Owen Hargreaves has known Michael Carrick for longer than Kobbie Mainoo has existed, plus a few years.
‘I’ve known him since 2001. Wow, that’s crazy,’ Hargreaves tells Daily Mail Sport with an air of nostalgia.
Except they go even further back than that. In August 2000, England’s Under-21s boss Howard Wilkinson pinched Hargreaves from the Wales youth set-up and, the night before he was due to debut for their equivalent team, subbed him on for Carrick in a 6-1 demolition of Georgia’s hapless hopefuls in Middlesbrough.
They grew up to play together for Manchester United, winning the Premier League and Champions League. They shared the midfield for England, both starring in the 2006 World Cup. They partied in Moscow, shared long-haul plane trips, and witnessed Sir Alex Ferguson’s hairdyer treatment from inside the blast radius.
Hargreaves is well placed, then, to speak about Carrick the man. Carrick the soul. Not just Carrick as the flavour of the month after four wins in four as Manchester United’s interim boss. If United beat West Ham tonight on TNT Sports, for whom Hargreaves is a pundit, it’ll be five straight wins for the first time since early 2024.
The question of whether to give Carrick the job permanently is critical and urgent. United can’t afford too many more botched decisions. And Hargreaves is unequivocal – his old pal deserves the job.
Owen Hargreaves (right) offers a compelling insight into his old team-mate Michael Carrick (left)
They shared the turf for Manchester United and England – and Hargreaves lauds Carrick for his calmness, studiousness, and kindness
Hargreaves is an astute pundit for TNT Sports, who are broadcasting this week’s round of Premier League fixtures
‘One thing people forget about coaching: in the end it’s about people,’ he says. ‘Carra is just a good person. He’s calm, he’s smart, he’s analytical, he doesn’t get too emotional, too up or too down, which I think is really important.
‘Those days of shouting and yelling, it doesn’t work anymore. People don’t want to hear it. The world is different now. Carrick just gets in and out with precise information, carries himself with real elegance – he had it as a player and he does as a person.
‘He’s always been the same, and I think that’s an amazing attribute to have at this level with so much pressure and expectation and people thinking they have to try to be somebody. Just be authentic and be yourself.
‘Carra is a student of the game. The guys that don’t talk as much, they’re watching more. They’re analysing more. If you’re shouting and yelling all the time, you can’t take everything in.
‘He was very understated. He didn’t talk – his game talked. He was always watching, he had a feel for everything, which I think is important as a coach.’
It’s a ringing endorsement in a hard-nosed industry which doesn’t always betray the brotherly affections within. As Hargreaves speaks, Daily Mail Sport gets the sense that he’d run through a brick wall for Carrick, maybe multiple.
Not that Carrick convinces everybody. Roy Keane insists he wouldn’t give him the job even if he won every game until the end of the season – a run which would put United on 83 points and possibly in Premier League title contention.
Keane – who has skin in the game after a previous spat with Carrick’s wife Lisa – has been duly panned, even by former team-mates. Rio Ferdinand called his criticism ‘unbelievable’.
Many are calling for Man United to give Carrick the permanent gig after four wins in four games
United are playing with a freedom and creativity that they lacked under Ruben Amorim
Hargreaves refuses to be drawn into any bickering, but it’s abundantly clear which side he would fall on. He believes a wider issue is at stake in a league which has often marginalised English managers, though there are currently five in post, plus a Welshman, an Irishman, and a Scot.
‘If Carra keeps doing what he’s doing, you couldn’t not give it to him,’ he insists.
‘How could you argue you couldn’t? It wouldn’t make any sense. Why give it to him in the first place? If he finishes third or fourth, which is very likely, then I don’t see how you couldn’t give it to him. If you don’t, somebody else will rip your hand off for him in the league.
‘It’s just great to see a young English coach get an opportunity. It’s like we look down on our English coaches, because they don’t have an exotic name they don’t get jobs.
‘They’re students of the game, they love the game, they’ve been in it for decades, and they don’t get opportunities.
‘Somebody like Carrick, what he’s achieved in the game from academy football, developing into the first team, becoming an international, winning trophies, playing under the best managers and with the best players.
‘Do you know what he’s seen? People should be picking his brain and going, “how can we get this guy into our football club?”, not dismissing him.
‘The only thing you can argue against is his experience. But Pep [Guardiola, at Barcelona] did alright, [Zinedine] Zidane did alright [at Real Madrid] when he got an opportunity.
Hargreaves and Carrick met in their youth days and grew up to play for England together
‘Carra has got an opportunity and he is running with it. I don’t see how they couldn’t give it to him unless somebody like a Luis Enrique came up. Football is about what’s happening now – not two weeks ago, not a week ago. Right now, Carra is smashing it. Enjoy it. Don’t jump off when you’re flying.’
Carrick does have some experience – he did a credible job at Middlesbrough between 2022 and 2025, winning almost half of his games and guiding them into the play-offs once.
Often in football, you’ll hear people bleat on about ‘knowing the club’. The Manchester United DNA. Lots of the time, it sounds like fluff. Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t ‘know’ Manchester United before he arrived. Neither did Guardiola at Manchester City, or Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, or Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. In fact, no Premier League team has won the title managed by a chap who used to play for them.
But Hargreaves makes a convincing case for Carrick’s connection with the club being an advantage, particularly when hardship inevitably hits – an edge that Ruben Amorim didn’t have.
‘He knows every space. He knows where stuff is. He knows that people in different departments and has relationships. He understands the demands of what it takes when the club is doing well and when it isn’t. Do you know what an advantage that is?
‘He’s been in those players’ shoes who have found it difficult to deal with the pressure. He can say, “mate, you’re here because you’re a good player, trust yourself, I believe in you, relax, enjoy and express yourself. The reason you’re here is because you’re a good player but you’ve got to show it, I can’t show it for you.”
‘All those messages help because he’s been there. People that label this stuff a negative, they’ve not been in the game like we have to understand it.
‘It’s a huge advantage, even knowing the spaces. Ruben was a great coach, had huge success, but imagine him coming all the way from home where he knows everything and everyone.
‘He doesn’t know people, he doesn’t know where to live, where he can go to eat, when he can have down time, where it’s quiet, where it’s busy, where he can take his kids.’
Carrick has a long way to go. One swallow does not make a summer. But five consecutive wins would get close to resembling the sunny season, and a victory against West Ham will only increase the clamour for Carrick.
