Jamie Carragher makes Everton admission after Liverpool accusation by Gary Neville
Jamie Carragher admitted he was still celebrating Everton success early in his Liverpool career after Gary Neville accused him of being one of the “biggest traitors” in football.
The Sky Sports pundit reacted on The Overlap (14 March), claiming it was a “set up” when the former Manchester United defender pointed to him for switching allegiances from being a boyhood Toffees fan to an Anfield player.
Carragher admitted he was a “massive fan” as a kid and he would be in the stands at Goodison now if he hadn’t ended up a Reds player.
Carragher had asked: “Biggest traitors in football?” Neville then cut in: “Can I start? Carragher. Everton to Liverpool.”
Carragher said: “This is a set up. You know what, today coming here I came in a taxi and the driver was an Everton fan. He was saying about his son having a go at him for basically bringing him up an Everton fan and I was sat in the back thinking, ‘that’d be me’.
“If I didn’t play for Liverpool I’d be in the Gwladys Street. It’s interesting, I was a massive fan, so even when I was playing for Liverpool reserves if there was a derby I still wanted Everton to win.”
He detailed his delight on the 1996 opening day when the Toffees were winning against Newcastle, despite being on the bench for a heavy Liverpool defeat to a Fabrizio Ravanelli-inspired Middlesbrough.
Sky Sports pundit admits he would be watching Everton at Goodison Park still if not for Liverpool career
Carragher is far from the only player who end up at a major rival of the club they supported as a kid, but is one of the most high profile.
That he is such a huge Liverpool advocate on Sky Sports now, amid ongoing bad feeling towards the Premier League’s top broadcast partner among Evertonians, is a regular source of disquiet from fans over other clubs.
He arguably comments on the Toffees current predicament more than most, but his stance is surely different now than it would have been had he remained the fan he was as a youngster.
With Everton still waiting on an answer from the league of 777 Partners’ proposed takeover of the club, and having been hit by one points deduction and under threat of another, there has been a great deal of unhappiness at the coverage of the Toffees’ plight in recent months.
That the rules that have already seen the club seen in breach of spending limits twice are now set to be scrapped won’t have impressed the fanbase any further.
There is often a feeling that if Everton had a high-profile pundit arguing their case in the same way some do for the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United then perhaps the club wouldn’t get such a rough ride, but while he started with strong ties to one side of the Merseyside derby Carragher is very much now rooted on the other.
In other Everton news, Simon Jordan fought the Toffees’ corner after Jim White questioned their right to be in the Premier League.
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