Jamie Carragher has issued an apology to Aston Villa, its owners, and supporters for using “clumsy and wrong” language when he connected manager Unai Emery with the Manchester United head coach role.
On Friday, Villa announced they would begin legal proceedings against the former England defender over what they called “unacceptable insults.”
The club’s statement, signed by chairman Nassef Sawiris, pointed to remarks Carragher made on the Stick to Football podcast, in which he suggested Emery would be keen to manage a “giant” club.
He also told the club’s supporters to shut up, adding: “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United.”
In a social media post on Saturday, Carragher said his remarks had been meant as “tongue in cheek.”
“I’d like to apologize to Aston Villa, the owners, and their fans,” the pundit wrote.
“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 coming across that way, so apologies.”
Michael Carrick’s role as Manchester United manager is now uncertain after the team’s poor start to the season.
Speaking about Emery, the former Paris St-Germain and Arsenal manager, Carragher said on Stick to Football: “Surely he would want that opportunity to manage a giant again.”
“There is a chain in football, whether you like it or not.
“So Real Madrid will take Manchester United’s best player; they did it with [Cristiano] Ronaldo. And there will be teams below Aston Villa, and they’ll take their players or manager, so shut the [expletive] up, Aston Villa fans. Aston Villa will never be Manchester United.”
After his remarks drew criticism from Villa fans, Carragher replied on social media, saying that telling them to shut up had been “a joke” and that he had been praising Emery and the club “for years.”
On the Overlap Daily podcast, he repeated that his message to Villa fans had been intended “in jest,” adding, “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?”
