Boro’s new boss takes the next step of his coaching career on Teesside after an illustrious playing career. Here we take a look…
Michael was born in Wallsend, North Tyneside and played youth football for the Wallsend Boys Club, a famous nurturing ground for a host of professionals such as Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley and Steve Bruce.
Boro was one of several clubs he had trials with or played for as a youngster before eventually joining the youth ranks of West Ham United. He was part of a talented Hammers crop that won the FA Youth Cup in 1999, scoring twice in the two-legged final over Coventry City.
Breaking through into a youthful West Ham side that included the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe, Michael then moved across London to join Tottenham Hotspur in 2004.
Following two successful seasons at Spurs, Carrick was signed by Manchester United, earmarked by Sir Alex Ferguson as a replacement for Roy Keane and taking the departing Red Devil’s talismanic number 16 shirt.
Michael would go on to make more than 450 appearances for the Old Trafford club, and become one of the most decorated players in English football history in the process.
He won the Premier League title on no fewer than five occasions, as well as the League Cup twice and the FA Cup once. Adding to his domestic honours were wins in the Champions League, Europa League and FIFA Club World Cup, making him one of only two English players - alongside long-standing United teammate Wayne Rooney - to win each major club trophy in his career.
After Rooney left Old Trafford in the summer of 2017, Carrick became Manchester United’s club captain.
Arguably Michael’s finest season with United was in 2012/13, Ferguson’s last in charge of the club, when he was nominated for the 2012/13 PFA Player of the Year Award and ultimately named in the PFA Team of the Year, as well as collecting the club’s Players Player of the Year trophy.
A midfielder, he was capped 34 times by England in a competitive position shared by, at various points in Michael’s career, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and others. He travelled to two World Cups with the Three Lions, in 2006 and 2010.
Michael’s playing style in the centre of midfield, and occasionally central defence, was based on calmness, composure and dictating the tempo. Lauded by his peers and loved by his managers, Michael won plaudits for both qualities on the pitch and his footballing intelligence - Louis van Gaal once described him as his "trainer coach during the game.”
Following his retirement from playing, Michael became part of the United coaching staff under Jose Mourinho and remained in the Old Trafford dugout for the tenure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. When Solskjaer departed in November 2021, Michael was installed as United’s caretaker manager. He was in charge for three games; wins over Villarreal and Arsenal and a draw with Chelsea, before leaving the club last December.