Micheal Carrick recounts horrible Manchester United tour experience in Nigeria

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Former Manchester United player, Michael Carrick has narrated his horrible experience when he visited Nigeria alongside teammates for a tour in 2008.

UEFA Champions League and English Premier League Champions, Manchester United visited Nigeria in 2008 after an illustrious season, facing up with then English Premier rivals and FA Cup winners, Portsmouth.

Outside a fine on-pitch success, the midfielder turned coach recounted his ugly time in the West African nation.

“After playing at Pittodrie, we dashed off on a tour to Africa and touched down the realms of insanity when we reached Nigeria. The stop-off in the capital Abuja was one stop-off too many,” Carrick wrote in his autobiography title Wrote Carrick in his autobiography titled “Michael Carrick Beyond The Lines”.

“Somebody paid United a few good quid to get us to Abuja. We landed from Cape Town at 3 am on the day of an exhibition match against the FA Cup winner, Portsmouth.

“Shut the curtains and turn the lights off. Security warned us as we boarded the bus to the hotel in Abuja as they were worried about an ambush. When we arrived at the hotel, there were scenes of complete chaos of fans everywhere, wandering corridors and lurking in lifts – they were just mad to see us.

“We tried to catch a few hours’ sleep and then some of us went down for a quiet stroll around the hotel garden, which turned out not to be that peaceful as there were armed police crawling everywhere.

“As we walked past the swimming pool, this guy from the hotel took a picture of us. That was no problem for us, happens all the time, but it was clearly a problem for the security men. One of them ran over and smashed the camera out of this guy’s hand.

“Whao, what’s going on there. They grabbed him, jabbed him in the ribs, and dragged him round the back of the hotel. We never saw him again. It was all a bit over the top.”

“The whole experience in Abuja was like being trapped in a horror film. Few fans were at the ground because of the cost of tickets. Some tried to break in, but the police forced them back with tear gas,” he continued.

Huge black flies dived-bombed us. You had one eye on the ball and the other on incoming insects. We won 2-1, rushed out of the stadium as quick as we could, passing those poor disabled children and raced to the airport.

“The trip lasted only 16 hours, but Abuja’s effect lasted longer. I vomited for a week, but some lads had it far worse. They were so sick that United sent a sample off to some University, and. I am not kidding, they found monkey and rat shit in the sample.

“The university doctors said they’d never seen anything like it before. So, no, I won’t remember Abuja happily and I can’t imagine the other lads will either. Those are the type of souvenirs you don’t want to bring back from tours abroad,” he concluded.

A huge number of football fans came out to see the game between Portsmouth and Manchester United in Abuja.