Roy Carroll Bio Send To Friend  

He turned down the club's initial offer of a new contract due to the ongoing speculation over United searching for a new stopper. But as the end of the season drew near it was suggested he would consider staying with the club.

But there was no second offer, and at the end of the season the club revealed he would be leaving Old Trafford.

It had been an eventful 2004/05 - and few will forget United's home encounter with Tottenham Hotspur.

With the score locked at 0-0 and the seconds ticking away a draw appeared inevitable. Pedro Mendes then attempted an audacious shot from just inside the United half which Carroll should have dealt with easily - but he spilt the ball and it bounced over the line.

However, the linesman adjudged the ball not to have crossed the line in one of the most astounding decisions for years. Carroll managed to look as incident as a man of such guilt possibly could.

Another high profile error came in the first knock-out round of the Champions League, as another spill gifted the ball to Hernan Crespo to score a vital away goal, and a winning one at that, for AC Milan.

And in February, Carroll was floored at Goodison Park after being hit on the headline by a projectile thrown by an Everton fan in a fiery affair on Wayne Rooney's return to the Merseyside club.

Carroll joined United from Wigan Athletic, where he was undoubtedly the number one keeper - racking up 170 appearances for the Lancashire club.

The £350,000 transfer fee paid to Hull City broke the club record when he joined in April 1997 and it was money well spent.

Hull were facing huge debts and were on the verge of closure and had to agree to sell him to Wigan after the transfer deadline in order to stay afloat.

The Latics were always going to have trouble holding onto one of the best young keepers in the lower divisions, and in the end it was their inability to get out of the Second Division that would speed up his exit from the JJB Stadium.

Nobody, especially Carroll, could have expected the move which came about in July 2001.

Manchester United, eager to find an understudy to Fabien Barthez who would be able to grow into the Frenchman's successor, came in for the goalkeeper.

With Mark Bosnich shipped out to Chelsea, Paul Rachubka loaned out to Royal Antwerp and Raimond van der Gouw both old and injury prone the Red Devils knew they had to find a new keeper.

And in the end they turned to Carroll, signing him for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £2.5million.

The chance to make his first-team debut was not far off either. In only the third match of the season he came in for the injured Barthez and, despite conceding a goal after just three minutes against Aston Villa, he performed with the confidence he had become well-known for.

Stand-in for most of the season, the young Irishman rarely let United down when called upon.

Carroll did get the chance of more first team football in the 2002/03 campaign, especially towards the end when Barthez had been dropped.

He didn't improve at the rate many of the United coaches would have hoped and it became doubtful he would become the Frenchman's successor.

The signing of the Tim Howard all but confirmed this, although the American's international own waywardness enabled Carroll to become the number one for a long spell in 2004/05.

However, those high profile slip-ups, and his reluctance to sign the contract put on the table, spelt the end for Carroll at United.

He wasn't without a club for long as West Ham United, promoted back into the Premiership, made him one of their first captures of the summer.

Carroll enjoyed a successful start to his West Ham career, making 19 appearances. However, a back injury sustained in a game against Fulham on January 23, 2006 left him needing surgery, and he was sidelined for the remainder of the 2005/06 season.

Playing two seasons at the Hammers, Carroll was released at the end of the 2006/07 season and has yet to find himself another club.