Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Manchester United after a tense and insipid start to the season. United are a massive 19 points behind Liverpool at the top of the league, and 11 points off fourth place.
The club have confirmed that they will appoint an interim manager until the end of the season, at which point a new manager will be appointed. It is expected that the new manager will work with a sporting director.
While Michael Carrick is taking training today, he won't be the interim manager as he doesn't yet have the necessary qualifications, meaning he will be interim to the interim manager.
The candidate for the role of interim manager is reported to be someone "steeped" in the club, but not currently working with the club. Here are some of the candidates.
Laurent Blanc
The Mirror report that Blanc, who is a former manager of PSG along with the French national team, is ahead of the chasing pack. Blanc played 75 times for United under Alex Ferguson, and as a coach led Bordeaux to the French title in 2009. From there he had an undistinguished spell with France, and then took over PSG, winning three league titles.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Few United legends spent as long on the bench as Solskjaer - can he return to it and deliver a similar level of success? Solskjaer coached Man United's reserves between 2008 and 2011, before heading home to Norway to take charge of Molde. Here he was touted for numerous jobs in England, before eventually taking the strange decision to try and rescue Cardiff City from relegation in 2014. He was unsuccessful, and returned to Molde in 2015, where he remains today.
Carlos Queiroz
Alex Ferguson's former assistant is looking for work, and was touted for the Irish job before it was given to Mick McCarthy. If it were to go to a former Fergie assistant - he would probably be better then Mike Phelan...and definitely Steve McClaren.
Zinedine Zidane
Zizou does not fill the criteria in terms of being steeped in the club, but United's season can be rescued in the knockout stages of the European Cup. Zidane has won the last three European Cups, the first in similar circumstances to those he may find at Old Trafford.
Eric Cantona
Cantona's name has been whispered in a few places...but as amazing as it could be, alas it seems unlikely.
Whoever takes over will be the fifth different man to take charge of United since Alex Ferguson left...with months still left to run on David Moyes' initial six-year contract.
