Manchester United might have lost to Wrexham, but it showed that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos could not have been more right with their key decision.
Wrexham faced Manchester United at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium on Saturday and the Championship club secured a 1-0 win over the Premier League side in Finland.
The pre-season match marked the first fixture in the Red Devils’ summer tour under Michael Carrick, who was appointed the permanent head coach back in May.
Manchester United fans might not have seen the result they wanted this weekend, but the match did prove a big talking point for Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos ensured that Michael Carrick’s permanent Man Utd reign didn’t kick off with a defeat
Michael Carrick won his first Manchester United match as Ruben Amorim’s permanent successor on the final day of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign.
Ineos opted not to wait until after the season and Carrick took charge as United manager for the Red Devils’ comfortable 3-0 win over Brighton at the Amex.
There was mounting speculation over whether Ineos or Sir Jim Ratcliffe would announce Carrick’s appointment before or after the end of the previous campaign.
However, in hindsight, Ineos ensured that Carrick walked away from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium without any unnecessary drama hovering over his head.
Irrespective of the Wrexham vs Man Utd match being a pre-season friendly, the result would have been used to beat Carrick with a stick if it were his first match.
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Erik ten Hag is the perfect example of where Michael Carrick could have faced ‘drama’ at the first opportunity
After Ineos had sacked Erik ten Hag as Man Utd manager, the Dutchman returned to his native homeland to coach a testimonial match at his former club Utrecht.
Erik ten Hag’s side consisted of ex-Utrecht players and took on the Utrecht first-team squad at the time to commemorate Mark van der Maarel’s retirement in 2024.
The former Ajax and Man Utd boss oversaw a 2-1 win in the testimonial fixture, but the British tabloids ran misleading headlines to say that Ten Hag ‘lost the clash.’
So, when someone says that a pre-season defeat for Carrick would not have been that ‘damaging’ if it were his first match as Man Utd boss, then think again.
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