MICHAEL CARRICK has hit back at Manchester United legend Roy Keane, claiming he is “not bothered” about his criticism.
Keane half-joked on The Overlap podcast that Carrick’s wife, Lisa, “can always come in because she’s got a bit of a big mouth sometimes”.
That was a reference to Lisa Carrick dubbing Keane a “****” after United lost 2-0 to Olympiakos in the Champions League round-of-16 in February 2014.
Keane, on punditry duty for ITV at the time, criticised Carrick’s “flat” post-match interview, which prompted Mrs Carrick’s outburst on Twitter.
United appointed Carrick as head coach for the rest of the season on Tuesday and he attended his first pre-match press conference on Friday.
When asked about the potential pressure he will face from former teammates-turned-pundits, Carrick said: “They’re not putting more pressure on me.
‘WHAT’S HE DONE?’
Roy Keane tears into Man Utd as Jonny Evans lands job under Carrick
Welcome offer
Get a £50 welcome bonus when you join Sun Vegas and spend £10
“I don’t feel that. It’s part of it, the role I understand, plenty of opinions around, some are positive, some not so much.
“But for me, it’s totally irrelevant how I go about work, what I focus on. I know already what we want to improve on, how we want to work with the players.
“There’s a lot of opinions, a lot can be said, it is the way of the world. I’m not going to pay too much attention to most of that. It’s not for me to do that.
“For me, the players and staff, it’s to focus on how we’re gonna succeed, that’s our job, that’s our responsibility. That’s what our minds should be on: what we can do for this club.
“Honestly, it didn’t bother me.”
Carrick, who was in caretaker charge of United for three games in November and December 2021, returned to the club’s Carrington training complex on Tuesday.
The 44-year-old has primarily held dialogue with United director of football Jason Wilcox, whose position has come under scrutiny following the sacking of Ruben Amorim.
United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and owners Joel and Avram Glazer were also on site on Thursday to meet Carrick.
Carrick added: “I’ve spoken to Jason an awful lot, working closely with Jason and Omar as well over the last few days.
“The ownership group were in and around, it was nice to see them, meet them yesterday, have a small chat with them.
“They’ve taken care of business, in some ways. We were able to share a few things, they wished us all the very best.”
Read the full article here
