“People call me a ‘classic scally’, and I take that as a compliment. I mean, that’s what I am. I’m an ordinary lad who’s been fortunate and done well at football. I am a bit of a scally, like. A bit of a laugh. A bit rough around the edges.

“I went to Lilleshall (the former FA school of excellence) and there were 32 of us together, living in dorms. You can imagine what we got up to; it was brilliant. There was another lad from Liverpool, Jamie Cassidy, and we used to wind up the other lads. The sharp Scouse tongue and all that . . .

“I still see Jamie. We were in the same FA Youth Cup-winning team (with Liverpool in 1996) and he played for England Under-18s. He never made it because he broke his leg and then got a really bad cruciate ligament injury. What happened to him just shows how lucky I’ve been.”



Carragher’s Guide to Liverpool, Part 3: A Working-Class Hero Is Something To Be

“I’m getting more praise than Beckham at the moment, aren’t I? It’s nice, good for your confidence. But the main thing’s always the team.”

SOME heroes are manufactured, some spring, ready-made, from the box. The few still achieve heroic status the old way, through hard work, assembling their reputation painstakingly, piece by piece. It has taken the Kop nine seasons, since his debut as an 18-year-old, to celebrate Carragher properly.

He played in central midfield that day, against Middlesbrough in the League Cup, and went on to fill a variety of roles. Houllier moved him to full-back to accommodate the arrivals of Stephane Henchoz and Sami Hyypia. It took Benitez to return Carragher, full-time, to centre-half, the position he played at 16.

Already Merseyside Sports Personality of the Year (the proudest moment of his career, he says), he has barely put a size nine wrong this season, but it’s not just the reliability of his clearances and interceptions that has made him invaluable. Playing alongside alternating partners, Hyypia and Mauricio Pellegrino, both of diminishing pace, Carragher has read the game beautifully, always putting himself in position to stop his sidekick from being exposed. He has become an arch anticipator of attacks and organiser in defence. Without wishing to denigrate Steven Gerrard, you sometimes have to remind yourself that the captain’s armband is worn by Liverpool’s No 8, not their No 23.

“I’ve maybe always been classed as an ‘unsung hero’, but with other English players leaving Anfield, there’s only me and Stevie left, and I was always going to be looked at more. I think the journalists like to butter us up because we’re the only two they can interview in the right language afterwards . . .

“Being in the middle’s better because you can influence the team more and you don’t get as exposed as you do out wide. There’s nothing worse than a quick winger. But I’d say playing in different positions earlier in my career helped me learn the game. Being a utility man has maybe only hindered me at international level.”

He adds that he is playing with more confidence than ever because of Benitez. He loves talking tactics with his technocrat manager. “I like thinking about the game. Even as a kid, I bought all the magazines, Shoot and Match. Now it’s World Soccer and 4-4-2. Sky Sports News is on in our house all day.”

He grew up supporting Everton. “Marsh Lane is very Catholic and very Evertonian. I was probably an Everton fan until I was 16. I didn’t really like Liverpool as a kid, but three or four of us from Bootle Boys got the chance to join them, and, aged nine, you don’t turn that down. I actually left and went to Everton for a year, but it was a case of the heart ruling the head. I realised I’d made a big mistake and that Liverpool at that time was the better place for a youngster, so I phoned and asked, ‘Can I come back?’ ” When he did, he was introduced to a tiny but already sensational schoolboy, Michael Owen. Each the other’s best mate in football, they always seem an odd couple. “We’re more similar than people think. His public image is such that he doesn’t give much away. He plays everything with a straight bat, like Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker. It must be something to do with the agent they’ve got. (Carragher deadpans this: he is with the same management company as Owen.) I tell Michael he’s got to appeal more to the man in the street. He’s a bit too good to be true sometimes. He needs a bit of scandal in his life. I speak to him probably twice a week and he texted me after Juve. He’s delighted for Liverpool.”

