United Need Winners Like Carrick

ManUtd.com's Steve Bartram welcomes the announcement that Michael Carrick has signed a new one-year contract at Manchester United, retaining his experience and quality for the 2016/17 season...

Experience, the old proverb tells us, is the teacher of all things. The retention of 34-year-old Michael Carrick on a new, one-year contract pays heed to the teachings of recent seasons.

Jose Mourinho’s early work in office has not only looked to the future with contract extensions for exciting young talents, but has quickly and decisively secured the services of one of the club’s most decorated players, someone who has been there, done it and won it.

While media rumblings continue to link United with transfers for dynamic central midfielders, the retention of Carrick and his oodles of know-how is a hugely important piece of business.

He remains a supremely able midfielder, an intelligent, visionary string-puller with the kind of talent which seldom glides out of the English football factory. Carrick has rarely relied on pace, opting instead to use a mind sharper than almost any opponent.

The manner in which old stagers Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were carefully managed by Sir Alex Ferguson added years to their careers, and the same approach would likely keep Carrick relevant to United’s first team beyond the initial term of his one-season contract extension.

But while his influence on the field hinges on selection, his effect in the dressing room does not, and it is behind the scenes where the impact of Carrick’s new deal will be felt keenest.

“Carras is like the father figure in the team now,” Luke Shaw recently admitted. “He tends to give advice and look out for people because he’s a caring guy. What he’s been through with this club is massive. He’s a great player who has achieved so much.”

For all the fanfare afforded Bastian Schweinsteiger’s arrival last summer, it is only on the international stage that the German’s achievements dwarf those of Carrick, who can now – after May’s FA Cup final – claim to have a complete set of domestic honours to accompany his stints as a world and European champion. With the exception of the Europa League and UEFA Super Cup, Michael has won every available honour during his decade at Old Trafford.

Between the summers of 2013 and 2015, 14 first-team regulars left the Old Trafford playing squad. Some mainstays, some Academy products, some both. Between them, they had made 4,419 appearances and won 120 major honours with United. That’s 14 champions, almost all of whom were suitably immersed in United’s culture to know exactly what it takes to repeatedly succeed at Old Trafford.

Even those to whom the 2012/13 Premier League title was a new sensation, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck, had spent the majority of their lives being brought up to be United players. They knew the demands, expectations and traditions we have here.

Of course, it is an unavoidable truth that it doesn’t always work out for everybody; individual agendas and circumstances do change. As formidable a striker as Robin van Persie was in his debut season at Old Trafford, his form after Ferguson’s departure dipped, quite possibly through disappointment at only getting to spend one season working under the Scot. Other players required the regular involvement which would not have been forthcoming if they had remained with United. Sometimes a change benefits both parties.

But for Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra to depart the club, in the same summer that Giggs swapped dressing room for coaches’ room, eroded a mass of experience from the United squad in one go. For homegrown talents Darren Fletcher and Jonny Evans to follow within the next year, alongside Nani, Anderson, Rafael and Chicharito, an impact was inevitable.

That is why the experience and presence of Carrick is an invaluable commodity. Mourinho has inherited a squad rich on talent and promise, but without an abundance of serial champions in their midst. Carrick is not only an enduringly skilled midfielder, he is a reference point for all that a successful Manchester United is and all that the club currently seeks to reprise.

Ferguson urged his players to look around the dressing room and be safe in the knowledge that they were surrounded by winners. Nobody could look at Michael Carrick and see anything but.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be considered as representative of Manchester United Football Club.

Credit: Manutd.com