Carrick vows long-term United commitment despite knowing his tenure could end any day

Michael Carrick insists he has never stopped planning for Manchester United’s long-term future, even as uncertainty over his own tenure persists, ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby — eight months on from the fixture that effectively launched his permanent reign at Old Trafford.

Carrick was handed interim charge on 13 January and, five days later, oversaw a 2-0 home victory against Manchester City that signalled he might be more than a stopgap. Goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu sealed that win, and a further victory at Arsenal the following week helped convince the club to hand him a two-year contract after he guided United to third place and a return to the Champions League.

“I think I said it pretty early on — all the decisions we were making were as if we were going to be here for a period of time,” Carrick said. “I never knew how long that was going to be, I still don’t! But you’re always planning for what the future looks like and the direction we want to go, and that was from day one.”

The 45-year-old, who managed Middlesbrough in the Championship before his unexpected rise at United, acknowledged that job security in football is never guaranteed but said that reality has not altered his approach. “From the start it was always planning to try and get this club to where we want to get it in the long term,” he added.

Sunday’s derby will look considerably different from January’s. Pep Guardiola has since been replaced by Enzo Maresca at the Etihad, and Carrick was quick to dismiss any assumption that last season’s result would carry over.

“It’ll definitely be different, just because no two games are ever the same,” he said. “There’s no way we’re assuming we won last year, we’ll do the same things and everything will be the same.”

Carrick reflected on the unusual atmosphere surrounding that first derby — the uncertainty, the rapid turnaround, the sense that nobody quite knew what to expect — and suggested his squad is now operating from a more settled foundation. “The confidence that we’ve built over a period of time” was how he framed the difference, though the source material cuts off before he completed the thought.

With United’s season still taking shape and Carrick’s long-term future at the club never entirely off the agenda, the second Manchester derby of his tenure carries weight beyond three points.