Carra holds off contract talks

Jamie Carragher has stalled on negotiations over an extension of his current Liverpool deal, despite many of his team mates committing their long-term futures to the club.

Mainstay players such as Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt have all penned new deals to remain at Anfield with Pepe Reina and Javier Mascherano also set to add their names to that list.

The versatile 32-year-old, however, is refusing to decide his future until he knows whether or not he will remain an automatic choice for Rafael Benitez's starting line-up next season.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Carragher stated that he would prefer to end his career elsewhere rather than being a fringe player in Liverpool's ranks.

He said: “It’s up to the club, isn’t it? I play my football and I’ve got 12 months left in the summer.

“The club will give me a new contract if they want to. If not it doesn’t matter, I’ll still play my best and if I have to move then I’ll move, no problem. It wouldn’t bother me.

“[Leaving] wouldn’t bother me. I made the England decision [to retire from international football] quickly and didn’t dwell on it, and I’m not scared of making big decisions.

"It’s a club thing. It’s down to them. I’ll keep playing and see where it takes me.”

Carragher, an Anfield veteran of 14 years, has one year remaining on his current deal but Benitez has insisted that contract offers for the vice-captain would not be restricted by his age.

He said: “There is no news about Carragher. We have spoken to him and he was very clear that at this moment he just wants to concentrate on doing his job.

“When you are considering contracts for players who are over 30 it is not the same as when you are talking to players who are 25.

"With Carra we have to see. He is fit and he is doing well and we will see. We don’t have a club rule about players over 30, but it does depend on the individual.

“I think Jamie prefers the situation as it is. The information I have is that he is comfortable with how things are and that he wants to wait.”

http://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/liverpool-fc/128273-jamie-carragher-puts-liverpool-fc-contracts-talks-on-hold.html

Quite possibly on his way? Hmmm.

Hes playing his own way out of the starting eleven. Noone to blame but himself Im afraid. Still think he should stick around though. He'd still see alot of games with all the injuries we get.

“[Leaving] wouldn’t bother me. I made the England decision [to retire from international football] quickly and didn’t dwell on it, and I’m not scared of making big decisions.

Quite surprised he said that.

Wouldn't it just be sensible and best for both parties to offer him a one year deal then to keep him until 2012.

That way if he does lose his place in the side during the 2010/11 season, he'll move on the following season while still under contract rather than a free like some ex players. And if he keeps his place next season, he's still got another year on his current deal to maybe earn another contract extension.

To be honest I find this quite a strange situation and I am not sure I understand what cara wants.  He says he would sooner finish his career elsewhere rather than be a fringe player at Liverpool, so he shall wait and see.
What will waiting achieve?    If he finishes the season off well and signs for another year and then performs badly next season there is no guarantee he will be in the starting 11. Surely he is not going to get a contract that says  "starting 11 player" 

I would like him to stay on even as a fringe player, because "one club players" are so rare in this day and age and I would hate to see him struggling thru a relegation battle with some battling club as a finale to his career.

Sometimes, I feel our supporters especially those in forums don't appreciate the contribution to the club. He might have lost his pace but his leadership and commitment can never be questioned. I strongly fell that he should be treated and respected more than gerrard after what he have done for the club.

football is a business really and players at his age  its year by year hasnt had a really good season he must know this

Hes playing his own way out of the starting eleven. Noone to blame but himself Im afraid. Still think he should stick around though. He'd still see alot of games with all the injuries we get.

Agree with that.

Reminded me of when Sami left because he didn't think he'd get enough games, then we had loads of injuries piling up and he would have had lots of starts.

I have massive respect for Carra, but surely he realises that part of being in a top side means that selection is based mainly on a player's form. If you don't play well for a certain period, you'll be replaced by someone else, even if just temporarily.

He's taking a bold stance at 32, and I'm sorry to say I don't see him staying at the peak of his form as long as Sami did - it's exceptional to see a player still keeping their fitness so high at 35/36, given the pace of the Premier League.

I'd like, no, love him to stay, but I think he's being unreasonable.

All the best to him, stay or go, he'll always be an Anfield legend.

Wouldn't it just be sensible and best for both parties to offer him a one year deal then to keep him until 2012.

That way if he does lose his place in the side during the 2010/11 season, he'll move on the following season while still under contract rather than a free like some ex players. And if he keeps his place next season, he's still got another year on his current deal to maybe earn another contract extension.

