Michael Carrick got to know Thomas Frank when they sat down for an interview earlier this season but the Manchester United head coach could put his Tottenham counterpart under more pressure on Saturday.
Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick looks at home at Old Trafford and is putting himself in the frame for a Premier League job next season
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Michael Carrick had never previously met Thomas Frank until they sat down together for a chat in front of the Amazon Prime cameras in September, spending more than half an hour discussing their football philosophies and swapping coaching advice.
The meeting at Spurs Lodge was to preview Frank's first Champions League game in charge of Tottenham against Villarreal, but the 52-year-old Dane and the 44-year-old from the north east struck up a bond as they got into the weeds of coaching.
Frank had just swapped Brentford for Tottenham, while Carrick was doing TV work after leaving Middlesbrough last summer. At the time, there seemed to be no immediate prospect of the latter returning to the dugout anytime soon.
But then came the call from a club he can't say no to. Carrick might have grown up near Newcastle and spent two years as a player at Tottenham, but it is Old Trafford that he now calls home, and when Manchester United made contact in January about the prospect of returning as head coach to replace Ruben Amorim, he jumped at the chance.
Carrick signed a contract until the end of the season, but after three wins in his first three games, including victories against Manchester City and Arsenal, he is now the favourite to be in charge next season as well. There is enough football left in this campaign for that to change, but another win on Saturday against Frank's Tottenham will further strengthen his case.
And whatever happens at Old Trafford, the more Premier League games that Carrick wins, the stronger his own case of getting a job in the top flight becomes. Victory against his former club could even open a door back in north London.
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Frank has steadied the ship at Tottenham recently, but he remains under pressure. Supporters are unconvinced by his style of play, and although they finished fourth in the league phase of the Champions League, they are 14th in the Premier League.
Defeat at Old Trafford would be unlikely to be terminal, but as things stand, it's hard to see Frank regaining enough credit to survive beyond the end of the season. If Tottenham do pull the trigger, could they turn to Carrick for 2026/27?
That will become a possibility if he continues to be successful at United. Guiding a team that looked flat under Amorim into the Champions League places would look good on Carrick's CV, and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they could yet catch Aston Villa or Manchester City.
The question for United could become whether they are prepared to let Carrick leave and walk into a different Premier League job. If the football hierarchy at Old Trafford looks elsewhere despite Carrick's success, only for him to then thrive at a different club - such as Tottenham - it could be an awkward look.
For Carrick, there is no doubt where he would rather be. He made 75 appearances for Tottenham and is still popular there, but speaking on Thursday about leaving White Hart Lane for Old Trafford, he made it clear United struck a different chord for him.
"It was pretty instant," he said of his love affair with United. "I've got really fond memories of Tottenham and being at the club. I was there for a short time, or what feels now like a short time when you look back, but I really enjoyed it. It was a good team, Martin Jol was the manager, and there were a lot of things that I learned at the club in that short period of time.
"But I've said it enough times. I think coming here was a jump, and a big jump at the time, and I certainly felt that pretty quickly, and then I think once you step inside this place as a footballer, then it kind of turns you. So pretty much from the first day walking into the dressing room, meeting the manager from then on in, that was me."
Carrick's near-three-year stint at Middlesbrough had come to a natural end in the summer and he looked in no rush to return to coaching until the offer from United came. In just over three weeks, he has rediscovered a love of being on the grass and working with players.
He has also enhanced his job prospects, and this weekend he could open up another opportunity for himself in the Premier League.
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