Carrick retraces his first United steps

Today (23 August) marks the 19th anniversary of Michael Carrick’s Manchester United debut, and the man himself has cast his mind back to provide his thoughts on the milestone.

The Wallsend-born midfielder signed for United from Tottenham Hotspur in 2006 as a 25-year-old, but he had to wait until our second game of the season to play, having picked up a knock while preparing for the campaign.

So his debut came as a substitute away at Charlton Athletic, when he replaced Ji-sung Park in the 77th minute with the game at 1-0. Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored late on to increase the margin of victory.

“I’m getting old!” Carrick joked when reminded of the upcoming anniversary. “Yeah, I remember it well.

“I remember sitting out of the first game of the season against Fulham, where the boys played really well, and I was sat in the stands. It was actually quite nice, in some ways, as much as I wanted to be out there to sample it and see what it was all about from a home player’s perspective.”

All The Goals: Michael Carrick Video

All The Goals: Michael Carrick

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Ever the selfless team-mate, it is Solskjaer’s achievements that night at The Valley that stick out when Carrick thinks back. The Norwegian scored for the first time since September 2003, having overcome two seasons of injury hell.

He continued: “I got to step out there with the boys on the Wednesday night [after the Fulham match] and win the game.

“I think Ole scored his first goal for quite some time since he had been injured, so that was a big part of the game.

“The boys were really happy for Ole, and for me, just to get on and sample it and feel what it was like to become a Manchester United player was pretty special.”

Carrick had been itching to get going before that game, but entered the field with confidence thanks to the star-studded cast he was joining, including the likes of Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rio Ferdinand.

“Playing for such a good team, I couldn’t wait to be part of it,” the former captain admitted. “I came from a good team in Tottenham, and no disrespect to them, but the level of United and some of the players I was getting to play with, I was just really excited about being in a privileged position to be able to get on the pitch with them.

“Really excited, a little bit of nerves, a little bit of the unknown. I wanted to just get under way, really, and get a feel for it as quick as I could.”

Carrick’s first start came just a few days later, again away, this time against Watford, where the Reds recorded a narrow 2-1 victory.

Charlton Athletic 0 United 3 Video

Charlton Athletic 0 United 3

23 August 2006: A debut for Michael Carrick and a first goal in nearly three years for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“I remember thinking at the end of the game that it was a good result,” the midfielder recalled. “We’d won, good result, and move on, type thing.

“I remember the manager, actually, being really quite frustrated, disappointed, angry a little bit at the end of the game, not at me personally, but with the team, because he said we needed to be better.

“That made me realise straight away that this was a little bit different, and standards were different, expectations were different.

“It wasn’t just about winning, it was how you did it, what the level of performance was.”

Watford 1 United 2 Video

Watford 1 United 2

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The former England international reports little feedback from Sir Alex Ferguson at the time, recognising that he wasn’t a player who needed constant reassurance, and while Carrick clearly settled in quickly, he never rested on his laurels.

He noted: “The beauty of the club is, as much as I settled in and had some level of success, which was fantastic, you never felt settled. It was never enough, no matter what, whether it was winning the league, the Champions League, it was always ‘what’s next?’

“I never felt ultra-comfortable in terms of ‘this is it’, you know? It was always pushing for that next thing, and you never really knew how long it was going to last, so you had to just keep pushing. That’s the culture that we had at the time, which led to success.”

Carrick would go on to lift the Premier League with the Reds in his first season, and a subsequent four more times before his retirement in 2018, not forgetting the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, four League Cups and countless other pieces of silverware collected in a 12-year playing career at Old Trafford. Success, indeed.

Watch Carrick pull on his boots again in the upcoming Legends match between Celtic and United in Glasgow.

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