Why Reds love Michael Carrick

“Carrick’s like a piano,” Gary Neville once said of him. “When you play with him you think there is authority, control, peace. Sometimes you don’t want people running around like flies. Scholes and Carrick together was peaceful. It was like going into a bar and hearing a piano playing. Relaxing!”

His partner Scholes was also glowing in praise, saying: “I remember Michael coming in and taking over the no.16 shirt from Roy Keane, one of the Premier League’s best ever midfielders. He had big boots to fill, but I think he proved that he was more than worthy of the shirt. I loved playing with him.”

Carrick retired at the end of 2017/18, having played 464 games for the Reds, scoring 24 goals.

He became a coach at United, leaving in 2021, before being named Middlesbrough boss and then returning to the Reds in January 2026.

He’s since shown the same cool-headed approach in coaching as he displayed across a decade of controlling United’s midfield.

This profile was first published in United Heroes, a children’s book that tells the story of 30 club legends. Discover more about the Reds’ history, with United Chronicles.