The statement was delivered in Michael Carrick’s more low-key tones but the words could have come from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The other leading candidate to be Manchester United’s head coach until the end of the season is the more openly sentimental. Solskjaer’s belief in the mystical powers of United seemed to survive every setback. He retained a childlike excitement about the club.
Carrick is a quieter character, less inclined to gush. But the latest man to take charge at Old Trafford said: “I’ve played different roles for this club and learnt to fall in love with the club for so long. It’s a massive part of my life and has been for so long.”
He was confronted with the suggestion that United, long accused of overspending on transfer fees and wages while underachieving, of trying to buy success and somehow only purchasing failure, had become soulless: some would blame the Glazers for that, others Sir Jim Ratcliffe, still more some players and managers of recent vintage.
“I certainly don’t think it’s soulless,” countered Carrick. “I think there’s a magic around this place. I feel at home straight away, coming into the building, coming in and around it. I’ve obviously been around it for quite some time and then missed a little window but I think there’s a magic around this place. You can’t help but feel that.”
He was talking in a Carrington training complex that has undergone a £50m revamp. Carrick was not discussing the décor or commenting on the open-plan design or skylights when he said: “It certainly doesn’t feel majorly different on the inside.”
Rather, it was a wider sense United remained the same. Which, in itself, was interesting. By the end of this season, Carrick will have been at United for 16 years in a two-decade spell, separated only by his departure in December 2021 and return this week. Yet in those four years, much had changed: Ratcliffe’s investment was followed by a clearout of senior figures, while 450 staff lost their jobs. Many were long-serving, some predating Carrick’s arrival, plenty of survivors of his time. The turnover in the squad is such that only six – Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot, Amad Diallo and Tom Heaton – were at Old Trafford when Carrick was caretaker manager in 2021.
Yet a United alumnus was a continuity candidate who saw similarities with the club he knew. He came across as a comfy fit. His managerial experience, beyond those three games in charge of United, consists of three seasons with Middlesbrough, the first very promising, the last a little disappointing. He did not sound overawed by the task at United.
“I just feel comfortable, I feel at home,” he said. “I’m happy in my skin, happy in this role, I know what it takes.” He has played for four United managers and been on the backroom staff of a contrasting pair, in Jose Mourinho and Solskjaer, though in character he seems to resemble neither. But each appreciated him and so have different regimes: Ed Woodward appointed him the first time, Jason Wilcox the second.
“I’ve worked closely with Jose and Ole for some time so when I took over it felt quite a natural step,” said Carrick. In other contexts, being sacked by Middlesbrough and then becoming United manager, if only for five months, would not seem natural.
But Carrick has a capacity to downplay things. The sacked Ruben Amorim could make dramatic statements. Monday will mark the one-year anniversary of the day he said: “We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United.”
Carrick’s initial assessment of the squad he took over was less memorable but more positive. “I’ve been back in this role for three days and there’s nothing that I’ve looked at and that’s really red-flagged,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of belief in the group individually and collectively.”
A recurring theme in his rhetoric was improvement. Carrick played in three Champions League finals; now improvement would be measurable simply if United qualified for the competition.
“I think success is building and improving and there’s no getting away from the fact that this club should be there, but you’ve got to earn it,” Carrick rationalised. “We want to improve and improve beyond this season.”
In the four years he was away, United only had one top-five finish. Secure another and, it is tempting to think that, a year after Boro dismissed him, United could hire him for the longer term.
Carrick claimed there have been no such talks so far. “No, not at the moment,” he said. “I think we’re realistic as well and where we are at the moment, why I’m here and the role I’ve got to do.” But amid the hard work, he still sees something magical.
