The faded glamour of Mauricio Pochettino makes him the perfect fit for modern Manchester United

And so it’s Mauricio Pochettino’s turn to stride purposefully into the ring, gumshield gleaming and eyes ablaze, the latest member of the Bum of the Month club at Manchester United. When he walks out at Anfield next Sunday, Pochettino will be the eighth different United manager since the same weekend in 2021. And if you think that’s a lot, just remember that it’s actually nine different stints – Michael Carrick had two goes at it.

Nine managers in five years. They’ve had four in the first 11 months of 2026 alone. Of course, they would point out that those numbers are misleading – they include interim spells for Darren Fletcher (two games in January of this year), Ruud van Nistelrooy (four games this time two years ago) and Carrick himself (three games at the back end of 2021). Also, Ralf Rangnick’s 23 games officially go in the books as an interim spell, even though it amounted to only a few months short of the time David Moyes spent in charge.