My development journey: 2

In the second part of our feature on the development journey of Michael Carrick, the former England midfielder and his brother, Graeme, discuss their formative football experiences.

Michael Carrick: When I was a kid, I remember seeing boys that were scared stiff of playing a game on a Sunday morning at Wallsend in case they made a mistake and their Dad would have a go at them.

After a game, Dad would get me and Graeme in the car and maybe say something to us; he wouldn’t have a go at us, but he’d give bits of tips or advice, "that was good, that wasn’t so good" or quite often he would just ask "how do you think you did today?". He wasn’t trying to coach us or anything, he was just trying to help us because football was what we enjoyed.

But then there were the lads and their Dads who would shout and scream on the line. The lads were scared on the pitch. I think if you’ve got a parent who is on that route you haven’t got a chance of improving as a kid. Where’s the enjoyment in that? To improve you need the enjoyment, if you haven’t got the freedom to enjoy yourself the experience of football is totally different.

Some of the lads were really petrified. If you’re playing a Sunday morning game and you’re 4-0 up, you should just be having fun and having a kick around, not listening to the parents screaming at the ref or the players. Don’t get me wrong, there were probably times when my Dad had a few shouts here and there but nowhere near what you see. I never felt any pressure from my Mum and Dad ever to do certain things or to play a certain way or anything like that.

Graeme Carrick: The other interesting one is how the parents deal with their kid’s success. No matter how well Michael played, Dad would never be going around saying: "Michael did great". And if he really had a bad game Dad wouldn’t be saying, "Oh my…"

Michael: If I’ve had a shocking game, I know I’ve had a shocking game. Dad might give me a text being a little positive or something like "You know obviously you got the result." But then even if I’ve had a great game, the best ever he’ll say, "Oh well played son" or "That was a good result" or "You’ve done well there". It wouldn’t be the case of extremes – where the world's going to end one day or the next it’s the best thing ever. That’s how I am as well.

Graeme: Some people have said, "Oh your Dad he’s quite hard on Michael," but he’s actually not, he’s just not over the top.

Michael: No he’s not, he’s never really sat us down and he’s never ever had a go at us about a game or anything.


Michael Carrick is currently first team coach at Manchester United and Graeme Carrick is an FA coach mentor.