publicmood

Sample analysis. Customers receive the same report on a private page.

Online sentiment · 13 Jul 2026 – 13 Oct 2026

Is Carrick losing the fans?

Online sentiment towards Michael Carrick as Manchester United manager. Data to 13 Oct 2026.

Verdict

Online sentiment has turned clearly against Carrick

63–73%

of stance-taking items were critical every week since the week starting 21 Sep 2026

up from 14–41% a week in July–August 2026 (the week starting 31 Aug 2026, 47%, falls outside that range)

149

critical items calling to sack him or name a successor

the No. 1 critical argument; 18 supportive items touched the same theme

15,386

X posts in 7 days, 7–13 Oct 2026

6,655 on 10 Oct 2026 alone, the day of the 1-1 v Spurs

Turning point. The mood shifted in the week starting 14 Sep 2026, after Utd 0-1 City (13 Sep 2026) and Utd 2-3 Brighton in the Carabao Cup (16 Sep 2026). First week above 50% critical: the week starting 21 Sep 2026 (73%).

Posts analysed per platform

X
476
posts · 13 Jul – 13 Oct 2026
Reddit
656
posts & comments · 24 Jul – 13 Oct 2026
YouTube
928
comments · 14 Aug – 13 Oct 2026
Google Trends
3
search series · past 3 months, daily

Total: 2,060 items analysed. Bars: critical · neutral · supportive.

How the mood shifted

0%25%50%75%100% LWDLLDD 29%14%32%14%36%41%38%47%31%49%73%63%73%67% 13 Jul 202613 Oct 2026
Red line: share of critical items among items taking a clear stance, per week (week starting Monday). Purple bars: items analysed per week, including neutral. W/D/L: United result. The last week covers only 12–13 Oct 2026.
  • 22 Aug 2026: Hull 2-0 Utd (L)
  • 30 Aug 2026: Utd 5-2 Ipswich (W)
  • 6 Sept 2026: Everton 2-2 Utd (D)
  • 13 Sept 2026: Utd 0-1 City (L)
  • 16 Sept 2026: Utd 2-3 Brighton (Carabao Cup) (L)
  • 20 Sept 2026: Fulham 1-1 Utd (D)
  • 10 Oct 2026: Utd 1-1 Spurs (D)

Match results taken from public match coverage at the time of analysis; not independently re-verified.

X posts per day, 7 Oct 2026 – 13 Oct 2026

7 Oct 2026
333
8 Oct 2026
465
9 Oct 2026
1,064
10 Oct 2026
6,655
11 Oct 2026
2,797
12 Oct 2026
2,195
13 Oct 2026
1,877

13 Oct 2026 is a partial day.

What people argue about

ThemeCritical itemsSupportive items
Calls to replace / successor names14918
Tactics & in-game management5968
Squad, recruitment & INEOS5546
Results & league position4946
Last season credit & legend status4151
Player effort & attitude2421
Inexperience219

An item can mention several themes.

In their own words

Critical

“Carrick completely lost it. Seriously out of his depth.”

YouTube · 12 Oct 2026

Ambivalent

“I back Carrick, don't get me wrong, but I think we made the wrong decision giving him the job full time.”

X · 9 Oct 2026

Supportive

“I have a gut feeling that we are getting back to the glory days with Carrick.”

YouTube · 14 Sept 2026

Quotes are anonymised. We never show usernames of private individuals.

News coverage

News coverage was not part of this sample analysis.

Method

Period: 13 Jul 2026 – 13 Oct 2026. Items analysed: 2,060.

PlatformItemsPeriodScope
X476 posts13 Jul – 13 Oct 2026English, no reposts
Reddit656 posts & comments24 Jul – 13 Oct 2026r/reddevils
YouTube928 comments14 Aug – 13 Oct 2026on 27 United & Carrick videos
Google Trends3 search seriespast 3 months, dailyrelative index 0–100, not search counts

We only analyse publicly available content: posts and comments anyone can see without being invited. Private messages, private profiles, closed groups and private channels are never included, on any platform.

Caveats

  • This is online sentiment among people who post, not a representative poll of Manchester United fans.
  • Labels (critical, supportive, neutral) are automatic and checked by hand on a subset; treat trends as directional, not exact.
  • Weekly shares count only stance-taking items.
  • Reddit covers r/reddevils only.
  • YouTube comment dates are approximate.
  • The final week covers only 12–13 Oct 2026.
  • Google Trends is a relative index (100 = peak per term and region), not search counts.

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