The corridor outside the Old Trafford dressing rooms has seen plenty over the years, but what unfolded there one December evening in 2017 was something else entirely.
Michael Carrick sprinted into chaos as players and staff from Manchester United and Manchester City piled into a furious post-derby confrontation.
United had just lost 2-1, emotions were raw, and suddenly a routine defeat turned into an all-out melee involving close to 30 people.
How One Plastic Bottle Lit the Fuse
The flashpoint came when Jose Mourinho stormed into City’s dressing room to complain about what he felt was excessive celebration.
Instead, he was met with a plastic bottle to the head and a squirt of water.
That was enough to tip everyone over the edge.
City goalkeeper Ederson found himself face to face with an irate United manager, and within seconds, players were charging in from both sides.
Players Rally Around Their Manager
Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia were the first to rush to Mourinho’s defence.
Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera weren’t far behind.
It was ugly, noisy and spiralling fast.
Then Carrick arrived. Older, calmer, and respected by everyone in the room, he pushed through bodies, dragged teammates back and barked a single demand above the din: “Show some f***ing respect!”
Carrick the Calm Amid the Storm
That moment summed up Carrick the footballer and the man.
On the pitch, he was always the steady hand on the tiller.
Off it, he had the same knack for cooling situations that threatened to boil over.
United will be hoping for that same composure this weekend when the clubs meet again in the 198th Manchester derby — especially as Carrick takes charge for the first time as head coach.
Old Scars from the Noisiest Neighbours
The 2017 tunnel bust-up never made it into Carrick’s autobiography, Between the Lines, but City loom large elsewhere in the book.
Few wounds cut deeper than the title collapse of 2012, when United threw away an eight-point lead and lost the league on goal difference after Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp winner.
“I never thought for one second City would draw,” Carrick wrote.
“The first time I allowed myself to think we might win it, it was gone.”
Even now, he admits he looks away when that goal reappears on television and has never watched City lift the trophy.
Battles Won, Battles Lost
Carrick’s derby record reflects a career spent fighting the rise of the blue half of Manchester.
He won 12 of his 23 meetings with City, lost nine and drew two.
There were goals too — one on the emotional 50th anniversary of Munich, and another vital strike in the 2010 League Cup semi-final as United scraped through on aggregate thanks to a late Wayne Rooney winner.
Fighting More Than Just Rivals
As City’s power grew after the Abu Dhabi takeover, Carrick was facing quieter struggles of his own.
He speaks candidly in his book about battling depression around the time of the 2010 World Cup.
That summer, back at United, frustration boiled over when Sir Alex Ferguson told him to play a reserve match against City’s development side.
Carrick admits he snapped at Ferguson, questioning why he was there at all.
It was a rare loss of control, one he immediately regretted.
On another day, he believes, it might have ended his United career.
Instead, Ferguson seemed to sense something wasn’t right and Carrick stayed.
Doubts, Decisions and Staying Power
The following year brought more uncertainty.
Substituted at half-time in the 2011 Community Shield and then left out of the opening league games, Carrick again wondered if his time was up.
It wasn’t. He remained at Old Trafford for another eight years, captained the side in Ferguson’s final match — a mad 5-5 draw at West Brom — and later delivered a stirring dressing-room speech as United overturned a two-goal deficit to beat City 3-2 at the Etihad in 2018.
From the Pitch to the Dugout
That same summer, Carrick joined Mourinho’s coaching staff.
He stayed through multiple regimes and briefly stepped in as caretaker after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dismissal in 2021.
When United pulled the plug on Ruben Amorim at the start of last week, it was Carrick they turned to once more, asking him to steady the ship until the end of the season.
A Familiar Buzz Ahead of Derby Day
Walking back into Carrington this week, Carrick spoke not of nerves but of excitement.
Big games, he said, are why players and coaches come to Manchester United in the first place.
Old Trafford, the crowd, the pressure — it’s all part of the deal.
He urged supporters to arrive on Saturday with energy, patience and belief.
United, he said, need everyone pulling together, through the good moments and the bad.
There was no promise of miracles, just a sense that something might be starting.
Why Saturday Feels Different
For Carrick, this derby is more than just another fixture.
It’s a return to familiar ground, against familiar foes, with old memories never far from the surface.
He wants the crowd to feel that buzz too — the sense that, on days like this, anything can happen.
And if emotions threaten to spill over again, United will be counting on the same voice that once cut through a tunnel brawl to keep things steady when it matters most.
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