Mccarthy was head coach at Amazulu from 2020 to 2022 before taking up the role at the Red Devils.

Benni McCarthy joins Manchester United coaching staff. Picture: Twitter/@ManUtd

Manchester United first-team coach and South African football legend, Benni McCarthy says he never thought that working at Manchester United would be a reality for him.

McCarthy was head coach at Amazulu from 2020 to 2022 before taking up the role at the Red Devils.

On 30 July 2022, McCarthy was appointed by manager, Erik ten Hag, as the forwards coach at Manchester United, where he's been tasked with getting the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jadon Sancho scoring freely.

Speaking to Robert Marawa on #MSW, McCarthy gave insight into how his move to the 20-time English League Champions materialised.

When Rob [Moore] told me that Erik Ten Hag wanted to see me and speak to me, I got a bit of a lump in my throat. He [Ten Hag] asked me to come to a training session and assess the attacking options he had and said he wanted to bring someone on board who knows what they are doing.

I worked with the reserve players and the players enjoyed the session and there were clear ideas for all the players involved in the attack. He loved that because that matched his philosophy and how he wanted to play. He said he would let me know, but he said the job is mine if I want it. I drove back up to Scotland and the whole way back I was trying to replay what happened. He took me into his office and we just spoke about football, about Dutch football and he laid down his vision for the club and he believed that he can take the club back to the glory days and he wanted me part of that project.

McCarthy also spoke about his time at AmaZulu and how he feels the club is only making that he suggested now.

I felt like there were people at the club who took you 5 steps back after making 10 steps forward. You have to make hard decisions in football if you want to succeed. I see now that they are making the changes that I wanted when I was there and I would probably still be there and in charge of a very competitive team.

Toppling Sundowns would be a huge task given their success, but I believe that money can’t buy you everything and if players have the will and heart to succeed and if you are willing to die on that football pitch, you can beat anyone. The club, president and chairman didn’t see the potential I saw at that time and they didn’t want to build on the season we had when we ended second and competed in the champions league.

When you don’t want make changes because you have had success, you are making a huge mistake and that’s what happened. This is me now, and me not staying there has given me the opportunity to go to Man United and AmaZulu is back to where they were before I arrived there.

Like many South African fans, the players at United have also taken to McCarthy and his methods.

A lot of the players there already knew who I was, and of course I had to prove to them that what I am bringing can add value to their game. A lot of pressure was on me and you have to know your story so I just did things that I would have loved to have done as a player.

For me its all about working on consistency, simple drills that strikers would face in a game 7 out of 10 times and the more consistent you get at those the better you will be. Even the defenders were coming to do finishing drills and we started making it into a mini competition and that’s how everyone kind of became involved in what I was doing. We created a competitive culture through that.

Watch below for the full interview with Benni McCarthy:

This article first appeared on 947 : 'I didn't think working at Manchester United was possible' - Benni McCarthy