Michael Owen Interview: Manchester United’s Next Manager Odds
Posted on: January 9, 2026, 02:22h.
Last updated on: January 9, 2026, 04:50h.
- Michael Owen sizes up Manchester United’s next manager betting odds.
- Solskjaer leads market, with Carrick and Southgate also considered.
- “Man Utd DNA” nostalgia clashes with modern tactical hires.
Manchester United are churning through managers faster than the bookies can calculate the odds of the next one. And now, as Ruben Amorim skips away to a beach somewhere with his (reported) £12 million payoff, we wonder if there’s anyone capable of steadying this sinking ship and restoring the club to its former greatness.
Ask the likes of pundits Gary Neville (100/1 for the job with Bet365) or Paul Scholes, and they will tell you earnestly that any candidate needs to have something called “United DNA.” But after the club’s 13 years in the wilderness, does anyone even know what that is anymore? Can anyone remember? And would anyone actually want a job that is arguably the biggest poisoned chalice in football?
We asked someone who certainly has “United DNA,” along with a healthy dash of Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Newcastle Utd. DNA, too, Michael Owen. The ex-England international and Ballon d’Or winner has recently signed on as Casino.org’s exclusive UK & Ireland Affiliate Ambassador for 2026, so who better to help us sift through the odds on the next United gaffer?
‘You Want Everything’
Owen played for the Red Devils from 2009 to 2012 under Sir Alex Ferguson, helping the team to the 2010-11 Premier League title, so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to bring glory back to Old Trafford.
“Listen, you want a bit of everything, don’t you?” he tells us. “You want experience. You want somebody that understands the club. You want attacking football. You want aggressive football. You want so many things. But in reality, is there a manager out there that holds all those aces that can offer all those things?”
Let’s find out.
European Tactico or Local Boy?
There’s been talk of Oliver Glasner (5/2), Andoni Iraola (14/1), Luis Enrique (10/1), and even a post-World Cup Thomas Tuchel (7/1), taking the job by the start of next season – each an elite European tactico. But the club had that with Erik ten Hag and Amorim and it didn’t work. Owen feels the mood among the fanbase and on the board is to look closer to home.
“If you want the new foreign sexy football tactical master who’s got a little bit of a twang on his accent – everybody is excited. And then reality is you get bored of that after a little bit and you think, ‘You know what? Let’s go back to a Roy Keane, a Paul Scholes or Gary Neville, Nicky Butt – that generation of players.’
“So, I think lots of people are feeling that way at the moment – emotionally, are feeling that way. Let’s go back to that type of manager.”
It’s natural for a club in the midst of an identity crisis to take inspiration from the past, and maybe that’s why the current favorite to take the reins at United is Ole Gunnar Solskjær, currently 5/4.
Solskjær: Pure United
Solskjær’s DNA is pretty much 100% United, which is important, as we have established. The 1990s super-sub became a folk hero at the club when he scored the dramatic injury time winner against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League Final.
His previous stint as manager, from 2018-2021, was arguably the most successful in the post-Ferguson era. In 2021, he took the team to a Europa League final and to second in the Premier League but was fired later that year.
Recently fired by Turkish club Besiktas for failing to qualify for Europe, Solskjær has declared himself ready and willing to return to United and is reportedly holding talks with the club over the weekend.
Dark Horse
Interestingly, following Solskjær’s 2021 United sacking, the caretaker manager was briefly former United player Michael Carrick (7/1), a man who has since achieved great things at Middlesbrough – until he didn’t, when he was fired by the club last June.
Carrick managed United for just three games in 2021, and Owen thinks he might be a dark horse for the job.
“I think I particularly like the Michael Carrick option,” he says. “He’s obviously had a little taster of it before. He’s got his experience at Middlesbrough, did a fine job. I can see that one. I was working with him on the television not so long ago, and he didn’t sound to me like he’s pining to get back in, but if the right thing came up, then I’m sure he would look at it.”
Southgate to United a Thing?
A name that has surfaced repeatedly, even prior to Amorim’s appointment, is Gareth Southgate, a man who took England to two European Championship finals and one World Cup semi-final. Southgate is a man manager who has shown he can galvanize players, but there are questions about his tactical nous, club management record (spotty at best) and style of play (which has never been elegant).
“I think that Gareth Southgate … would not be a popular appointment with the fans and that has to be taken into consideration,” muses Owen. “And I think that’s the big negative with Southgate. I don’t think he will appeal … Manchester United demand a certain style of play. I think there’s a lot of skepticism about that appointment.
“However, on the flip side, he is a very smart guy. He could be the absolute type of person that could run a club of that size, get them right back on the straight and narrow, and work with the hierarchy exceptionally well.”
Southgate is a 12/1 shot with Bet365.
No comments yet