Manchester United have made up their minds over the future of first-team manager Michael Carrick, according to a press report, with results on the slide.
Third in the Premier League last season under Carrick, United fancied themselves for a permanent return to the summit of English football. It hasn't worked out that way. Ten games into the campaign, they have won just once and sit eighteenth.
That leaves the Red Devils in the relegation zone, a single point behind Coventry, the first team outside the drop.
For weeks now, this tangled mess has left Carrick's future hanging by a thread.
Trailing Aston Villa by two goals, then 4-2 down, United looked beaten on Sunday. Two stoppage-time strikes snatched them a 4-4 draw.
Carrick stays at Manchester United
The local media didn't buy into this new and controversial twist. The "Daily Mail" tore into the team and its manager: "Results will not save Manchester United and the Carrick disaster. Manchester do not have a real football team, but a group of adrenaline addicts. And over time, this will not be enough".
The paper went on: "Carrick's players lack competence to the point that they will not be able to keep their manager for much longer. They seem unqualified".
Yet Sunday's comeback may have handed the United boss a lifeline, and he insisted he would not walk away: "That will not happen. We have not achieved enough victories, but I expect to continue working, to improve the performance, and to achieve victory".
The club's hierarchy, according to some English media, show no appetite to sack Carrick.
The international break offers a natural window to change managers, yet the mood is one of continuity, as reported by the "Mirror" and "Manchester Evening News".
Calm reigns at Carrington for now. Whether the Manchester United board stick or twist remains to be seen.