Michael Carrick will be aiming for his seventh win as Manchester United manager on Wednesday when his side travel to St James’s Park, where he dreamed of playing as a boy.
Michael Carrick underpinned Newcastle’s rise (Image: BBC Sport)
Michael Carrick will return to the North East on Wednesday when his Manchester United side take on Newcastle at St James’ Park. Carrick, 44, had a dream start to life as United’s caretaker manager, adding to his legendary status at Old Trafford, where he won 18 trophies as a player.
But things could have been very different for the Red Devils manager, who fell in love with football while growing up as a Newcastle fan. Born in the North East, Carrick played for the legendary Wallsend Boys Club.
Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley and Steve Bruce are among the great players to have played at Wallsend, who went on to produce a whopping 97 first-team professionals. Many in the local community expected Carrick to become Newcastle’s next Geordie to break into the top flight after joining the academy.
But the 15-year-old rejected the chance to sign with his boyhood club and left, believing there was no clear path to the first team. Despite being top of the Premier League under manager Kevin Keegan, Newcastle had decided to abolish their reserve team.
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Former Magpies coach John Carver told Chronicle Live in 2020, “What happened with Michael was I sat down with his mum and dad and told them how much I wanted him and them to sign for Newcastle. But Kevin Keegan sacked the reserve team so there was just no way.”
“His parents talked about how much they wanted him to sign for Newcastle because they were fans, but he wanted to play football. Newcastle didn’t have a reserve team so there was no way for him.”
Carrick decided to move to West Ham after spending time with the host club, who were keen to sign him. The midfielder was promoted to the first team and made 153 first team appearances for the Irons.
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Newcastle’s missing player is Michael Carrick (Image: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
But West Ham’s relegation was the beginning of the end for East Londoner Carrick. After one season in the second division, he felt he had no choice but to leave and moved across the capital to Tottenham.
Two years ago, Sir Alex Ferguson, who was in the top flight with Spurs, was persuaded to sign Carrick to a deal worth up to £18.6 million. The rest, including five Premier League titles and one Champions League title, is history and he will forever be remembered at Newcastle as the player who got away with it.
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