Carragher Apologises to Villa After Legal Threat Over Emery Remarks
Jamie Carragher has apologised to Aston Villa, the club's owners and their fans. The pundit said he used "clumsy and wrong" language when he linked Villa manager Unai Emery with the Manchester United head coach job.
He posted the apology on social media on Saturday. "My language this week was clumsy and wrong," he wrote. He said he could assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek, but he understood it had not come across that way.
Villa's statement
On Friday, Villa said they would start legal action against the former England defender over what they called "unacceptable insults". The statement was signed by chairman Nassef Sawiris. It referred to remarks Carragher made on the Stick to Football podcast.
There he suggested Emery would want to manage a "giant" club again. "There is a chain in football, whether you like it or not," Carragher said. In his telling, Real Madrid take Manchester United's best player, as they did with Cristiano Ronaldo, and teams below Villa then take their players or manager.
He told Villa fans to shut up and added: "Aston Villa will never be Manchester United."
His earlier replies
The comments drew criticism from Villa supporters. Carragher first responded on social media, saying that telling them to shut up had been "a joke". He said he had been praising Emery and the club "for years".
He repeated on the Overlap Daily podcast that the message had been meant "in jest". "I just think Unai Emery is the best manager in the league and if you're Man Utd you're thinking, what's the best we can get?" he said.
The row comes while the position of Manchester United manager Michael Carrick is hanging in the balance after a dismal start to the season. Emery was previously in charge at Paris St-Germain and Arsenal.
Source: BBC Sport