What ex-Man Utd stars have said about Carrick appointment as Keane called out

Michael Carrick

Let’s start with the man himself. Carrick has regularly been asked about his take on the long-term Man United hotseat.

And while he might have ambitions, he has kept them close to his chest. Speaking last week, he said: “I’m fully aware of the role I’m doing here and the responsibility I’ve got.

“We want to be successful, and I want the club to be successful beyond the end of the season – if that’s me, if that’s somebody else.

“At this stage, I can’t control that and we’ll see what happens, but it’s certainly about trying to improve the team and making Manchester United stronger. Results over a short period of time don’t change that.”

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Gary Neville

Pundit Gary Neville has never been afraid to share his opinion on the goings on at Old Trafford – and Carrick’s future is no different. Speaking just after the midfielder was given the job, he claimed that he should only fulfill his original remit.

“I hope he does really well,” Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast. “There cannot be any consideration that Michael takes the job beyond this season, for Michael and for the club.

“If he wins every game, look, we could be sat here in the season where he’s done unbelievably well, and we’re always thinking the fans are up and they’re in the Champions League places, fifth or whatever. It could happen if there’s a good run and we could all be getting swayed with it.

“I honestly feel like [you have to look at others] at the end of the season when you’ve got [Mauricio] Pochettino, [Thomas] Tuchel and [Carlo] Ancelotti.

“I’ve said Ancelotti. I just feel purely because he’s 66 years of age, he’s got probably the best job in the world right now. He’s probably got one job left at club level.

“If there’s one person who’s got the patience, the composure, the experience of the Premier League.”

Meanwhile, Neville has since revealed that the Red Devils have already gotten the process of finding Carrick’s eventual replacement underway. He said: “I asked the club what is the official position of the football club in terms of what you’re saying publicly to everybody else.

“I have to say I thought their answer was pretty good. They said they’ve actually begun the process now, starting to look for another manager, which I thought right.”

Roy Keane

With Neville being against Carrick’s long-term appointment, he can count Roy Keane among the colleagues to agree with him. Speaking after his initial arrival, the Irishman said that United needed the ‘best of the best’.

He has since softened on that stance, but still believes that United should look elsewhere. He said: “I don’t think it’s the right decision, good luck with it. Yeah, but, I’m sticking to my guns. I’ve said my piece, I think that he’s got the job, and if he gets it in the summer then you go ‘listen, good luck to him’, but as a caretaker manager, it’s a different animal to being manager of United trying to win league titles over the next two, three, four, five years, whatever it might be

“I think you can get a better manager than Carrick, absolutely. But I think he’s doing a good job, perfect timing for him, and even if he doesn’t get the United job, these results a bit like Ruud (Van Nistelrooy), he can get another job, probably another Premiership manager.

“But just cause you’re doing well at United, it doesn’t mean he’ll do well at another club. He’s got the players back, it’s all been sliding doors moments. Great for him, and he’s took advantage of it.”

Rio Ferdinand

Former defender Ferdinand has responded to those claims and suggested that he can’t wrap his head around Keane’s comments. He said: “No matter what Michael Carrick does, how well he does, and if he got the job on the back of a great ending to the season, there’s still risk.

“There’s an element of risk, but with every one of the names that get thrown into the hat, there an element of risk with all of them.

“I don’t know in any walk of life, where someone comes in given the opportunity to do well, and put their first foot forward for a job opportunity, they smash it – and hopefully he carries on, at the moment he’s smashing it, four wins out of four, and people are going ‘no, he shouldn’t get it though’.

“I don’t understand that with Roy, I’ve got to be honest. I don’t know how you can be so against it.”

Jaap Stam

His former defensive colleague Stam has also shared his thoughts on the Red Devils’ search for a new manager and suggested that former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi would be an excellent candidate instead of Carrick.

He said: “I like De Zerbi very much, you know, because of how he performed at Brighton and also now in Marseille. How he’s playing with his teams, because he plays possession-based football, he’s very good on the ball.

“He also sets the players in certain positions that it makes it really difficult for the opposition to press them. You know, he’s going forward, he attacks. Scores a lot of goals, sometimes concedes, but you know that as a manager.

“But I think he’s also a good man-manager. I think he’s also good with the players and giving them the confidence, giving them the attention they need – and not only the starting XI, but also the other players within the squad. And that’s what you need in a big club like that. So I would be very happy if they don’t go for Carrick, and that they go for him.”

Dimitar Berbatov

Having enjoyed a successful period playing together at Old Trafford, former striker Berbatov is among those keen to see Carrick succeed – but has called for patience before any rash decision is made.

“I am a bit biased of course, because I used to play with him [Carrick] and I want him to get the job but let’s wait until the end of the season and if they go the way they are right now, of course, why not?”, Berbatov said to ESPN FC.

“We have seen what happened before with Ole Gunnar Solskjær, I think it was the same story so let’s not jump to conclusions yet, let’s just enjoy game by game how United is improving and at the end of the season we will wait and see what happens.”

“He [Carrick] is in this position to show that he is capable of doing these things. So far in the games that we have watched, everything is just happening for the team and for him. Until the end of the season will be a test, and then we’ll see if Michael can get the job permanently.”

Louis Saha

Meanwhile, fellow former striker Louis Saha is keen to see Carrick retained on a permanent basis.

He said: “I would love to see Michael given the chance. He’s done very well. He’s a very hardworking guy but humble as well. The results are going for him at the moment but not only the results, the way the team is playing and performing, we all can see the change straightaway. He’s had the biggest impact since Sir Alex Ferguson.”

“He does provide an answer to the question about the next manager. Necessity, I do think they need to think about Carrick very, very, very seriously there.

“We know the expectation is so big and sometimes both have certain types of conversations and they want to see a long term plan. Do they see this is a spell where everything is going well for Carrick? Who knows how he reacts when he’s under more pressure.

“So maybe he needs to be challenged in that sense to be considered for the full-time role. I don’t know.

“What I see is that he understands the DNA of the club, he’s been under pressure, maybe not as a manager but as a player, he understands how those managers have reacted before as he was part of the coaching staff. So he understands. He’s not a rookie. So I do think he deserves his position but when names like Ancelotti, Zidane come into play, it’s a kind of a different ball game.”

Owen Hargreaves

The final ex-United star to speak out was former midfielder Owen Hargreaves and he claims that the run of form under Carrick makes it impossible not to give him the role permanently.

“I don’t see how you couldn’t give it to him,” said Hargreaves to MEN. “What would have been the point of working that hard? You can get elite managers in, but that doesn’t guarantee success.

“What Michael’s doing is very impressive. The fans are happy, which is important. The players are happy and that’s important, but the most important thing is that the team wins.

“United have had big-name managers on the bench. They had two of the greatest in the last 10 years, up there with Pep and Ancelotti: Van Gaal and Mourinho. A huge name comes with more expectation.”

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