Roy Keane is WRONG about Michael Carrick: Ex-captain's pig-headed opinions on Man Utd interim boss are driven by jealousy

Carrick knew he was never going to emulate Keane as United's fearless midfield enforcer. As he put it, "I understood fans wanting another Roy Keane, but you can never replace a player like that so you do it another way."

That’s what Carrick did, putting his stamp on the Unitd midfield with his intricate passes, giving them a new level of control through possession. It must have been bizarre, then, for him to learn that Keane had torn into him on television after Carrick gave a post-match interview following United’s Champions League defeat to Olympiacos in 2014.

"That interview was just like their performance: flat," Keane said. "Say a bit more! A bit more urgency in his interview. That just reflected United’s performance tonight: flat, no urgency."

Carrick didn’t care, but his wife Lisa did, thinking it was wrong for Keane to pick on someone who had fronted up after a painful defeat. She tweeted: "Roy Keane, what a tw**. Says anything to provoke a reaction."

Lisa received a torrent of abuse on social media and swiftly deleted the post before crying on the phone when she spoke to Carrick. He, though, was nonplussed.

"It didn’t bother me one bit. I was just thinking about the game," he wrote. "I’m sure Roy didn’t lose sleep over it."

Carrick, however, was wrong about that. It led to a 12-year long grudge that is now manifesting itself in each appearance Keane makes on Sky Sports.

Keane actually chose to begin picking on Carrick again when he first became United’s caretaker manager in 2021 after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked, stepping up from being the Norwegian’s assistant. 

After Carrick had overseen a 1-1 draw at Chelsea in his first Premier League game and praised his players for their performance, Keane said, "I disagree with everything he said in that interview. He was sitting in the dugout for the last few months with Ole. The last few years. And he was sitting with [Jose] Mourinho as well. All of a sudden he’s proud of the players this week? If you want loyalty, then get yourself a dog."

It was a ridiculous comment from Keane, whose authoritarian approach did him no favours in his various stints as a manager . His treatment of Harry Arter, Jonathan Walters and Stephen Ward while Ireland assistant manager amounted to bullying, and it is hard not to imagine that he felt some jealousy watching Carrick get a chance he had been denied due to the nature of his departure from Old Trafford. 

Speaking before that very same game, Keane was asked if he would have liked to have been considered for the interim role. "They were never going to call me, that was never going to happen," he said. "I'd have no problem going into any dressing room and taking control of a dressing room. People tend to forget I have managed before and I've done okay in the Premier League with Sunderland."

Fast-forward just over four years, and Carrick had only been back at Carrington for a few hours after being named United’s coach until the end of the season when Keane launched another assault on him.

"Well, his wife can always come in because she’s got a bit of a big mouth sometimes," Keane said on Stick to Football. "She's probably doing the team talk."

Carrick was inevitably asked about Keane's words in his first press conference after succeeding Ruben Amorim, but he kept his cool, responding: "It honestly doesn't bother me."

Club sources confirm that Carrick is genuinely not fussed about Keane's war of words, and while Sky made a cheeky request for Keane to interview Carrick before his first game against Manchester City, it was the club, not Carrick, who denied the request.

Carrick is not only showing he is the bigger man by refusing to rise to Keane's jibes, he is also doing United a favour as the last thing they need is another manager making headlines in the press after Amorim's series of jaw-dropping statements. Carrick is doing his talking in the dugout, and although it is a short sample size, he has a remarkable record in charge of United over his two stints. It reads four wins and one draw, beating Mikel Arteta twice as well as Pep Guardiola and Unai Emery.

It is still too early to determine whether Carrick is suitable for the job permanently, but Keane has already written him off, making the absurd suggestion that Carrick should not get the job even if he keeps on winning matches.

"If United win every game until the end of the season, I still wouldn't be giving him the job," he said after the Red Devils became the first team this season to beat Arsenal at the Emirates in any competition. "They need a bigger and better manager. The size of the club and the challenges they face over the next few years, you want a manager who you feel can get them winning league titles."

But if Carrick did win every remaining game, United would end the season with 83 points. It would be their highest total since last winning the title in 2013, when Carrick was at the heart of United's midfield.

It is true that Carrick should be judged on how well he is doing come April or May rather than after two games, but Keane is dismissing him just due to his reputation, or more likely due to his grudge with him. However, managers with big reputations and big personalities have not always succeeded at United - just ask Jose Mourinho or Louis van Gaal - while rising stars such as Erik ten Hag and Amorim have also failed at Old Trafford.

Amorim seemed to think he was above the players, taking a distant approach in training sessions while not having much of a personal rapport with his squad. He often spoke about them with contempt, calling them the worst Manchester United team in history before placing five players in the 'bomb squad'. Carrick, by contrast, wants to work with the whole squad and show that he believes in them. 

"He's brought a fresh energy in, the group's really galvanised," said Harry Maguire after the win at the Emirates Stadium, while match-winner Matheus Cunha added, "He knows the feeling for United, he played here so many years. He knows how the fans want to feel. He tried to show us every single moment, he tried to talk us to understand in moments and say 'everyone is against us', so I think we feel more together."

"I think one important thing that Michael Carrick said was 'use the energy of the people' and, today, I think we did it and, when we are together like this, it is impossible to lose at home," was Lisandro Martinez's breakdown of the win over City. "Today, you feel a different energy when you see the eyes of the players."

If Carrick can continue to get the best out of United’s players and lead them back into the Champions League, then why shouldn’t he get the job permanently?

Coaching is not one-size-fits-all. Parachuting a top-level operator into a top club does not always work. Just ask Xabi Alonso: He had pulled off one of the most incredible feats in modern football by leading Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title while remaining unbeaten, but he could not gel with the Real Madrid players, despite his massive standing within the club from his time as a player.

Alonso’s successor Alvaro Arbeloa summed it up perfectly when he said after Madrid's 6-1 thumping of Monaco: "Real Madrid is not about tactics or patterns of play, it's about passion, sacrifice and character."

Even though United have fallen way behind Madrid in the last 13 years, the two clubs have a lot in common. Carrick has only had two games in charge, but he has unlocked something in United’s players that Amorim failed to during his 14 months in charge. The real test is for his side to prove they can be as motivated and energised as they were against City and Arsenal when they play Fulham on Sunday, and against Tottenham, Everton and Crystal Palace in the coming weeks.

"We know we can play against those better teams, so now we have to win against those teams who are maybe a little bit more difficult to play against, who play with low blocks," said goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

United’s directors should certainly not be drawing up a contract for Carrick just yet, and they should continue to assess the best available candidates. But if Carrick succeeds in taking United back into the top-four or higher, he should be considered like anyone else, no matter what Keane thinks.