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Jamie Carragher in talks to save Sky Sports job after spitting at Manchester United fan and 14-year-old daughter

The ex-footballer and Sky presenter will hold disciplinary talks with the broadcaster after being shown on video spitting from his car while being taunted about Liverpool's defeat by United

Jack de Menezes
Monday 12 March 2018 08:37 GMT
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Jamie Carragher spits on 14-year-old following Liverpool's defeat to Manchester United

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Jamie Carragher will hold disciplinary talks with Sky this week in an effort to save his job after he apologised for spitting at a 14-year-old girl and her father from his car.

The former Liverpool and England defender was targeted by repeated taunts following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat by Manchester United by the man driving the car, the girl’s father, who was also filming the incident at the time.

The man is heard on the video to shout “2-1 Jamie lad, 2-1”, before Carragher wound down his window to respond, with the 40-year-old replying “alright lad” before spitting towards the car.

Jamie Carragher arrives in London and offers apology over spitting incident

Although the man did not see the incident, Carragher is clearly seen to spit towards the vehicle in the video that was released by The Mirror on Sunday night, and the girl can be heard to shout “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 teenage girl growing increasingly upset and adding: “Will you stop it now?”

Jamie Carragher faces talks to save his Sky Sports job
Jamie Carragher faces talks to save his Sky Sports job (Getty)

Carragher spoke to the family on Sunday, one day after fronting Sky Sports’ coverage of Liverpool’s defeat against fierce Premier League rivals Manchester United, to apologise for his actions. The 38-times capped England international said: “I just want to apologise and I hope you are OK.”

The girl told him: “Ok, thanks for apologising."

Carragher later issued a short statement on Twitter that read: “Totally out of order & I’ve apologised personally to all the family this evening. I was goaded 3/4 times along the motorway while being filmed & lost my rag. No excuse apologies.”

Carragher added to The Mirror: “It was a bit more than, ‘Hiya Jamie, it was 2-1’. It went on for two or three times. I drove away at first and it just continued. I lost my head. I shouldn’t have done it but I was thinking what is a grown man doing, carrying on like that two or three times with his daughter in the car?”

Carragher is due to be a part of Sky’s coverage of Monday night’s Premier League game between Stoke City and Manchester City at the bet365 Stadium, although a Sky spokesman said on Sunday: “It’s unacceptable behaviour and we will be addressing it with Jamie.”

It’s understood that he faces showdown disciplinary talks with the company in an effort to save his job.

The girl also expressed her fear that she may be bullied at school over the incident, and could not understand why Carragher would resort to such a response.

“I have never been spat at by anyone before. I thought, ‘Why has he done that’. I thought I had done something wrong.

“People in school take the mick and it is just a laugh. Someone like him who is older should be able to take a joke.” Asked if she believes Carragher knew that she was sitting in the passenger seat, the girl added: “Hundred per cent, because I was right in the way. I did not say anything. I was just sat there looking out of the window.”

She did not do anything wrong. Spitting at someone is the lowest of the low. It is disgusting

Her 38-year-old mother also condemned Carragher, adding: “I was extremely angry and disappointed that he could even bring himself to do something like that. Looking at her, you know she is a child.

“What did she do wrong? She did not do anything wrong. Spitting at someone is the lowest of the low. It is disgusting.

“In all the years I’ve watched football, isn’t it all about banter?

“And he could not take that little bit of banter? It was nothing. I could ­understand if someone was in his face, giving him abuse.”

Carragher made over 500 appearances for Liverpool in the Premier League (Getty)
Carragher made over 500 appearances for Liverpool in the Premier League (Getty) (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The father claimed that he was “stunned” by Carragher’s actions, and defended his taunting of the former Liverpool captain that triggered the disgraceful response. “He looked at me and waved, I waved back and then he put his window down,” the man said.

“I said, ‘Hey Jamie, good result, 2-1’ and he sort of looked at me and I said, ‘2-1, ha ha’ and his face just changed. I could just see him lurch towards his window and spit. I was stunned. I had not insulted him. I had not sworn at him. I have not got out and banged on his car. I have not done anything abusive to him, I’ve not stuck two fingers up at him.

“I’ve met footballers before and they have always been very accommodating. I thought, ‘Jamie Carragher, he is going to be up for a laugh.’ So when he did spit I was taken aback.

“I looked at my daughter and she was tearing up. I said did he hit you and she said, ‘He hit me in the face.’ For a grown man to do that to a girl who had not done anything. She was sat in a passenger seat while her dad was trying to have a bit of harmless banter.

“There is no two ways about it. He saw her.”

Carragher has previously labelled spitting as “vile” and “disgusting”, having spoken about the incidents on the pitch involving West Bromwich Albion’s Jonny Evans – then of Manchester United – and former Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse after they were given six and seven-match bans respectively for spitting at opponents in 2015.

But he also claimed that the offence was “not the worst on the pitch” and argued that the suspensions were “a little excessive” if compared to an “over-the-top tackle that would ‘only’ get three games”.

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