Ferdinand has been left stunned by those comments. The six-Premier League title winner, who took in 455 appearances for United, has told his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast: “Michael Carrick’s come in and turned the collar up on his long trench coat and said: ‘Listen guys, get behind me, I’m gonna put you in a structure that’s gonna actually suit the players that we have, we’re gonna be hard to play against, we’re gonna work hard, and we’re gonna be a threat. And, by the way, guys, my first two games are Man City and Arsenal’.
“He’s gone and got six points! And people are telling me that, no matter what Michael Carrick does, he shouldn’t get the opportunity to manage Man United. Where the hell are you people coming from? The disrespect is unbelievable. For somebody to say, no matter what this person does, he doesn’t deserve to be given the keys to Man United, on what grounds are you saying that? That’s mad talk.”
United’s all-time leading goalscorer, Wayne Rooney, would appear to be on the same page as Ferdinand. He has told Match of the Day 2: “Michael Carrick has got an opportunity to show everyone, to show Manchester United that he’s capable of doing the job and what we’ve seen over the last two weeks…of course he has to have a consistency about his results and performances, but what we’ve seen is that he’s very capable of doing it.
“If it carries on like this, there’ll be massive pressure on the Manchester United board to put him in at the end of the season. I know they’ve been there with Ole before, but I think this feels a little bit different.”