to start five different left-backs in the first 10 games is solely the fault of Wilcox and Berrada. Likewise, the fact that they didn't recruit another striker, despite knowing the only one they had in the building had a shin injury that could flare up again at any moment.

For a club of United's size, stature and ambition to go into a season encompassing Champions League football with only one left-back and one striker is, frankly, pathetic and an insult to Carrick.

And by the end, the supporters had seen through Berrada's bravado and Wilcox's silence. For all the talk of Project 150, talk is cheap and action has proven to be beyond them. They have now sacked three managers in less than three years and look totally out of their depth when it comes to running Manchester United. Project 150 should no longer be about winning the Premier League in 2028, but being in the Premier League in 2028.

The fans backed Carrick to the end, although many also knew that it was time for a change. The problem is they have no faith in the people making that decision.

And at least Carrick has shown he cares. His five-and-a-half-minute monologue to start his press conference ahead of the Bournemouth game was evidence that he cared too much. It also felt as much a message to the next person to sit in that seat as one final Hail Mary to save himself. Somehow, he did save himself, despite the result.

When United were 2-0 down to Roma, it felt like Carrick could have gone that night, so mutinous was the mood, and so glaring were his tactical mistakes. Somehow, United rallied.

But even at the time, it felt like one magical European night for Carrick to savour, rather than evidence of a long-term resurrection. It was the football gods deciding he deserved a night to remember before he went.

That feeling might have soured with the shabby way he was treated in his final week in the job. It's unthinkable United would have asked Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Erik ten Hag or Ruben Amorim to take training, while the rest of the world knew they were being sacked.

United insist the dithering was about developing a succession plan, but a loyal club servant deserved better than this final humiliation. Carrick's bosses let him down in the summer and again this week. He deserved better.