Paul Scholes reveals message he sent to Michael Carrick after brutal Instagram post and how Man Utd boss reacted

PAUL SCHOLES opened up on the message he sent to Michael Carrick after his Instagram story about the manager caused a stir last week.

The legendary Manchester United midfielder took to the social media platform after United’s loss to Newcastle on Wednesday with a strange message to Carrick.

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He wrote: “Michael has definitely got something special about him… Cos Utd have been C**P last 4 games… Night! Tonali (heart emoji).”

The mini rant garnered confusion from fans, who interpreted it as the former England man attacking Carrick for a perceived recent downturn in form.

But now Scholes has gone public with his side of the story, claiming that his message was simply celebrating the team’s results despite their worsening performances.

He told ‘The Good, the Bad and the Football’ podcast: “It was in no way intended to be offensive to Michael (Carrick).

“Michael is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in football, he’d be the last person I would want to offend.

“I messaged Michael anyway, I went straight to him and said ‘look, I was never intending to upset you’ and I don’t think I needed to say that anyway.

“And he told me himself that he wasn’t upset by it. I think people have just took it differently from what was meant.”

He went on to explain the true meaning behind his words, and even referenced a favourite phrase of former Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

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He continued: “The only thing I was saying was that I don’t think they have been playing well the last four games, and he’s still managing to get results.

“We had the greatest manager in the world, and he always said sometimes you need a bit of luck. That’s all I was saying.”

Carrick opened his tenure as United boss with four straight wins, including upsets against league leaders Arsenal and second-placed Manchester City.

Despite what Scholes has deemed a drop in performance levels, the Newcastle defeat was his first in charge, in his eighth match.

His last four results have included that loss, a draw against West Ham and wins over Crystal Palace and Everton.

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But while some former stars have been very negative about Carrick, others have pushed back against the criticism he has faced.

Former United icon Patrice Evra was one such voice, saying that he “did not understand” the pushback on Carrick’s tenure so far.

Evra told Stake: “I hope Paul Scholes‘ Instagram story is fake, I hope he was hacked.

“To be honest, I’m not surprised at that from Scholesy. He was the quietest player I’ve ever played with in my entire career. Now, in the media, he drops bombshells.

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“I really don’t understand the lack of support behind Michael Carrick. He’s one of us and he’s doing very well.

“There’s been negative analysis from Scholesy, but also from Roy Keane and Gary Neville.

“It annoys me because we want to be in the top four, and those comments are unnecessary, but this is what you do when you work in TV. You can’t be positive, you have to be negative.”

“Most of these guys get a managerial job and get fired straightaway.

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“I said to Neville: ‘It’s easy to talk on TV. When you were at Valencia, they asked you for paella, and you gave them fish and chips.’

“After three months, they said goodbye. People can’t forget what they have done as a manager.

“As players, they’re legends, but as managers, they haven’t done a great job.

“So for them to speak and possibly kill the career of a manager, it’s a little bit too much.”

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