‘I still don’t!’ – Michael Carrick makes Manchester United vow despite job uncertainty

Michael Carrick will face Man City for the second time as Man Utd head coach after he beat Pep Guardiola’s side in his first game in charge in January.

Michael Carrick will celebrate eight months in charge of Manchester United on Sunday with a repeat of the fixture that marked the start of his journey to landing the head coach role on a permanent basis.

Carrick was the short-term interim when he was given the keys to Old Trafford on January 13, but a home victory against Manchester City five days later was the first sign that he might just be in with a chance of extending that stay.

A two-year contract followed when he steered United to third and a return to the Champions League but the 45-year-old is adamant his own approach to the job hasn’t changed, from his first week preparing to face City to this week when he does so with his feet under the table.

After a stint managing Middlesbrough in the Championship, Carrick’s ascension to permanent United head coach looked unlikely until he started to deliver results, but he knows how quickly things can change and will continue to plan for the long-term, even if he knows his own stay in the dugout could end at any moment.

“I think I said it pretty early on, I was always planning to be – all the decisions we were making were if we were going to be here for a period of time. I never knew how long that was going to be, I still don’t!” said Carrick.

“But you’re always planning to what the future, what we want it to look like and the direction we want to go, and that was from day one. Obviously, it was quick and it was a turnaround and there was a bit of, as I’ve just said, around that game where it was a bit of an unknown, to be honest with you.

“The performance the lads gave was incredible with all that, but there was definitely always – has been, always will be for me – from the start was planning to try and get this club to where we want to get it in the long term.”

The 2-0 win back in January was thoroughly deserved for Carrick’s side, with goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu sealing victory. They built on that by winning against Arsenal at the Emirates a week later.

But plenty has changed since then, not least Enzo Maresca replacing Pep Guardiola at the Etihad, and Carrick knows his second derby in charge of United could be very different to the first.

“It’ll definitely be different, just because no two games are ever the same,” he said. “I think there’s no way we’re assuming we won last year, we’ll do the same things and everything will be the same.

“I understand the expectation that was quite fresh, everything was new, there was a bit of didn’t really know where it was going to go, and players, maybe myself, coaches, obviously you guys, you were all waiting to see how it would go, and it was quite a quick turnaround.

“I think the confidence that we’ve built over a period of time and feel like we’re getting better all the time, I think that helps us. We know it’s a big game, we know it’s an important game. There’s a lot riding on it, it’s pretty obvious to say, but we’re looking forward to it. We’ve got a short space of time to recover and prepare for it, but we’ll make the most of it.”