Carrick has designs on hotseat at Old Trafford
MICHAEL CARRICK has started his coaching career at Manchester United and revealed he is picking the brains of the game’s greats.
Carrick – after 464 games and 12 years at United in which he won the Champions League, five Premier League titles and the FA Cup – has already tapped into the knowledge of ex-Reds Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville and boss Jose Mourinho.
And the Geordie, 36, is now looking ahead to the day when he can become a manager in his own right – and hopefully at the Theatre of his Dreams.
The buzz inside United’s Carrington training complex is that Carrick, after learning his trade under Mourinho, would link up with current Wales boss Giggs as the future dream management team at Old Trafford.
It is widely believed a Carrick-Giggs double act would restore United to their glory days of free-flowing, exciting football enjoyed in Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign.
Mourinho’s style is not appreciated by die-hard Reds who have feasted for so many years on entertaining football – an attack, attack, attack mantra.
It has been reported, too, that United legend and club director Sir Bobby Charlton has never been a big fan of Mourinho’s style
However, Mourinho has the full support of executive vice chairman Ed Woodward who appointed him after the sacking of Louis van Gaal.
But finishing 19 points behind bitter rivals City in the Premier League and losing in the FA Cup Final to Chelsea has put the spotlight back on Mourinho with another barren spell next season leaving The Special One vulnerable.
That is why supporters are hoping that further down the line, Giggs and Carrick (above) will be ready to inherit the job together.
Carrick has already taken up a coaching role in the backroom staff at Wembley and cannot wait to learn the tricks of his new trade from Mourinho at Carrington too.
He said: “Jose is one of the best and I obviously know the club and manager and will be learning off him, trying to bring the kids through and have an influence on that.
“It makes sense to try to pick people’s brains as much as I can. So I will certainly be doing that. If I get into it and I think I would like to manage, probably at this stage my answer would be ‘yes’.”
FRANK LAMPARD is ready to follow his pal Steven Gerrard into management and feels the time is right.
The ex-England and Chelsea midfielder has been on Ipswich and Derby’s radar recently.
And he revealed that seeing former Three Lions team-mate Gerrard (below) land the Rangers job has increased his hunger for management.
Lampard, 39, said: “It’s the competitive nature in me and people like Steven – you don’t lose that.
“That’s why I am interested in going into management, I feel it’s the right time.
“I’ve done the A Licence but I can’t do the Pro one yet because the next course doesn’t start until October.
“But I am on it and will be doing it then and I can run that alongside working if needs be.
“I have done a lot of hours on the A licence and Chelsea have been great in helping me.
“I still have a lot of friends at the academy there which has helped and I have been able to go almost when I want and work alongside the great coaches they have.”
The former Chelsea and Manchester
City star said of Gerrard’s move: “I respect him for doing it, it’s a great decision.
Rangers is a massive club who have had a tough time but hopefully, with backing, he’ll create an uplift there because of who he is. “I know he is smart and he knows the game and he has been working at Liverpool in the academy.
“So yes, it’s whetted the appetite for me and it’s about choosing the right job. “Stevie has been given the opportunity to go to a huge club and make a difference and that is what is in us – that’s the competitive side of us.” Lampard added: “Having a long playing career is a help but it doesn’t give you the absolute definite guarantee that you will be a great manager.
“Pep Guardiola had a great playing career and is one of the greatest coaches in the world, whereas Jose Mourinho didn’t. “But those are the different routes you can take to get to the top of the game.
“I don’t know what kind of manager I will be.
“I played under some great ones – and some not so great.
“I would like to take bits from all of them. I would like to think I’d be a nice mixture.
“I would care about my players, look after them and try to improve them and add detail, so I’m not missing anything tactically.”