Can’t Carragher lure Owen back to Anfield? “I tell him to come back every week! Seriously, he’s been a bit frustrated at times this season, but I think he feels right now that he might be about to get a run in the team. He scored against Barcelona and the manager dropped Figo to let him play. He’s banging in goals for the biggest club in the world, so at the moment he’s happy.”

Banging in goals . . . a scorer in his third game for the club, Carragher’s next strike for Liverpool came three years later. Since January 19, 1999, more than six years have elapsed since the No 23 put a ball in the net. “My career total should be three, mind. There was a game against Middlesbrough where I scored but had to give it to Michael. As it was going in, he went to kick it and he claimed he got the slightest touch. He ended the season joint top league goalscorer alongside Dion Dublin and Chris Sutton because of that . . .”


Carragher’s Guide to Liverpool, Part 4: Don’t Try To Be Someone You’re Not
Ever done anything flash to earn a ribbing from the boys back in Bootle? “I remember I got a wallet once and got slaughtered for that.”

You mean a fancy Gucci number, with special Premiership-footballer, super-expensive leather? “Nah, just a normal wallet. Where I’m from, you carry money in your pockets, and I got slaughtered by my mates. I’d never had a wallet before and they thought I was trying to be someone I’m not. I got rid of it. Never had one since.”


Carragher’s Guide to Liverpool, Part 5: Why Leave?

We all dream of a team of Carraghers.” (To the tune of Yellow Submarine, a supporters’ song.)

OWEN departed. Gerrard is considering Chelsea. If the “Rafa Revolution” proves false, it would only be natural for Liverpool’s other home-grown hero to quit Anfield. “I’d never do that,” says Carragher. “I think it’s very important to stay here. Winning the league is what we’re building for. That’s our manager’s aim. I don’t think we’re capable of winning the league next year, though we’ ll try, but I’m sure that by the manager’s third season we’ll be challenging. If you offered me now the chance, just once, to win the league with Liverpool before the end of my career, I’d bite your hands off. If you win the league here once, that’s probably worth winning it three or four times at another club.”

Gerrard take note. Carragher’s neighbour in Blundellsands is considering putting the house on the market because of the lure of silverware at Stamford Bridge. It is argued that getting in the Champions League final might be one way of making Gerrard stay. But, says Carragher: “We’re not trying to win so we can keep Stevie Gerrard. We’re chasing success for ourselves and for the fans. Don’t get me wrong, we’re all hopeful Stevie stays. We showed against Juventus we can live without him, but he’s our best player.”

Whatever Gerrard decides, Carragher expects significant transfer action at Anfield this summer. Benitez is betraying increasing frustration at Liverpool’s inability to play in the Premiership like they do in the Champions League, something Carragher believes is down to foreign players not yet adjusting to English football’s physical demands. “We should be doing a lot better in the league. I think whatever happens in Europe, the manager’s going to want to change things because he came from Valencia, where he was used to consistency every week. Even if we won the Champions League, I could see four or five new players coming in.”

I mention a campaign on a Liverpool website, in recognition of his marvels, to come up with a new Carragher song. Two he laughs about are: “He’s Scouse, he’s sound, he’ll t*** yer with a pound, Carragher!” (which he knew about) and “He’s Scouse, he’s sound, he can’t get in the ground, Carra’s dad!” (which he did not). The latter song refers to a temporary ban on attending matches imposed on Carragher Sr after he was arrested for being disorderly at England v Holland in February. The former is about an incident three years ago when a coin was chucked at Carragher at Highbury and he threw it back into the crowd.

“I’ve moved on from the scallywag I once was and matured a little bit,” he says. “I think I had children at a good age. Now I enjoy spending time with them, young James and Mia, probably more than with the lads.”

A perfect day in the life of Jamie Carragher? “Today wasn’t too bad. But a perfect day would be getting a decent lie-in, a bit of training, nothing too difficult. Maybe score a goal in a practice game . . . go home, put the kids to bed and watch a bit of football on the telly.”

It’d be pretty simple, then? “Yeah. Nothing too flash.”

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