Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (top) and Michael Carrick are the leading contenders for the interim manager role (Peter Powell/PA)
It was part rallying cry, part warning. Darren Fletcher had not been told his time as Manchester United’s interim head coach was over, but he seemed to sense it. And so his parting message to the players who had just exited the FA Cup was laced with an awareness of the worst-case scenario. “Don’t waste the season,” he said.
Those words could have been aimed at the directors’ box, given that, if United’s campaign ends in failure on all fronts, much of the blame will rest with the hierarchy who first appointed Ruben Amorim, then stuck with him last summer.