Carrick: Man Utd not soulless - there's a magic here
Michael Carrick will step in as head coach following the departure of Ruben Amorim; Carrick, will take charge of United's final 17 Premier League games of the season;Watch Man Utd vs Man City live on Sky Sports this Saturday; kick-off 12.30pm
Friday 16 January 2026 22:59, UK
Michael Carrick has refuted suggestions that Manchester United is a soulless club and says he's returned to a "magic" at the club's Carrington training complex.
The former United midfielder returned to the club - where he had also previously held an assistant coaching role and been caretaker manager in 2021 - this week after replacing Ruben Amorim. The Portuguese left the club after 14 months in charge at Old Trafford.
Carrick will be head coach for United's final 17 matches of the current Premier League season, starting off with a Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime, live on Sky Sports.
The former Middlesbrough boss is the 11th different person to sit in the hotseat at Old Trafford since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Another managerial switch has added to fan discontent with protests planned for next month.
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Asked whether he felt the club is now soulless within their current slump, Carrick said: "I certainly don't think it's soulless. I think there's a magic around this place. I feel it and I feel at home straight away, coming into the building.
"Results and sometimes from the outside things look a little bit different, but it certainly doesn't feel majorly different on the inside.
"Part of my role and the responsibility is shaping what we want to look like going forward as a group. What happens on the pitch and the tactical side and the performances is one thing, but certainly the culture as well and how we think, how we act, how we behave, what it means to us to be here - that's something that is part of my responsibility to spread in the right way."
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Carrick adds that player mood has been positive and that the training ground has been in a good place.
"I've been back in this role for three days and there's nothing that I've looked at that's really red-flagged anything. The players have been really good.
"[The players are] willing to listen, willing to learn, wanting to do better, wanting to do better for the club, wanting to put on better performances. That's the feeling I've got.
"The support staff and everyone is desperate to do well and we need to channel that.
"The culture is something that happens day-to-day. It's not something I sit here and talk about - a few words here and there and it makes it sound good.
"It's how you behave and what you end up doing day-to-day. That's something we've got to build but certainly at the moment, I feel it's a good place and the training ground's been a really good place.
"We need to make Old Trafford an even better place with the help of the supporters as well. That's the magic of what we're trying to do."
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