- Born Wallsend, North Tyneside, 28 July '81. Plays for Wallsend Boys Club age 4-16
- Earns apprenticeship at West Ham in 1997 and moves to London permanently
- On loan at Swindon, late 1999
- On loan at Birmingham, early 2000
- Signs for Tottenham in August 2004
- Joins United in summer 2006
03/03/2015 10:30, Report by Gemma Thompson
Before United's trip to St James' Park on Wednesday, Newcastle native Michael Carrick discusses his roots in the North-east...
Tell us about growing up in Newcastle...
My dad took me along to the Wallsend Boys Club when I was about 4-and-a-half years old. It was sort of an all-comers type thing on a Saturday evening where you could just turn up and play football. There were games on and there were different teams and you could just kick the ball around and I still remember going on there for the first time, that's something that's stuck with me. I spent most of my childhood there.
Was football always a big thing in the city?
Yeah, massive, absolutely huge. Everywhere you go people talk about the Newcastle result at the weekend or what was going on at the club – it's the same now really. You go back there and get the same feeling, everyone is so passionate about the game and it's just a real football place.
How did the family get into supporting Newcastle?
It was pretty much the only choice in the end! That's a lot of people's lives up there, a lot of people just live for the weekend to go and watch them, talk about them and hope and pray that they win. When I was growing up they won the First Division, got promoted, Kevin Keegan was the manager and had a few good years challenging United and coming second a couple of times. They had a really entertaining team so it was a good time to be watching them. My dad always supported them, though not so much now.
Did Newcastle ever show an interest in you as a young player?
I had the chance to sign for them when I was younger but I chose to move away from home and go to London with West Ham, which was a big decision at the time but thankfully it worked out for me. It was close though.
How did you come to leave the city?
It was West Ham, basically. It was at a time where I was just coming out of school having finished my exams and was looking to go full-time at a club. West Ham was the club that I liked the most and the club that suited me the best, so that's the decision I made.
