Even as he risks being consigned to Manchester United history, Michael Carrick was talking about Manchester United’s history. They are celebrating one of their managers and, whether or not Aston Villa are defeated on Sunday, it is not him. Friday marked the 40th anniversary of Sir Alex Ferguson’s appointment. There is a dinner this weekend to honour the great Scot.
There is also the chance Sunday marks Carrick’s last game at the helm. Ferguson has been in charge for two-thirds of the last four decades and end his tenure of his own volition, retiring after 26-and-a-half years. Carrick could become the seventh man sacked since then, without even including the interim appointment Ralf Rangnick. He is already the fifth of Ferguson’s former players to have served as caretaker manager.
Ferguson has been the inspiration for them all. He remains the benchmark, the gold standard, but also the anomaly. A banner at Old Trafford, commemorating Ferguson, reads: “The impossible dream”. For much of the last 13 years, following him has seemed similarly impossible.
“Well, it's not impossible,” Carrick countered. “Anything's possible. You've got to build, you've got to be realistic. You've got to put things in perspective as well, the recent history that we've had and where we want to get to, but it's not going to happen in a blink of an eye. It's not going to happen overnight. Success does take time, and we don't like having to spend time, but it does take a period of time to build.”
That is true. That said, the inconvenient details are that it seemed to happen overnight when Carrick had an immediate impact upon his return to Old Trafford in January and that results show regression this season.
United enter the weekend in 17th place in the Premier League, in a 14th consecutive campaign without a title challenge. In all competitions, they have a lone win in their last 10 matches. Matheus Cunha’s dramatic decider against Roma on Tuesday prompted suggestions it was Carrick’s Mark Robins moment; there is a parallel of sorts because, a couple of weeks after Robins scored against Nottingham Forest in January 1990, Ferguson’s United were 17th.
Then he was more than three years into his reign. Now Carrick is only three months into his first season after being appointed. If several of his predecessors think there was a brutality to their sacking, others can feel the United powerbrokers afforded them too much time. But the broader trend is that managers tend to be afforded less time now.
“The game's certainly changed, no doubt,” Carrick reflected. “It always does. It evolved, and it had evolved to the stage probably after Sir Matt [Busby] in the years after that, to then Sir Alex.”
The mention of Busby underlines the heights United have touched under two great empire-builders of managers, but rarely under anyone else. Busby took up the job in 1945 so only one managerial appointment United have made in the last eight decades, and only two in the last 12, have been definitively superb; a handful of others, whether Tommy Doherty, Ron Atkinson or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, may be termed qualified successes, but no more. Should Carrick go with United in the lower reaches of the table, he would not even belong in that bracket.
But the past is United’s constant companion. “There's always different things to compare, but always we've got to live in the present as well,” said Carrick; it is worth noting he is less openly nostalgic than his friend Solskjaer but it is evident neither had the track record to manage United. Their playing days were a factor.
There is forever the hope Ferguson’s magic has rubbed off on someone, anyone. Carrick is a very different character to his former manager: less fiery, less cutting in his comments, less of a dictator and more of a diplomat.
But as a midfielder, he was a favourite of Ferguson’s. “I'm probably closer to him now and speak more to him now than I did when I was playing,” Carrick said. “I think the relationships change over time and that's only natural. Ever since I came here, the impact he had on me as an individual was immense. Not necessarily directly as in talking all the time and advice all the time. Personally, it was more of the influence that he had and the habits that you try and pick up from him, as did everyone around the football club over that period of time. Then you move on and evolve a little bit into a friendship, really, which is really nice.”
His friend casts a long shadow. Carrick won five Premier Leagues and appeared in three Champions League finals, all under Ferguson, though he played on under David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. The 84-year-old collected silverware in a way that others of his generation collected stamps. He made it appear natural.
“There's a lot of winning, a lot of trophies and a lot of success,” said Carrick. “It's difficult to bring success. It was difficult then. It's difficult now. It just shows you how tough it is to have sustained success. Again, we’ve got to live in the moment.” But the moment is troubled and United can forever live in the past. As the celebrations of Ferguson show, it is often a preferable place.
