MICHAEL CARRICK could find himself side-by-side on the touchline with old Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney TWICE this weekend.
But the two Champions League-winning legends will NOT be talking until after the full-time whistle goes in Plymouth’s clash with Middlesbrough.
Boro boss Carrick takes his promotion-chasing Boro on the 750-mile round trip looking to pile even more pressure on Rooney’s struggling Pilgrims.
The two actually went head-to-head in the latter’s first game in charge of his ill-fated stint at Birmingham last season.
And Carrick insists friendship goes out the window for 90 minutes as he looks to record another win over his ex-Old Trafford and England friend after that 1-0 triumph.
He said: “It’ll be nice to see him, but I see him quite a bit actually and speak to him.
“Last season, with it being the first time, probably took a little bit of getting used to standing on the sideline together but we’ve kind of moved on from that novelty stage.
“We are both there to do a job and we know that it’s a tough place to go.
“There’s massive respect, we’ve come through a lot together and are friends, but it is what it is.”
When asked if there had been any contact this week, Carrick revealed that they actually spend a lot more time together next to the pitch than most people realised.
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He said: “No, no. There’s that kind of understanding that we both have a job to do and we’ll catch up after the game.
“And we’ll catch up soon again after because our sons play on the same team. So I see more of him from doing that than I do any other time.”
Carrick’s son Jacey and Rooney’s boy Kai are both following in the footsteps of their famous fathers by winning silverware at Man Utd after helping the U14s to become national champions back in May.
It must be quite something to have two of the star men under Sir Alex Ferguson watching on every week, but not according to Carrick.
He said: “They’ve had it since they were six. So it’s just two old men standing on the sideline, it’s normal.”
Rooney has faced huge criticism of late and a string of poor results has left Plymouth stuck in the bottom three.
However, Carrick believes he has been unlucky and backed the legendary goalscorer to turn things around.
He added: “Their home form has been pretty good, actually, and they’ve had some really good results. I think they’ve only lost a couple at home.
“They are a real tough team to crack at home and that’s what’s on our minds going down there, expecting that.
“Obviously results are results, we all have them where you have some good ones and then you have some bad ones, or ones you wouldn’t wish for, that’s the way it is.
“I watched them against Sheffield United and thought that they were particularly good and very unlucky not to get something from the game.
“I think that they’ve got some players back and as a team they are looking stronger and we are certainly under no illusions of what they are capable of.”
CADBURY fans are going wild for the return of this “elite chocolate treat” after it sold out last year.
Chocolate lovers have taken to social media to express their delight at the return of the white Cadbury creme egg.
The much loved confectionary is being sold at the bargain store B&M for as little as 85p.
Excited shoppers are rushing to get their hands on the chocolate after it sold out quickly last year.
One user said she already grabbed one at her local, whilst another said: “they’re back!”
Earlier this year, Mondelez International spokesperson said the white version was shaping up to be just as popular as the original and “sold out egg-ceedingly quickly.”
Cadbury unveiled the white chocolate Creme Egg in November 2022 and it marked the first major innovation to the chocolate treat in over 50 years.
The egg features the unique creme egg gooey centre, which is coated in a white chocolate shell.
At the time, Cadbury fans were thrilled with the news, calling the new creme egg a “game changer”, but it wasn’t to everyone’s taste.
One person said: “The white chocolate creme egg is an elite level chocolate treat.”
Another said: “A white creme egg? What is this delicious sorcery.”
Others described the chocolate treat as “life changing” and one even says it’s a “game changer.”
COSTCO members are “terrified” after spotting empty shelves as shoppers can’t get their hands on a key breakfast item again.
The food retail giant has bare shelves at one massive LA store with the same product also having shortages just months ago.
Eggs have run out at the LA region warehouse, a post on Reddit has revealed.
That’s left shoppers worried about how they’ll be able to get their breakfast fix.
The poster said: “I know there was a salmonella outbreak in August but would that really impact the distribution chain this badly?
“This store usually has 10-12 pallets stocked everyday and have been sparsely receiving pallets lately.”
Commenters on the post pinned Costco’s shortage of eggs on one cause – a bird flue outbreak.
One said: “Bird flu: as I understand it, they have to terminate the entire flock and it can be a few months until the next flock reaches maturity.”
Another replied saying: “That sounds and feels terrifying.”
While a third posted: “They’re not in the stores because the chickens are suffering from a massive bird flu outbreak, and entire flocks are being destroyed to try to stop the spread. So far, not entirely effective.”
A man in Louisiana has now been hospitalised with bird flu.
This is the first “severe” case of bird flu reported in the US where the virus has spread rapidly through cows this year.
At least 61 human cases in the US have been recorded so far, mostly from people who worked with cows.
Experts fear the bug, which has infected at least 904 people and killed 465 across the world since 2003, could mutate to spread from human to human, triggering another pandemic.
Recently, scientists discovered H5N1 is just one mutation away from developing the ability to transmit person-person.
Meanwhile, genetic analysis of the virus that infected the Canadian teenager revealed mutations that make it easier to infect humans.
In a bid to bolster the country’s defences, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has secured H5 jabs to be rolled out in the event of any such outbreak.
Last month, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed cases of H5 bird flu at a poultry farm in Yorkshire, England.
The department said all poultry would be humanely killed and a protection zone set up to cover 3km around the site.
However, it has not yet been detected in humans in the UK.
The British government recently announced that it had procured five million doses of an H5 vaccine, in case the virus does indeed start to spread between humans.
Costco has strict rules for membership use that shoppers must follow and they've been cracking down on offenders in recent years.
Credit: Costco
