What can be stopping Manchester United from appointing Michael Carrick as their next permanent boss?

Are they listening to Gary Neville, who says Carrick “hasn’t quite got it” and should go for a world-class manager?

Are they waiting for the World Cup to see which big beasts are available?

Maybe even dreaming that Brazil bombs out at the group stage and Carlo Ancelotti is out of a job?

Or is it simply that Carrick isn’t a sexy enough name for Jim Ratcliffe?

It was the current Sweden and former West Ham, Chelsea and Brighton boss who said, “When your name is Graham Potter, you can’t be sexy.”

Michael Carrick could say the same. He’s the Quiet One, understated, not special. As he was a player. Then they called him “The Orchestrator”.

But look at what he’s achieved: 14 matches, 10 wins, including beating City, Arsenal and Liverpool. Champions League qualification. A united dressing room. Decent football.

He’s not only steadied the ship; he has it cruising in the right direction where previously it was a drifting hulk.

The orchestra is playing the right notes. And the fans like the sound of it. “Carrick at the wheel,” they sing in appreciation.

To a man, the players love him. Matheus Cunha says he’s brought “magic,” while Kobbie Mainoo claims he “would die for him.”

This is a major improvement on his predecessor.

Ruben Amorim looks worse with each United success. A disastrous appointment that cost a fortune in severance pay and even more in lost income through missing European football.

It’s what can happen when owners are blinded by a stellar season in a lesser league.

And pick a guy fixated on a particular formation. In his case, it was the self-harming three-at-the-back.

Although Cunha may disagree, Carrick hasn’t waved a magic wand: he’s simply played his best players and in the right positions.

That’s neither magic nor rocket science; it’s common sense.

And told them he loves them. He’s put the United back into the club.

Neville has a point that his former teammate lacks Champions League experience and that there could be someone out there who’s better.

Only Ancelotti, Luis Enrique, Unai Emery or Thomas Tuchel perhaps.

Even Mauricio Pochettino isn’t a proven winner.

Whatever or whoever it is, the hesitation is beginning to cause unease among the great Devils’ diaspora.

And the longer it goes on, the more obvious it becomes that Carrick was appointed as a stopgap until some sexier beast came along.

That he has far exceeded expectations has posed the club’s hierarchy, the Politburo, with a problem.

Carrick probably doesn’t fit their idea of a boss of a multi-billion-pound international corporation.

He’s too much of an ordinary northern lad and not “global” enough to head one of INEOS’s biggest enterprises.

But if it doesn’t reward Carrick now, it could be making a grave mistake. Another one.

First of all, there would be the cost – a top-gun multilingual foreign boss would likely insist on bringing his own entourage.

He wouldn’t know the club, the players or the dozens of ex-players whose brains Carrick knows how to pick.

He would have his own ideas about the team, the players he would want to bring in, the style of play, and the formation.

It could not only mean square pegs in round holes all over again, it could be back to square one.

Ratcliffe, who has kept a mercifully lower profile of late, should take a look at Paris Saint-Germain, who, like United under Ed Woodward, were too big for their boots.

Only when they got rid of the Galacticos and brought in younger, hungrier players, did they crack it in Europe.

The mentality changed and they went from perennial quarter-finalists to champions.

Woodward compared United to Disneyland, but only succeeded in becoming more Mickey Mouse.

Chelsea’s billionaire owners are another example of what can go wrong with too much meddling from above.

Carrick is beginning to do for United what Luis Enrique has done for PSG and should be given the chance to lead them into the Champions League.

Helped by the first decent summer of recruitment in a long time, the club has turned a significant corner.

He just needs INEOS to follow the Qatari owners in Paris in drawing back and letting the manager manage.

They finished 15th last season and were beaten by Spurs in the Europa League final. Now they are third, behind only Arsenal and Manchester City.

A couple of judicious signings in midfield could turn them into title contenders next season.

With Liverpool requiring a major refit, City facing the possible exit of Pep Guardiola and Chelsea a basket case, only Arsenal look nailed on to be above them.

Carrick must stay at the wheel!

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.