Michael Carrick has included several former Manchester United players in his new look backroom staff
Roy Keane clashed with Gary Neville about the new make up of Michael Carrick's Manchester United backroom staff.
Roy Keane clashed with Gary Neville about the new make up of Michael Carrick's Manchester United backroom staff.(Image: The Overlap - Stick to Football)
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Manchester United legends Roy Keane and Gary Neville disagreed over Michael Carrick's new look backroom staff following the inclusion of several former players. The former felt Johnny Evans did not have enough coaching experience to be involved in United's first-team set-up, while Neville welcomed the addition of former England assitant Steve Holland.
Carrick has brought in the ex-Three Lions number two, his former Middlesbrough deputy, Jonathan Woodgate, as well as recently retired United defender Jonny Evans and Under-21s boss Travis Binnion. Keane grilled Neville in a tense exchange with the former Republic of Ireland international rejecting the notion that Holland's experience will make him a 'guru.'
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Neville said: "Steve Holland, I'm not saying it's going to bring success, but he is a serious operator. I think it's made Carrick's staff better."
Former United midfielder, Keane, quickly responded: "What about the other coaches he's brought in?"
Neville said: "The other two look like people he's sort of relied upon. I don't know I've never seen the other two coach."
"He's on the beach two weeks ago Jonny Evans," Keane said. "Jonny Evans leaves Man United four or five weeks ago as a loans manager and then Darren Fletcher gives him a job, strangely enough gives him a job.
"He has two games, Fletch goes and Carrick gives him a job, great isn't it. We should all go to Barbados for a week. You're on about getting your coaching staff in, you're praising one of them saying he's experienced and then we just let the other two go, Jonathan Woodgate and Jonny Evans.
"What has Jonny Evans done to be a coach of Man United's first team? He left the job four weeks ago - loans manager and ironically comes back working with the first team. That's a big step up isn't it?"
Arsenal legend Ian Wright agreed and said: "It's a massive step up."
Keane responded sarcastically with: "Thanks Ian," bringing laughter from the rest of the panel, which included Jill Scott and Jamie Carragher.
Neville attempted to clarify his point and said: "When Michael gets announced I think, 'okay he's going to come under a lot of pressure, needs to make sure his information on the training pitch is s*** hot'. If he'd have just brought in Woodgate and Evans that would have made his job a lot harder I think."
Gary Neville and Roy Keane clashed on the latest episode of The Overlap - Stick to Football.
Gary Neville and Roy Keane clashed on the latest episode of The Overlap - Stick to Football.(Image: The Overlap - Stick to Football.)
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Keane would press Neville further on the appointment of Holland as the assistant manager and asked: "Going back to what I said earlier, with Steve Holland, you think what United need at this moment in time, is it just about coaching then?"
Neville said: "My point is, if Steve Holland is on the training pitch at least you know they're going to get top class training sessions. I'm not saying they weren't before because they probably were as well.
"I don't know what Evans or Woodgate are like as coaches, don't know what Carrick is like as a coach. My point is he has a lot of experience, are you against the appointment of Steve Holland?"
Keane felt that his former teammate was ignoring his counter-point in reference to his argument about experience and said: "On one hand you're sitting here going, 'I'm so happy they brought Steve Holland in,' but they brought another two staff in who you're dismissing as 'I'm not really bothered about them.'
"I wish we were sitting here with you saying he's brought three staff in and they're all brilliant, so we think Steve Holland is the man now?"
Neville said: "I think he's got a lot of experience, a good coach."
Keane pointed out that experience does not guarantee coaching success and pointed to several United coaches who had sturggled in the post-Ferguson era.
"Steve McCLaren was experienced, Mike Phelan was experienced, these are all guys over the last few years," he said.
The pair were then involved in a tense back-and-forth, with neither giving quarter.
Neville said: "When David Moyes came in I felt he should've kept a bit of experience around him."
Keane: "Who did he bring with him?"
Roy Keane and Gary Neville were involved in a heated debate on the latest episode of The Overlap - Stick to Football.
Roy Keane and Gary Neville were involved in a heated debate on the latest episode of The Overlap - Stick to Football.(Image: The Overlap - Stick to Football.)
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Neville: "He brought my brother with him and John Murtough..."
Keane: "Exactly, did that warrant a place at Man United?"
Neville: "I can see why you'd bring in an ex-player who knows the club, Mourinho did that at Chelsea, that's not an unusual thing."
Keane: "That doesn't always work, this idea of bringing in someone from the club."
Neville: "I'm not saying it's unusual, Carlo Ancelotti used to do it..."
Keane: "Before Burnley and Brighton at home.... Fletch knows the club, works with the academy, he knows the girl in the canteen, he rings Sir Alex Ferguson to ask him what colour socks he's going to wear in the morning. How did the two games go?"
Neville: "They didn't go very well."
Keane: "Exactly."
Neville: 'But I'm happy he's brought Steve Holland in!"
Keane: "But you don't know anything about Jonny Evans' coaching - because he's never coached! That's my point! But he's gone into Man United - but that's ok because we've got Stevie Holland, our new guru! So excited about these people their experience, you worked with him at England..."
Neville: "He did a very good job."
Keane: "What was he working with at England?"
Wright: "The best."
Neville: "But it's not easy to work with England, with the Under-21s he did a good job and the first team."
Keane: "With the Under-7s, here we go..."
Carrick's first game in charge of Manchester United will be in the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford as they welcome Pep Guardiola's side Saturday afternoon.