When Michael Carrick watched Manchester United’s draw at Leeds in January on a family holiday in Barbados, he was unaware that Ruben Amorim’s post-match attack on the club’s hierarchy at Elland Road was about to hand him an unexpected job opportunity.
Within nine days the 44-year-old was installed as United’s new head coach, working alongside Jonny Evans who had also been on the beach in the Caribbean with Carrick and Wayne Rooney.
Three months further on and Carrick is presiding over a run of seven wins in 10 games, and a considerably more stable club than the one that lurched from drama to crisis under Amorim.
With United in third place going into Monday’s reverse fixture against Leeds at Old Trafford, and odds on to qualify for the Champions League, Carrick is in pole position to land the job on a full-time basis at the end of the season. It has been some turnaround.
During a four-week training break in Ireland last week, Amad Diallo said publicly that the players want the former United midfielder to stay in charge.
‘We just keep working and improving and loving this place,’ said Carrick with typical understatement ahead of his 11th game. ‘For me, it’s the ultimate job to be in this role.
‘The most important thing for me is that we’re all pulling in the same direction. Whatever’s said is going to be said, but I think the feeling, the willingness to do things together and to be in a good place where we’re positive and hopefully winning games, that’s the biggest thing.
‘After that, things will get solved in one way or the other. I think it’s nice for the boys to feel so positive and be in a good frame of mind that they’re enjoying the football. Obviously, we want that to continue as much as possible.’
Following confirmation that the top-five Premier League clubs will qualify for the Champions League, it’s a sign of the progress under Carrick that he would deem it unacceptable to finish in sixth – the position United were in when Amorim was sacked – after Aston Villa and Chelsea both dropped points on Sunday.
‘No, I wouldn’t accept it,’ he added. ‘But it’s not so much accepting it, it’s about trying to finish as high as you possibly can.
‘We want to be challenging right at the top. Champions League just brings so many positive things. It’s where we want to be. It has ramifications for so many different things; players staying, players coming in, financially all sorts of different things.’
Reflecting on United’s 1-1 draw at Leeds and the series of events that took him from a beach in Barbados back to Old Trafford, Carrick added: ‘I watched it, yeah. There wasn’t really any sign of it at that stage, so I was supporting from afar and enjoying time with the family.
‘It can change quickly, that’s just the way the game goes. That’s why we can never take anything for granted and you live in the present.
‘So I’ve not really actually taken part in this fixture an awful lot, but I’ve watched it over the years, and to be involved in it now is pretty special.’
