Carrick's Manchester United resurgence, which led to four wins and secured January's Premier League Manager of the Month award.
When Michael Carrick was appointed as interim Manchester United head coach until the end of the 25/26 campaign, little would have imagined the level of impact he would have in such a short space of time.
His first game was a Manchester derby, which United comfortably won 2-0, with the only injustice being that it wasn't 4 or 5. That was then backed up with a 3-2 win over Arsenal, which was a bit more "smash and grab", but a performance where the team showed great character to come away with all three points.
From there, United picked up two more wins at Old Trafford, beating Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 and 2-0 respectively. The winning run then came to an end, with the Reds needing late heroics from Benjamin Sesko to rescue a draw away to West Ham United—nevertheless, a solid point on the road.
Although only two of those five games were in January - the wins against Manchester City and Arsenal - Carrick has officially been awarded the Premier League Manager of the Month award for January.
The 44-year-old saw off competition from Liam Rosenior of Chelsea, Andoni Iraola of AFC Bournemouth, and Sean Dyche, formerly of Nottingham Forest, which is quite funny to look back on now. Nevertheless, a great achievement from Carrick, and you would have to say, well deserved.
With three points from seven games in February, there is every chance he could win it again for February, or be nominated at the very least. We will see what happens. Next up this month is a first-ever trip to the Hill Dickinson Stadium to face Everton on Monday, the 23rd of February. That'll be the final game of the month, with the home game against Crystal Palace on Sunday, the 1st of March.
Despite all of this good form under Carrick, United do continue to be linked with a number of external names. It remains to be seen what road the club go down. The concept of Carrick staying beyond this season has not been ruled out, even though the initial premise was to take charge until the end of the season.
A lot of it will simply depend on how the team do until the end of the season. If the team finishes in the Champions League places, will it be too much to ignore? Perhaps from there, Carrick could say "thanks but no thanks", but you would start to get the feeling they would have to at least let him decide.
With no games in any other competitions, and the coefficient meaning five teams will be enough for the Champions League, you would have thought that there is every chance of qualification at this stage - but let's see.
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