Ferdinand claims Man Utd ‘need to go down the lunatic road’ with next hire as he names two ‘gunslingers’

Rio Ferdinand reckons Man Utd need to hire one of two “lunatics” as their next permanent boss after the Red Devils sacked Ruben Amorim last week.

The Red Devils moved on from Amorim after the Portuguese coach won just three of his last 11 matches in charge, while he fell out with Jason Wilcox over tactics and the January transfer window .

Man Utd put Darren Fletcher in charge for two matches before appointing Michael Carrick as their interim head coach until the end of the season.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS then plan on bringing in a permanent successor to Amorim in the summer as they look to draw up a shortlist of candidates.

There have been multiple names mentioned, including Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner, Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann, Paris Saint-Germain’s Luis Enrique and England’s Thomas Tuchel.

But Ferdinand reckons Man Utd need something they haven’t tried before with “a bit gun-slinger type” like Napoli’s Antonio Conte or Marseille’s Roberto De Zerbi.

Ferdinand told BBC Radio Five Live : “We’ve had every type of manager now. We’ve had the wily, old Louis van Gaal, we’ve had Jose Mourinho. Probably not at his Chelsea peak but still a massive name with great character.

“We’ve had the young, upcoming managers like (Erik) Ten Hag and Amorim. Then we’ve had the local legends who know the club.

“We now probably need to go down the lunatic road. We need to go down the people that are passionate and a bit gun-slinger type that just go at it, who won’t have it from the media.

“When I say lunatic, there are only two people that I’m looking at right now. (Antonio) Conte jumps off the page to me. I think he’s somebody who would jump at the opportunity. I think he came into Chelsea and Napoli when they were both tenth or eleventh and won the league both times. So he knows how to come in and stabilise.

“On the other hand you’ve got someone that can coach their team and get a playing style and an identity very quickly. He’s done it at three clubs already, and that’s De Zerbi.

“We need elements of both of those two coaches and I’d be absolutely fine by getting either of them.”

– Friday, 16 January 2026

Carrick could still be a contender for the permanent job in the summer if he does well but the Man Utd interim boss insists he’s not been set any targets for the rest of the campaign.

He said: “Like I said, we want to be near the top of the league, we want to be top of the league. That’s pretty obvious to say, but we’ve got to take some small steps towards that, and European football obviously would be a step forward. We’ve got to keep pushing.

“I’ve spoken to Jason an awful lot and working closely with Jason and Omar as well over the last few days, we’ve spoken a lot as you’d imagine.

“The ownership group were in and around it. It was nice to see them and meet them yesterday and have a small chat with them, taking care of business in some ways. We were able to share a few things, so they wished us the very best and it was good to see them.”