Michael Carrick insists he hasn’t been set any targets by Manchester United following talks with co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Carrick was installed as head coach until the end of the season this week and met with the ownership group on Thursday after United moved their executive committee meeting from Monaco to the Carrington training complex.
Following talks with the Glazers, Ratcliffe, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, Carrick played down any suggestion that he is expected to finish in a certain position in the Premier League or qualify for Europe.
‘No, not in terms of it has to be this way or that way,’ he said. ‘Like I said, we want to be near the top of the league, we want to be top of the league. That’s pretty obvious to say, but we’ve got to take some small steps towards that, and European football obviously would be a step forward. We’ve got to keep pushing.
‘I’ve spoken to Jason an awful lot and working closely with Jason and Omar as well over the last few days, we’ve spoken a lot as you’d imagine.
‘The ownership group were in and around it. It was nice to see them and meet them yesterday and have a small chat with them, taking care of business in some ways. We were able to share a few things, so they wished us the very best and it was good to see them.’
Michael Carrick defined what he believes success will look like during his stint in the dugout at Manchester United
Asked what success would look like, Carrick replied: ‘I think improvement, certainly improvement and helping improve individuals. A big part of what I really enjoy is improving individuals and, in the end, if you improve the individuals we create a better team. So certainly working with the players and improving them with that.
‘Yes, results, that’s what it is. There’s an element of performance, there’s an element of improvement and there’s an element of doing what it takes to win in certain ways and certain occasions.
‘So certainly higher up the league we finish, we want to keep pushing and finishing higher up as we possibly can and we’ll see where that takes us.
‘It’s fantastic to be here, it’s a great feeling for me to be in this position. 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.
‘So I’m fully aware of the position I’m in, in so many different ways. As well as that I’m eager to succeed. We’ve got a big job to do, it’s an important job and it always is here to win games and to play well and to do it in a certain way.
‘So there’s one side of it. It’s nice to be here, but the other side of it is focus, concentration and a real drive to improve the team and improve results.’
