Who is part of Michael Carrick’s backroom staff at Man Utd?

Holland was sacked as the head coach of Yokohama F Marinos last April after only four months in charge. He was mentioned as a potential backroom staff member when Steven Gerrard was interviewed about returning to Rangers, before the former Liverpool captain subsequently pulled out of the running for the vacancy in Glasgow.

More recently, Gerrard and Holland were at Anfield together, sitting side by side in the directors’ box, when Liverpool beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 on December 27.

Jonathan Woodgate

First-team coach

Age: 45

Woodgate was Carrick’s assistant during his time in charge of Middlesbrough, so the decision to bring him to Old Trafford also makes sense. Carrick and Woodgate played for England together but they did not know each other that well before Carrick was appointed head coach of the Championship club in 2022.

The pair struck up a good relationship, with Carrick praising Woodgate’s vision, knowledge and experience. “He’s been vital for me to lean on and learn from,” Carrick said of Woodgate during their time together on Teesside. “We work together really closely.”

That Woodgate speaks Spanish because of his time at Real Madrid will be a big help to Carrick, who must manage a squad made up of various nationalities. Jason Wilcox, United’s director of football, used to play alongside Woodgate for their great rivals Leeds United.

Jonny Evans

First-team coach

Age: 38

Evans has minimal coaching experience, but having only retired from playing last summer — after his second spell at United — he knows most people in the dressing room and has been around the club of late, helping Darren Fletcher out during the Scot’s caretaker spell in charge.

Evans is a liked and respected figure at Carrington, so the former United defender will be the bridge between the players and the management. United put Evans in charge of their loan players last summer but he left six months later, stating that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Travis Binnion

First-team coach

Age: 39

Binnion has managed the under-18s and under-21s since joining from Sheffield United in November 2019. His key asset is that he knows the likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Jack and Tyler Fletcher and Shea Lacey, who are all in the first-team picture after their graduation from the academy.

Under Binnion, United won the FA Youth Cup in 2022, beating Nottingham Forest with a team that contained Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, who has since left for Chelsea. Two years ago, he predicted a bright future for Mainoo, saying: “He’s composed, brave and elite level with the ball. He won’t be fazed by anything.”

The former defender, whose playing career was ravaged by injury, is highly regarded within the United set-up and will step up from his role as under-21 head coach for the rest of the season.

Craig Mawson

Goalkeeper coach

Age: 46

Has taken the lead with the coaching of United’s goalkeepers since Ruben Amorim and his Portuguese staff were fired last week. Until that point, Jorge Vital, 64, was the lead goalkeeper coach, working alongside Mawson, who spent nine years on Burnley’s coaching staff before being poached by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019.

Along with the former head goalkeeper coach Richard Hartis, who has since left United, Mawson coached the goalkeepers during Carrick’s first caretaker spell, in 2021. His training drills include challenging his goalkeepers to catch tennis balls and to make saves while wearing glasses that impair their vision.

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