Jamie Carragher has apologized to Aston Villa after the club threatened legal action over remarks he made on The Overlap's Stick to Football podcast.
The comments came during a discussion on the podcast about whether Villa manager Unai Emery could eventually leave to take charge of Manchester United, who are currently struggling under Michael Carrick. Carragher described a 'food chain' in football and said, "I'm not trying to annoy Villa fans, but the reason I'm saying this, there is a chain in football where you like it or not. Real Madrid will take Man U's best player, they'll take Ronaldo. There's very few above United, same as Liverpool. But there will be teams above Aston Villa, Manchester United's best player, they did it with Ronaldo. But there will be teams below Aston Villa, and they'll take their manager, or they'll take their players, so shut the f*ck up Aston Villa fans. Aston Villa will never be Manchester United."
Aston Villa chairman Nassef Sawiris responded with a statement saying the club would initiate legal action against Carragher, calling his remarks 'unacceptable insults' and stating the club would not allow anyone to stop its progress.
Before the matter escalated further, Carragher posted an apology on social media. "I'd like to apologise to Aston Villa, the owners and their fans. My language this week was clumsy and wrong. I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek but I can understand it's not come across that way, so apologies. Good luck today UTV!" he wrote.
Carragher is one of the most prominent soccer analysts on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing on Sky Sports' Premier League coverage in the UK and on CBS Sports' Champions League coverage in the United States, in addition to his regular appearances on The Overlap's Stick to Football podcast alongside Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott.
