Manchester United are unhappy with Nicky Butt again after he revealed details of a private conversation in which Michael Carrick is claimed to have said he was not interested in football management, Confidential understands.
Sources at the club are bemused by Butt’s comments and wonder why the former Treble winner, who has not been shy in criticising his former team on his The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast with Paul Scholes, didn’t disclose the same information last season – when United were the best side in the Premier League after Carrick returned to Old Trafford in January, leading his old club back to the Champions League.
The feeling is that the comments were sensationalised, and the two men do not have a close relationship given they were never team-mates at United and have not spent a significant amount of time together.
Carrick is under pressure this season after overseeing United’s worst league start for 40 years ahead of Tuesday night’s European clash with Atletico Madrid, and Butt stunned fans with the revelation that the 45-year-old was not sold on management after he was sacked from his first job at Middlesbrough last year.
‘I was with Michael before he got the Man United job and spoke to him about management,’ Butt said. ‘He went, “No it’s not for me, it’s too much. My head’s all over the show. I’d only do it for the big job. The big job is Man United”.’
It’s not the first time United have taken a dim view of Butt’s podcast, which he anchors alongside former team-mate Scholes and host Paddy McGuinness.
Last month, the former United stars appeared to mock Benjamin Sesko over a persistent shin injury. There has also been scathing criticism of Lisandro Martinez, with Butt claiming before the Manchester derby in January that City’s Erling Haaland would treat the Argentine defender like a ‘little toddler’.
Manchester United sources are bemused by Nicky Butt (left) claiming that Michael Carrick (right) was not sold on being a manager
Madrid fancy JJ chances
The noise around the future of JJ Gabriel has quietened down, but sources in Spain have told Confidential that Real Madrid are growing more confident they will win the race to sign the 16-year-old wonderkid.
Gabriel is not expected to play for United again after turning down scholarship forms and asking for his registration to be ripped up, with the Under 21s back in action on Friday.
While he continues his own training schedule away from Carrington, Madrid are increasingly hopeful they will beat rivals Barcelona to Gabriel’s signature. Although Barca have publicly dismissed the idea of signing him, privately they are believed to have shown much more willingness to join the race.
United are willing to take legal action against another club or any unlicensed agents if it transpires that something untoward was behind Gabriel’s decision to turn down scholarship forms and play elsewhere.
While some felt a U-turn was possible, many of those individuals now believe a move to Spain is inevitable in the weeks between now and the end of the year.
JJ Gabriel (left) is continuing his own training schedule away from Carrington, with Real Madrid increasingly hopeful of beating rivals Barcelona to his signature
Tevez is a red again
The famous ‘ticker’ banner mocking Manchester City’s trophy drought returned to the Stretford End for Saturday’s draw with Tottenham, and it wasn’t the only old favourite with strong connections to the noisy neighbours that made a reappearance for United last weekend.
Over in Indonesia, Carlos Tevez was wearing the red of United again 17 years after his acrimonious move from Old Trafford to the Etihad symbolised by the ‘Welcome to Manchester’ billboard that soured relations between the two clubs.
Tevez played for a United Legends team against a North London XI made up of Arsenal players in the ‘Champions Impact: The Rivalry Returns’ exhibition game in Jakarta. The 42-year-old, who retired in 2022 at his boyhood club Boca Juniors, helped to set up the first goal for Ashley Young but United lost 3-2.
Back in 2009, the prospect of Tevez playing in red again alongside the likes of Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov appeared nigh on impossible when he moved across town at the dawn of the Abu Dhabi takeover. He helped to launch an era of success that brought down the banner in the Stretford End, and is now being called into question by the allegations of cheating levelled at City.
The cheeky billboard commissioned by City came to represent their challenge to United’s domination that so upset Sir Alex Ferguson, who branded them ‘a small club with a small mentality’.
The United Legends squad in Jakarta – how many former Red Devils can you name?
‘It’s City, isn’t it?’ added Ferguson. ‘All they can talk about is Manchester United. They can’t get away from it. That arrogance will be rewarded. It is a go at us, that’s the one thing it is. They think taking Carlos Tevez away from Manchester United is a triumph. It is poor stuff.’
When the two clubs met in the League Cup semi-final later that season, Tevez scored twice for City and clashed with Gary Neville as the United substitute was warming up on the touchline, later calling Neville a ‘boot-licking moron’.
O’Neill sways Jay… but can United?
As revealed by Confidential prior to the international break, there was a tug-of-war between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to recruit United youngster Jay McEvoy during the hiatus.
Well, Michael O’Neill’s intervention was significant as McEvoy turned out for Northern Ireland’s Under 19s, with the message that his pathway to the first team can be accelerated north of the border.
The intrigue now is whether McEvoy pens the pro contract he was offered by United in recent weeks. He stepped up to train with the first team last month, and while he will continue to play for the Under 18s, Under 19s and Under 21s, those around him want to see swift progress towards senior football.
Jay McEvoy stepped up to train with the first team last month, and while he will continue to play for the Under 18s, Under 19s and Under 21s, those around him want to see swift progress
Stars sign for brave Lola
United have donated a shirt signed by the first-team squad to eight-year-old Lola Berry, who is undergoing radiotherapy for a recurring brain tumour.
Lola has decided to wear a different football shirt for each of the 30 days she is having the proton beam therapy at Manchester’s Christie Hospital, and the kits will be auctioned off to raise money for charity.
‘It’s like a birthday present every morning,’ says Lola, who was first diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of four and discovered in August that it had returned.
United sent a signed shirt to add to Lola’s collection which will be used to raise funds for The Christie Charity and Manchester Foundation Trust Charity.
