Sir Alex Ferguson has an alternative role when it comes to Manchester United manager searches

Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Michael Carrick’s anticipated appointment as Manchester United’s permanent manager.

United have considered alternative candidates but Carrick has consistently been viewed as the leading contender. Significantly, as reported by the Mirror this week, co-owners the Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe agree that he merits remaining in the role. That support extends to the club’s most successful ever manager, Ferguson.

Since stepping down in 2013, the Scot was frequently consulted on managerial matters. While that hasn’t occurred on this occasion, it is understood he supports the likely permanent appointment of Carrick.

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our United WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. You can also join our United Facebook page by clicking HERE and don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.

Carrick would become the seventh permanent manager since Ferguson’s retirement. Ferguson personally selected his successor, David Moyes, but has been less involved in recent years. He supported Jose Mourinho’s appointment in 2026, jokingly advising the Portuguese manager to “bring an umbrella” for Manchester’s wet weather.

Mourinho said of Ferguson at the time: “His opinion is an important opinion for me in the same way that many legends in this club love the club and are in the punditry industry, so every opinion will be important for me.”

Ferguson also seemed to establish a strong rapport with Erik ten Hag, dining out with the Dutch manager. Although Ferguson, a non-executive director, hasn’t been formally consulted lately, he has been informed of developments concerning Carrick.

The former Middlesbrough manager has exceeded all expectations since taking charge in January, following the conclusion to Ruben Amorim’s troubled tenure.

Carrick has overseen a dramatic turnaround in both atmosphere and performances, with United securing Champions League football with three games to spare and closing in on a third-place Premier League finish.

That remarkable revival has placed the club’s former midfielder, captain and coach in the driving seat to retain the position, with discussions understood to be ongoing ahead of the season’s conclusion.

Carrick also enjoys backing from several of his former United colleagues, amongst them Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. Rooney has urged the club to appoint Carrick as soon as possible, given what promises to be a hectic summer of transfer activity as Carrick looks to reshape the squad.

Speaking on the BBC, Rooney said: “I think for the club to announce him, I think they need to do it swiftly because they need to get players in. They need to get players to improve that team.”

Meanwhile, Ferdinand told talkSPORT: “He’s earned the right to manage Manchester United. He’s taken us to third convincingly. On that alone, he deserves an opportunity.”

Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more

Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.

Carlo Ancelotti has extended his contract as Brazil manager, committing to lead the national team through to the 2030 World Cup.

The Italian took the Selecao job after leaving Real Madrid at the end of the 2024-25 season, and has since guided them to this summer’s finals in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Despite suffering six defeats during their CONMEBOL qualifying campaign, the former Chelsea and Everton boss secured a fifth-place finish.

Brazil are drawn into Group C, alongside Scotland, Morocco and Haiti, with Ancelotti aiming to guide the South American nation to their first World Cup success since 2002.

Speaking on the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) website, Ancelotti expressed his dedication: “I arrived in Brazil a year ago. From the first minute, I understood what football means to this country.

“For a year, we have been working to bring the Brazilian national team back to the top of the world, but the CBF and I want more: more victories, more time, more work.

“We are very happy to announce that we will continue together for another four years. We will go together until the 2030 World Cup. I want to thank the CBF for their trust. Thank you, Brazil, for the warm welcome and for all the affection.”

Brazil have won the World Cup on five occasions, making them the most successful nation in the tournament’s history. However, it has been almost a quarter of a century since their last triumph.

They have been eliminated at the quarter-final stage in the last two World Cups, losing to Belgium in 2018 before being knocked out on penalties by Croatia four years ago.

Brazil did reach the semi-finals of their home World Cup in 2014, but they suffered humiliation in the last four as they were thrashed 7-1 by eventual champions Germany.

In the Premier League, Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium and are now just two points behind Arsenal in the title race.

In Italy, Inter Milan won the Italian Cup with a 2-0 victory over Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico, completing the third league and cup double in the club’s history.

In Spain, Alavés defeated Barcelona 1-0, reigniting the relegation battle in La Liga with just two matches remaining in a very tight table.

In tennis, Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek both reached the semi-finals in Rome, while Elina Svitolina produced an upset against Elena Rybakina (2-6, 6-4, 6-4).

In the EuroLeague, Valencia qualified for the Final Four after eliminating Panathinaikos (81-64).

For the first time, the football World Cup final in July will feature a star-studded Super Bowl-style halftime show. FIFA has announced that the concert will be headlined by no less than Madonna, Shakira and boys-band BTS. Story by Emerald Maxwell.

Home favourite Davide Ballerini won his first Grand Tour stage as he avoided a late crash to win stage six of the Giro d’Italia.

The XDS-Astana rider successfully dodged a late pile-up which took out several of the stage favourites and held off the chasing Jasper Stuyven for victory on the cobbles in Naples.

Stuyven’s teammate Paul Magnier, who has already won two stages of this year’s race, was third. The Frenchman nearly slipped himself as he tried to dodge riders on the ground, but managed to pick up speed again despite nearly coming to a stop and led in the chasing riders.

Dylan Groenewegen and Jonathan Milan were both caught out in the crash, with Groenewegen’s lead-out rider one of the first to slip on a tricky right-hander only a few hundred metres from the finish.

Wednesday’s stage five was notable for its torrid conditions, with torrential downpour and cold temperatures making for a miserable day on the bike.

Luckily the showers mostly cleared in time for stage six, with the riders racing under sunshine for most of the 141km run from Paestum to Naples.

Setting off near Paestum’s Ancient Greek temples, the riders had a relatively uncomplicated parcours to traverse: a nearly pan-flat stretch along the coast before rolling into Naples and swinging onto a cobbled stretch for the expected bunch sprint.

