THE HOT-SEAT
Carrick: I’m so grateful to Jose for giving me a chance to coach.. I’m learning from a world-class boss
MICHAEL CARRICK says working under Jose Mourinho means he is learning from the best.
Manchester United legend Carrick, 37, will never forget a phone call in May 2016 when Mourinho rang to ask him to stay at Old Trafford after previous boss Louis van Gaal had shown him the door.
Despite the Special One going through some turbulent times, the connection is obvious between experienced manager and budding coach.
Former England midfielder Carrick, who joined the backroom staff last season after finishing his glittering playing career, was struck by Mourinho’s dislike of losing and obsession with winning trophies. “He’s proven to be one of the very best around for so long so I’m in that position where as well as helping him, I’m learning all the time,” said Carrick. “And you can’t learn from many better than him.
“For Jose to ask me to join him is quite a big thing and I’m well aware of that. I am trying to support him as best as I can.
“From outside you assume it’s easy – and it’s definitely not.”
It is the perfect grounding for Carrick whose style of play, calmness and willingness to learn surely marks him down as one of an exciting new breed of former players coming into management along with the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry and Steven Gerrard.
“Sir Alex Ferguson was always going on at us, ‘Get your badges done’. There was a group of 10 or so doing it, Darren Fletcher, a few others and I went down that path. It was TV or coaching and I wanted a plan for when I finished. I’d done my A Licence, so it was a no-brainer for me.
“I would like to be a manager one day. But I’m not blase enough to think I definitely will be. I know just because I was a decent player it doesn’t mean I will be a good manager.
“To be a manager is a different ball game. At the moment, I’m trying everything I can to be as good as I can.”
His book, Between The Lines is searingly honest.
Despite winning five Premier League titles, the FA Cup and the Champions League, Carrick insists there are no regrets about not having an England career to match. Fabio Capello’s manmanagement – or lack of it – did not help. But behind his club success was private heartbreak and a crippling depression which he hid even from his parents.
It came after losing the 2009 Champions League final to Barcelona and became more than being “down after a game”.
“I let it affect me too much. Way too much. It’s one of the reasons that I wrote the book, to show that it’s not always easy, not always rosy and it was difficult,” said Carrick.
“I was playing out a lot of people’s dreams in this country by playing for England. But we’re like anyone else: You can struggle mentally with things.
“As my wife will tell you, ‘You’re not invincible’.
“Not many people knew about it, even my mum and dad didn’t realise how far down that track I was, especially at the 2010 World Cup.”
‘In my last two years I was so focused on watching games’