From an interview in the Indpendent on Sunday:
It has not been an easy journey over the last two seasons but that he is set to be in United's first team for the FA Cup final against Arsenal is testament to self-belief in the face of disappointment that would have broken lesser footballers. In last season's final, Carroll first set a boot on the Millennium Stadium turf with just six minutes left, sent on as a substitute as a gesture of thanks from Sir Alex Ferguson. It was a gesture that the goalkeeper appreciated greatly but he had his heart set on getting back into the team. One year on and Carroll has achieved just that.
"That's the way in life, you have to believe in yourself," Carroll says. "If you don't, what's the point of being in the business and being a keeper?" And he should know. Since he took Fabien Barthez's place in the United team two years ago - for the last three games of his side's last title-winning season - Carroll has lost and won back his place from Tim Howard three times. The latest twist came on Sunday when, after nine weeks out, Ferguson recalled him to face Charlton.
His future centres upon whether he will sign a new contract at United, and on that subject Carroll is unequivocal. He desperately wants to stay at the club that bought him as a raw young talent from Wigan Athletic in July 2001. There has been public encouragement over the last few months from Ferguson to sign the deal that has been offered but the issue, Carroll says, has not affected his relationship with his boss, whom he describes as "a great manager and a great man".
"I'm hoping to be here next season," Carroll says. "We are still talking and people think I have clubs all ready [to sign for] but I haven't, I'm happy to stay here at Manchester United and I want to be here beyond the end of the season. The problem is just little bits and bobs between myself and the club. So we will just see what happens there and, hopefully, it will be done before the end of the season. I'm pretty confident I will be here. I have never wanted to leave here. Why would you want to leave Manchester United? They are a great team and a great bunch of lads. We have great young players. I think we can do a lot in the future."
Rio Ferdinand, that other United contract refusenik, was booed by some supporters at the Valley on Sunday. Carroll got away without any abuse.
"No one has said anything to me," he said with a grin. "Maybe I would rather they did say something. Rio's a big name player and a great defender and he's always going to be in the limelight.
"You understand supporters, it's in the papers and the fans read it and get on the players' backs. But you understand it. At the end of the day Rio is a professional player and he proved on Sunday how good he is. He went to the supporters at the end of the game and clapped them and they clapped him back.
"It's like any job [negotiations], you want to go in there and take your time. You don't want to rush it. That's why I am taking my time. I said to myself I have no need to rush to sign my contract but I have always wanted to stay here. I never wanted to move from Manchester United; I still don't. I hope it is done before then [the end of the season] but if not, [after] the end of the season. No matter what, as long as I sign it."
Carroll is determined not to pass the blame for the goal that set United on their way out of the Champions' League - "keepers always have excuses, don't they?" - but his point about the new kind of footballs that have been introduced is intriguing. As he says, they have been designed to allow players to "score more goals" and, along with Manuel Almunia and Jerzy Dudek, he has not been the only high-profile goalkeeper to be caught out.
"You see a lot of problems this year for a lot of keepers. Dudek has done it this year," Carroll says. "There have been more mistakes this season than there have ever been in the Premiership. I am only saying my point. They have brought this new ball in to let people score more goals and they have. There's been a lot of goals this season. I think the ball has moved [unpredictably] a lot this season."
His analysis, which, he emphasises, is not intended as an excuse, is that the ball "comes straight at you and then it moves at the last second". It is a point he offers humbly but one he does not use to explain why he dropped Pedro Mendes' lob against Tottenham Hotspur on 4 January.
Although Carroll showed remarkable reactions to scramble the ball out, it had already crossed the line and the fact that the linesman, Rob Lewis, did not give the goal meant that the incident was destined to become the centre of debate for a week.
"I took my eye of that ball because it was coming straight into my arms and I was thinking about the next pass and what I was going to do," Carroll says. "But I carried on. Honest to God, I just put my arm back and carried on and the linesman never gave it. It was a clean sheet at the end of the day.
"I looked at it [on video], and I knew I had taken my eye off the ball. I shouldn't have done that, I should have been concentrating on the ball the whole way. I don't normally watch videos of myself. It's a bad thing to do. You just have to take the good and the bad and get on with it."