Published: 02:00, 17 January 2026 | Updated: 02:00, 17 January 2026

It was a February night at Sheffield United in 2023 that they were calling to mind in Middlesbrough this week, when trying to imagine a world in which Michael Carrick proves to be the resurrecting force that Manchester United have been seeking for so long.

Descriptions like ‘unplayable’ and ‘perfection’ and ‘beautiful’ were spilling out in pubs like the Twisted Lip, Rafferty’s Bar and Sherlocks on the town’s Baker Street, where you’ll find the definitive view on Boro from those fans who are the club’s heart and soul.

It was no exaggeration. The 3-1 win for the club at Bramall Lane came at a time, in the second of half of Carrick’s first season here, when Middlesbrough were the Championship’s best-performing team and had been transformed into something unstoppable by him. 

The matchwinner was Cameron Archer, one of the club’s loanees, but it was Carrick’s ‘miracle man’ – Chuba Akpom – a below average forward before Carrick arrived, turned him from a No 9 to a No 10 and transformed him into...