An early breakaway consisting of Alpecin-PremierTech teammates Luca Vergallito and Edward Planckaert was quickly out of the blocks, soon joined by Mattia Bais of Team Polti-VisitMalta and the Bardiani CSF 7 Saber pair of Martin Marcellusi and Manuele Tarozzi.

Bais was quickest to the top of the only climb of the day, the category 4 Cava de’ Tirreni, while Planckaert was dropped and absorbed by the peloton.

The remaining four escapees persevered but were kept on a short lead by the sprinters’ teams, who controlled proceedings throughout and finally caught them with 35km to go.

The clouds that had threatened to break all day finally did as the riders sped through central Naples, with the rain making the final cobbled section especially slick and treacherous.

Multiple riders slipped on the final corner, with Groenewegen and Milan the most notable to be caught out and unable to contest the sprint.

Bahrain-Victorious’ Afonso Eulalio remains in the overall race leader’s pink jersey, with no change in the general classification standings.

TNT Sports is the Home of Cycling in the U.K.

You know how you aren’t supposed to talk about a no-hitter while it’s going on? That’s kind of how it feels to talk about a starting pitcher who is both pitching well and is currently healthy. We’ve had so many pitchers go down with injuries (including a couple more big names on Wednesday, of course) or supposed aces struggling this season that it feels risky to even mention when a pitcher is thriving. 

But I’m going to do it. I’m going to take the risk, because it needs to be said: Jacob Misiorowski is ascending to the highest tiers of the position. 

This might not strike you as a particularly bold take. Misiorowski has some of the most overwhelmingly dominant stuff we’ve ever seen from a starting pitcher, and he entered Wednesday’s start against the Padres with a 2.45 ERA and absolutely massive strikeout numbers. For many of you, saying this in mid-May might be saying it too late. But let’s not forget that Misiorowski was very much a question mark just two months ago, coming off a rookie season where he put up a 4.63 ERA and was largely not all that useful for Fantasy in the second half. 

But it’s hard to argue against him as a true ace at this point. He shut down the Padres for seven innings Wednesday, his third straight start without allowing a run, and the fourth time in nine starts he has gone at least six innings – something he did just three times in 14 starts last season. And after serious issues throwing strikes for much of his rookie season, Misiorowski seems to have turned a corner, with two or fewer walks in four straight starts and six of nine overall. And, obviously, the strikeouts are plentiful, with 10 more in this start to give him four starts with double-digits on the season – the same number Paul Skenes has for his career after Tuesday’s gem. 

I’m not saying Misiorowski is a better pitcher than Skenes, though I don’t think it’s an overreaction to say he’s a better strikeout pitcher than Skenes. But I do think we’re at the point where it doesn’t really make any sense to have performance concerns about Misiorowski. He probably won’t sustain a 45%-plus whiff rate on his four-seamer, but … he might! It is genuinely one of the best four-seamers we’ve ever seen from a starting pitcher. And he’s showing a basically unprecedented ability to sustain that heat late into games, as his last three pitches of the game tonight were 102, 101.9, and 103.2 mph, giving him 12 pitches of at least 101 mph for his career in the sixth inning or later, the second-most of any pitcher in the pitch-tracking era behind Justin Verlander. 

And the rest of the arsenal is pretty good, too! Misiorowski’s slider isn’t really a huge bat-misser; it’s more like a monster, contact-suppressing cutter, and it generated nine batted balls Wednesday with just a 79.1 mph average exit velocity. The curveball operates more like a slider for Misiorowski; only the first two pitches are so good that he hardly ever needs it. 

It’s fair to wonder how sustainable this all is, mostly from a health standpoint. Nobody has ever sustained the kind of velocity Misiorowski is routinely generating while staying healthy. But here’s the thing: He’s healthy right now. Every pitcher has a fairly high baseline level of injury risk, and I don’t think it’s especially fair to assume Misiorowski’s is significantly higher than other pitchers who are also presumably pitching at max effort, just because his max effort produces higher readings. Yeah, he’s an injury risk. So is every pitcher, as you may be aware.

I’m moving Misiorowski up to the SP6 spot in my rankings this week. In trades, I think the only pitcher I would be willing to trade Misiorowski straight up for is Skenes, but I’m not sure I’d be willing to give up any of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Cristopher Sanchez, Chris Sale or Jacob deGrom for him, either, if that makes sense. I’m buying the performance with Misiorowski, but there’s still the open question of how this is all going to look 150 innings in. The rest of those guys might not be as good as Misiorowski right now, but they have shown they can be dominant for a full season. It’s really the only question Misiorowski has yet to answer.

O’Reilly’s “unbelievable talent” was spotted at the age of six, according to Riley, who says he had a “great left foot”, was “good on the ball” as well as having “determination”.

Even at that young age, there were scouts from Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Blackburn Rovers watching him in action for Moston Tigers and Failsworth Dynamos.

O’Reilly was first recommended to Riley by local scout Joe Yates, who would keep in touch with the family about his progress.

Riley said: “It was so competitive in their younger days – it still is now at the moment – because all the top clubs in the North West want all the best boys, so it’s so hard.

“This is where you’ve got to work quite hard with the parents and work as a team at the club. When he has signed on to the under-nines, your job’s not done.

“You carry on keeping in touch with parents, the recruitment team take over, the physios get involved. It’s a massive job getting these boys through but it is all about teamwork.”

O’Reilly grew up in Collyhurst and lists Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho as players who he “loved watching”, while his City idols include Kevin de Bruyne, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

Asked about his early days in football, O’Reilly told BBC Sport: “[We played] a bit of everywhere – on the grass, on the streets. We used to go to the little cage and play there.

“There used to be about 30 of us that used to go out and play and just have a good time. I was a good kid, I just love playing sports. I love being out doing activities.”