Exclusive: Michael Carrick facing Middlesbrough FC sack threat
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick is facing the threat of being sacked at the Riverside Stadium after failing to guide his Boro side to a play-off finish, sources have exclusively informed Football League World.
Defeat to Coventry City on the final day of the season resigned Middlesbrough to another year of Championship football, with the 2025/26 campaign set to be Boro’s ninth second tier term since their Premier League relegation in 2017.
After failing to reach the play-offs last season with an eighth-placed finish, a 10th-placed finish this season marks an alarming step backwards on Boro’s route to promotion, and questions are now being asked over Carrick’s suitability to bring the club back to the top flight.
Sources have exclusively told Football League World that the 43-year-old is facing the threat of being sacked as Middlesbrough head coach.
With the goal of finishing inside the top six evidently being set by the club’s hierarchy, Boro and Carrick have undoubtedly fallen short of their targets this season.
As a result, fan frustration towards the Boro boss has been at an all-time high in recent months, and talk of a potential sacking has been murmuring in recent times.
Indeed, talkSPORT revealed in mid-February that Carrick was under growing pressure at the Riverside, with former Leicester City manager Steve Cooper named in a potential succession plan.
Having been appointed to his first full-time role in management with Middlesbrough in October 2022, Carrick would guide the Teessiders to a fourth-placed finish in that 2022/23 season.
Boro would fall to Coventry City in the semi-finals of the play-offs that year, before a major summer rebuild in 2023 preceded an eighth-placed finish last season, as his side missed out on the top six by four points.
Having missed out on play-off football once again this term, Carrick is clearly a coach under a serious amount of pressure to retain his job.
Fundamental problems are plaguing Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough reign
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick
Carrick has significantly improved certain aspects of Middlesbrough’s squad, and general operation as a football club, during his time in the North East.
He’s played a huge part in helping attract players to the club, whilst also coaching up and developing players for the club to sell on for major profits later down the line, such as Morgan Rogers and Emmanuel Latte Lath.
Middlesbrough’s Championship stats under Carrick – per FotMob
Season
Goals scored per game
Goals conceded per game
Clean sheets
24/25
1.4 (4th in Champ)
1.2 (10th in Champ)
13 (10th in Champ)
23/24
1.5 (6th in Champ)
1.3 (13th in Champ)
11 (16th in Champ)
22/23
1.8 (2nd in Champ)
1.2 (13th in Champ)
10 (20th in Champ)
However, despite consistently fielding potent attacking units, Carrick’s Middlesbrough tenureship has been plagued with defensive issues.
Boro threw away a host of precious points this season through self-inflicted wounds at the back; points that could, and probably would have made the difference in their pursuit of the play-offs.
Indeed, it has been this department of his team that has been a constant stain on his Middlesbrough reign, which is the cause of huge frustration from Boro fans, as most recognise just how much potential Carrick has in the management game.
It’s fair to say that few coaches have elicited as much promotion confidence from the Riverside faithful since their Premier League relegation.
However, defensive woes combined with criticism over his in-game management and reluctance to alter his style of play has now seen a growing number of believers convert to skepticism over Carrick’s ability to take the club back to the promised land.
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