http://liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/lfc-statement-on-jamie-carragher Carragher will hang up his boots end of the season.
Gutted. Proud that he's doing the ONECLUB thing but I think he still has it in him to play a high standard of football for a few more seasons. Probably my favorite ever player in sport.
Yeah. Bit sad. He better be given whatever backroom job he wants. We also better be getting Carra's kid on the books soon as well.
Sad we couldn't ever get him the title. Glad he helped that famous Champions League win as well as a host of other great memories. YNWA Jamie.
Great servant to the club. I remember when he first appeared in the first team. I never expected him to go on and play more times for us than anyone else bar Callaghan. Thanks Jamie. I expect Gerrard to go on and reach no 3 in the all-time appearances list. He is less then 50 games away from it now.
"Courage, character, grit, willpower and raw strength - these are the virtues people have installed into me since I was seven years old. The strikers can have their winning goals, the goalkeepers their career-defining saves. A series of lunging tackles on a Milan strike force will be my fondest personal memories of a life in football." Jamie Carragher commenting on Istanbul
And then there was this exchange 'Who's bigger than Liverpool?' Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves interviewed Carragher prior to a Merseyside Derby in 2005. The pair laughed and joked about how once upon a time Carra was a striker who supported Everton and now he was playing centre-back for Liverpool. Then the conversation shifted its focus to more pressing matters and to whether Jamie would like to spend the rest of his career at Anfield: "Of course I would," was Carra's response. Shreeves: I think, perhaps, there were a few scratching their heads in the media because, as you say you're 26/27, in the prime of your career and you could possibly go to a bigger club where there's a chance of winning more medals... Carragher: Well, who's bigger than Liverpool? Shreeves: You don't think there's anybody any bigger? Carragher: What? Bigger? Normally? Or...What? Shreeves: You could go to a club where there's likely to be more chance of medals next season? Carragher: No, nah, I'm not accepting that.
A Working Class Hero is Something To Be "Wearing my Liverpool shirt gives me a responsibility not only never to let myself down, but to make my family, friends, city and district proud of me. Without this outlook I would never have become a successful footballer. My heart and soul were born and bred in Bootle. "Football has never been a way of escaping my working class background, but a means of celebrating it. These fine people still remember the young lad who stood on the touchline with his dad every Sunday. "I'd never turn my back on those who made me who I am."
FA Cup (2): 2000–01, 2005–06 League Cup (3): 2000–01, 2002–03, 2011–12 FA Youth Cup (1) 1996 FA Community Shield (2): 2001, 2006 UEFA Champions League (1): 2004–05 UEFA Cup (1): 2000–01 UEFA Super Cup (2): 2001, 2005 Individual- PFA Team of the Year (1): 2006 Liverpool Player of the Year Award (2): 2005, 2007 Freedom of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton (1): 2008 Honorary Fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University (1): 2012
Too bad - I think however it is the right time to do it even though he *may* have a few more seasons (legs go exponentially faster year to year - with a few exceptions).
I feel very emotional right now. Such is the power of sport in our lives. Such is the impact of a LEGEND.
"His career transcended simply being a fine footballer for the club; he was the club. Football is ultimately a means of representation and self – expression. For example Brazil’s flair and skill is representative of the small guy surviving on the streets through individual skill and craft. Football in England was the working – class sport, hence the intense, collective never-say-die attitude propagated in the country. Jamie Carragher embodied Liverpool. It was the city that would not yield to Thatcher, the city that gritted its teeth during adversity and came out the other side. Carragher never yielded; never gave in. To see a product of Bootle containing the greatest players in Europe was edifying. None of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Samuel Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko and Hernan Crespo will forget Jamie Carragher. He was the personification of Liverpool’s rise. From rioting in Toxteth to European Capital of Culture. From Sunday League to Champions League." Gavin Cooney in This is Anfield
Damn shame he was never able to lift the league trophy as a player. Let's hope he does so as a coach. Of course, it better happen w/ a Liverbird upon his chest.
Wearing my old #23 tonight. It has been a great privilege to watch him play, truly embodies the Liverpool spirit. Working out Jamie's various pronouncements improved my Scouse comprehension immensely. I hope he continues in some relationship with the club, we need him with us.
I've been a big critic of his over the past couple years, but I'm glad to see he is proving me wrong and is going to go out with something left in tank. All of a sudden we have some really big shoes to fill. Hope he sticks around in some capacity.
I wish him all the success in the near future and while he is going out let him help us to get CL back into our calendars, and let us try to get him a Europa league winners medal. Whatever the fate is of the club end of the season, wherever we finish, Carragher will be the winner. A true legend.
I did not expect to feel emotional about one of our players retiring. It's happened to me for other teams in other sports that I grew up supporting. I didn't begin following Liverpool until 2006 so Sami Hyppia wasn't someone I understood when he left the team. Carra's been a mainstay in the side since I've followed Liverpool. Came out of nowhere (I read it in the Fiver). He's a legend. Though he isn't the most skilled on the ball (hoof), having Agger and Skrtel paired for a significant amount of time, shows what we miss when Carra isn't on the pitch. Over the past few years whenever I'd see Carra clear the ball out of bounds, wrestle a player down, risk a penalty, or throw his body in the way of a cross I used to think "why'd you put yourself in that position? Would a better defender you have done better?" Now whenever I see Agger and Skrtel backpedal, allow a goal by not diving in front of a cross, etc. I tell myself "wish Carra were playing right now." His constant effort and selflessness make him more than just a footballer. Hopefully he stays involved with the club and imparts those qualities upon younger players.
Good for Jaimie, a really courageous decision. He's going to leave with his head held high after a wonderful time at the only club he wanted to play for. He'll be missed by many of us and maybe not from some critics and students of the beautiful game, who wanted him gone a couple of seasons back. He has interests outside of the club but I hope to see him in a coaching role for a while.
My favorite Carra moment was that time he worked harder and cared more than everyone else on the pitch. Which was every moment he was ever anywhere near the grounds.
It's startling to read this after he just played so well vs Mancity. I remember seeing a quote from an Italian journalist or coach to the effect that had Carra been Italian they would have built a team around him.