Michael Carrick has played down any talk of a fallout with Paul Scholes after his former Manchester United teammate appeared to criticise the team’s performances for being ‘c**p’.
Scholes made the comment in a since deleted social media post after United lost for the first time in eight games under Carrick at Newcastle last time out.
Scoles insists it was taken out of context and he has contacted Carrick to explain, while his fellow podcaster Nicky Butt has also defended him by saying Scholes has been left ‘shocked and gutted’ by the backlash.
Carrick tried to defuse the issue when he spoke at Carrington on Friday for the first time since the Newcastle game, saying: ‘It was nothing. There’s nothing to say about it really.
‘I think that is just where we are in terms of social media and captions and quotes.
‘It can be taken in different ways. So just be calm about it and understand the real meaning of things.
Paul Scholes said United have been ‘c**p last four games’ under his old team-mate
‘Listen, there are different opinions out there and it’s fine, people can have different opinions.
‘Things get taken from one extreme to another. It is what it is. I am not worried about it and don’t make a big deal of it either.’
Scholes was left ‘shocked and gutted’ at the backlash to his social media post about Carrick, Nicky Butt revealed on Thursday.
Butt, who shared a podcast with Scholes, told Paddy Power: ‘Unless you know Scholesy personally and know what he’s like as a character, you’d go, “f***ing hell, that’s a bit harsh”.
‘It looks like he was basically saying, “lucky f****r, you’re not good enough”. Knowing him, how he thinks, his history, how he listens to managers, Scholesy was basically saying (Carrick) is winning even when they’re playing c**p.
‘But luck is a massive part of a great manager’s success. If you’re not a lucky manager you’re not going to do well. You want good players but you also want lucky players. That’s what he was trying to get across.
‘When I spoke to Scholesy, he said, “honest to God, I can’t believe (the reaction)”. He’s shocked and gutted about it. He really loves Michael Carrick as a lad, as a team-mate, as a coach. You won’t get a better person and, me included, we wish the best for Michael and hope he gets the job.’
Scholes said on his podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Football, that he spoke to Carrick and that his former team-mate brushed the issue aside.
Michael Carrick played down the fallout and said it amounted to ‘nothing’
He said: ‘It was in no way intended to be offensive towards Michael. Michael is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in football and he’d be the last person I would want to offend.
‘I messaged Michael anyway and said, “look I was never intending to upset you”, and I don’t think I needed to say that anyway. He told me he wasn’t upset.
‘I think people just interpreted it differently from what was meant. The only thing I would say is I don’t think they’ve played that well over the last four games, but they’re still managing to get results.
‘We had the greatest manager in the world (Sir Alex Ferguson) and he always said sometimes you need a bit of luck with sending offs and different things that happen through games, but that’s all I was saying.’
