Why Michael Carrick's most recent job has been perfect preparation for Man Utd challenge

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Had things gone differently at Manchester United, then Michael Carrick would have been sitting in a TV studio on Saturday, not inside the Old Trafford dugout.

Since being dismissed by Middlesbrough in June, Carrick had been enjoying his first proper break from the game. He’d spent almost his entire life inside the professional football bubble up until then, having gone straight into coaching on Jose Mourinho ’s staff after retiring from playing in 2018.

Carrick suddenly had more time to spend with his family and on the golf course, yet made sure to keep in touch with football through media work. And had he not beaten his former colleague Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to the United interim head coach role, then he would have spent the day with Steve Bower, who has known him for 25 years.

“On Saturday, he was supposed to be sitting next to me in the Premier League Productions studio covering the derby,” Bower tells Mirror Football . “He was booked in and instead he’ll be in the dugout. The last WhatsApp I got from him a week ago said: ‘We’ll sort that game of golf out and I’ll see you for the derby’.”

Bower is lead presenter for the Premier League’s global TV channel and has enjoyed spending time with Carrick during the 2025/26 season. The 44-year-old has covered around seven games for the channel, which is broadcast around the world and watched by millions, and has made a real impression with his punditry.

“He is an outstanding pundit,” says Bower, who is also a commentator on Match of the Day. “He speaks like he plays and manages; he would never go low and lambast somebody or go high and give ridiculous praise, he’d look at it from every angle.

“I’ve been doing this for over 30 years so I’ve seen all the categories of pundits and he’s a natural at talking about football. He’s a football nut and he understands the game – and when you look at how he played in that position, it’s quite easy to see why.

“He is outstanding at explaining the why and how, not just saying what we can all see. When he’s talking you can hear the production staff in my ear go silent because they’re just listening to him, fascinated because they’re all football fans.

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“He’s part of a small group of people we use – Glenn Hoddle, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer – where you watch games and you learn something over 90 minutes. Michael is in that category: he’s top drawer.”

Punditry and coaching are the two most well-trodden paths for players post-retirement, but being a success in both is not a given. Carrick has made a success of both so far, but coaching was always the first love.

Bower conducted Carrick’s first interview as a United player for MUTV after he signed from Tottenham in 2006. He now counts himself as a friend and has seen first-hand how deeply he thinks about the game.

“Michael went into coaching because Mourinho said ‘I want you’. So he finished as a player on the Wednesday and started as a coach on the Thursday – it wasn’t something he was planning. You take a route and things happen.

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“By the end of those three games at United [as caretaker in 2021], when I spoke to him he was like: ‘Yeah, I fancy this, but it’s got to be the right one’.”

Three years, the Championship play-off semi-finals and a Carabao Cup semi-final followed at Middlesbrough and now he’s back where he felt most at home during his playing career. So will his hours in the studio, spent analysing Ruben Amorim’s team and articulating his thoughts, stand him in good stead for the job?

“It does help with the analysis side of it, absolutely, because if he hadn’t done that, and he was just watching Manchester United from the TV screen, or in the stands, you see a different game, you don’t watch it in the same way,” Bower says. “The fact he’s been doing that and predominantly watching this United team will certainly give him a headstart.”

Carrick takes the reins with United sitting seventh in the Premier League table, just three points off the top four. He has been appointed to stabilise things until a permanent appointment comes in the summer.

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“I think that whatever happens, even if they don’t get back into the Champions League or Europa League , I think he will,” Bower says. “His phone has probably been buzzing before United, but he was adamant he wanted a break. But this can only be a positive for his coaching career personally.

“For instance, if things go badly at Spurs, he’d be right at the top of their list, surely. It’s a no-brainer for him. Whatever happens, I don’t think it’s going to damage him in any way.”

Carrick is determined to make a good go of his second spell as United’s caretaker – and this time he has new strings to his bow.

Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.