Humbling of hardman Carragher
Pundit sorry for spitting at girl, 14
HE never flinched when faced with the toughest opponents on the pitch.
But former soccer star Jamie Carragher appeared close to tears yesterday as he was forced to make a humiliating apology live on TV for spitting at a 14year-old girl and her father.
It came after Sky Sports suspended the former Liverpool defender, leaving his career as a TV pundit hanging by a thread.
In an emotional interview, the father-of-two said his children had been ‘disappointed’ by his ‘moment of madness’ – and admitted he had let his family down.
The drama, filmed by the girl’s father, a Manchester United fan, unfolded as he drove up beside the former Liverpool star on Saturday afternoon. Carragher was driving home after summarising the lunchtime match for Sky Sports.
He claims he was goaded by the man following Liverpool’s earlier 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
On the video the man could be heard saying from his car, ‘Unlucky Jamie lad – 2-1!’ Carragher then utters something before spitting out of his car window at the camera and driving away.
The man’s daughter is then heard to say, ‘He spat at me’, before her father replies: ‘How? Oooh. Nice. Jamie Carragher spat at my daughter. Nice, very nice Jamie Carragher.’ The video ends with the girl saying to her father: ‘Will you stop it now?’
Yesterday a chastened Carragher tried hard to contain his emotions in what many regarded as a ‘brutal’ grilling by Sky News presenter Sarah Hewson. ‘It was a moment of Emotional: Jamie Carragher madness, it’s difficult for me to explain,’ he told her. ‘It’s just that moment of madness for four or five seconds. No matter the circumstances, you can’t ever behave like that. You can’t obviously condone that behaviour… in any way, shape or form, where you are, who you represent. I’ve let Sky Sports down, my family and the family involved.
‘I called the family and they were upset. The biggest regret, certainly, is for the 14-year-old girl to be caught in the middle of this, and my altercation with the father.
‘I’ve got a daughter the same age … all I can do right now is apologise. I can’t go back. Hopefully they accept that. I’d like to apologise once more to them all.’
Carragher – a Liverpool stalwart who played in 737 games during a 17-year career – added: ‘I haven’t offered my resignation. I’m just talking to people at Sky and going forward and they’ve made it be known that they’re very disappointed. I’ve brought shame on Sky… there is no doubt that what I’ve done is disgusting. I apologise for it.’
‘I’ve got a daughter the same age’
JAMIE CARRAGHER’S career as one of the leading TV pundits is hanging by a thread following a spitting incident caught on video that has appalled the football world. Carragher was suspended indefinitely by employers Sky Sports yesterday after the former Liverpool defender was filmed spitting through his car window at a man who had been goading him. The spit hit the man’s 14-year-old daughter, who was in the passenger seat. The man had taunted Carragher about Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool having spotted the Sky analyst driving along the same road in his Range Rover. An emotional Carragher went on Sky News as well as ITV and BBC yesterday to offer his fulsome apologies calling it ‘a four or
five-second moment of madness which is difficult to explain. It feels like an out-of-body thing... I have brought shame on the name of Sky Sports.’
Such is the widespread revulsion towards spitting, it remains in the balance whether this damage-limitation exercise will be enough to see Carragher cling on to his high-profile role with Sky.
The best Carragher can hope for is a return next season when the dust has settled and Sky have had a chance to judge the public mood. The jury will be out for some time.
Football regards spitting as beyond the pale because of its lack of respect. Some consider it as bad as a leg-breaking tackle.
Yesterday morning, Carragher took a train from Liverpool to London and was then taken by motorcycle to Sky’s headquarters in Isleworth, west London, for a summit meeting with Sky Sports boss Barney Francis.
Such was the seriousness of the matter, it is understood Sky’s group CEO Jeremy Darroch was involved in the decision-making.
It is the second major sports matter to concern Darroch, who is under pressure to take action over Sky’s sponsorship of the British cycling team that is facing accusations about the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
A Sky statement said: ‘Sky takes this matter extremely seriously and strongly condemns Jamie’s actions. We have made that clear to him in person and suspended him from his duties. It falls well below the standards we expect of our people.’
Carragher was due to be on Sky’s Monday Night Football broadcast in London last night, the programme in which his knowledge and enthusiasm has been best showcased since joining the subscription channel in 2013. Instead Sky switched to a studio at Stoke for their game against leaders Manchester City.
Scandinavian network TV3, who broadcast in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and employ Carragher for the Champions League, have also stood him down with immediate effect.
UK sports minister Tracey Crouch said: ‘I think spitting is disgusting full stop. I know he’s apologised, he’s right to apologise and Sky Sports are right to have taken the decision they have. He has said himself he’s a father and wouldn’t be happy with someone spitting at his daughter.’
Carragher’s fellow pundit Gary Neville remained loyal. ‘I’ve just watched Carra say sorry,’ he said on Twitter. ‘No excuse, he’s made a big mistake. He’s massively passionate about football and he’s overstepped the mark and he shouldn’t have reacted. I’ve been on TV for 3 years with him and this isolated incident shouldn’t stop us working together.’
Carragher had no choice but to be contrite when put through the wringer by his TV interviewers yesterday.
Sky News’s Sarah Hewson began: ‘So Jamie — I’m recoiling watching that. It is disgusting — how do you feel when you see it back?’ Carragher replied: ‘Exactly the same. You can’t condone that behaviour no matter what in any way, shape or form.
‘Watching those clips back it feels like an out-of-body thing — just that moment of madness for four or five seconds. You can’t ever behave like that. That is just unacceptable. I have no excuse. It’s devastating for the family involved and also for my family but I brought that on myself.’
Carragher called the family to apologise. He said: ‘There’s lots of regrets for what has happened but certainly the biggest one is for the 14-year-old girl to be caught in the middle of this. I have a young daughter the same age and if somebody had done that, it’s difficult for me to find the words to how I would react or what I would say to that person.’
Asked whether he deserved to keep his job, Carragher said: ‘What I would hope — not just for Sky but for the public who have known me for 25 years in the public eye since I started playing — is that five seconds of madness will not take over everything I have done.
‘People may or may not like me — even before this incident — but hopefully going forward I can show the real me.’
‘I wish I could go back and change it, but all I can do now is apologise as much as I can. Spitting is the lowest of the low. I have never done it before and I will never do it again.’
Carragher’s road rage started when the driver of the other car beeped his horn. Carragher thought it was a Liverpool fan who wanted a picture so he wound down his window. The man started shouting about United’s victory over Liverpool and Carragher ignored it.
A few hundred yards later, the driver returned and, when it happened for the third time, Carragher snapped.
‘I wish I could go back but all I can do is apologise as much as I can’