The way I see it the club would be doing Carra a favour if they were to let him go for free,by doing that Carra would be able to negotiate a signing on fee as well as better wages if he was to cost the buying club zero.I think the club did the same for Didi and Sami.It is pretty much normal practise for a long serving player to be allowed to leave for free.

Don't think Carra owes  us anything. He's been a great servant to the club and is a true Liverpool legend.

If and when it's time for him to leave, thank you Jamie!

Any player at any club has to be strong when conducting contract negotiations particularly when this is likely to be Carra's most important contract to date now that he is 32. He has to start thinking about his family and life after football so this contract has to be spot on for him.
That is why he is saying things like he wouldn't be bothered if he had to move on. If he showed any weakness at all he would not receive the contract he wants.
Everyone knows Carra will be at Anfield for a long time yet and that it would break his heart to move on. So don't read anything into what he is saying, he is only setting himself up for the most important contract negotiation of his life. Nothing else.

I'm very surprised with this issue but I don't think you can blame him.

At that age and playing for a club like Liverpool can be really hectic, especially when everyone is looking at the local lad to turn things when the mood is down.

I do hope he stays but if he goes, he'll always be a legend.

Do what's best for you Carra, you've spent long enough doing what's best for LFC. 

All I ask in return is if you do leave us to extend your playing career you remember to come back to us for your coaching career.

He doesn't owe the club anything, if he does decide to leave.

Can't see him staying, tbh. He's not playing well enough to be first choice.

It will be a BIG mistake if we don't offer a new contract to Carra. I may not want him to start every single match but we need experienced players in our squad whose experience could come handy in the final rounds of the competitions we take part in. We have already lost Sami and Xabi. Losing Carra would just be criminal now, after seeing the effect it had in our squad.

If he still wants to be a regular in the team at this age,its time he follows in the steps of Hyypia.I don't want to see him starting regularly for us from next season especially with Kelly also ready to stake his claim in the starting line-up.

Got the up most respect for Carra and everything he has done for this club but imo he's not good enough to be a starter for us anymore. Wouldn't mind seeing him now and again in the side but as a starter he's not good enough.

If we did decide to sell him I think that Danish lad at Palermo would be a decent enough replacement. He wants to play for this club and is still only 20. With the addition of him to the squad the CB positions are pretty much sorted for the next 5 or so years with Agger and Skrtel still at a young age and Ayala on the verge of breaking into the squad.

As much as i want him to stay i won't be surprised if he did leave. With Agger and Skrtel and youngsters making the step up he will end up playing fewer and fewer games.

Will always be a legend though and we will always be grateful for everything he has done for the club but that goes without saying really.

He has to come back to manage us one day though. 

This has gone into meltdown on Rattle, murder I tell yer

Nice one, right before our next game.

It really does look likely that he'll be off doesn't it. He's probably fed up of playing right-back etc, and it's evident his performances have gone downhill bar a few notable matches.

Going to be really interesting to see where he ends up.

Guess Skrtel and Agger will be first choice now unless we bring somebody else in as a direct replacement.

A bit more from an interview he gave in the times.

Jamie Carragher: "I'm not scared to leave Anfield"

Mark Chester, of Liverpool’s Tactics 4 Families project, is picking his ideal XI for a classroom of 10-year-olds. Defenders? Easy. You can’t beat Jamie Carragher. In fact, imagine a back four where every player is as indomitable as Anfield’s No 23. Strikers? Chester wants players who would chase down every half-chance. How about two more Carraghers? Delight flashes across faces as kids realise Chester is selecting what Liverpool fans sing they dream about, a “Team of Carraghers”. “Brilliant team,” shouts one boy. “A very brilliant team,” concurs another. A third lad’s opinion: “Very, very, very bad.” Carragher is actually present, having come to Northway Primary School to help the lesson, but his critic is unabashed. This is Merseyside, where having an opinion and defending it stridently is virtually a civic duty.

The lad supports Everton.

The moment delights Citizen Carra. He couldn’t love what he calls “Liverpool life” more. He has two children himself, James, seven, who’s “totally into his football”, and Mia, five, “a character and a half who loves singing and dancing and X Factor”. In summary: “They’re not shy. They’re Liverpool kids.” He reflects how he hardly gets to see his mates any more but “my kids are my mates now really”. He’s “desperate” to take James and Mia to Chill Factor, an indoor ski centre in Manchester which the pair fixate about, but football’s relentless schedule makes it difficult. Carra laughs.

“Footballers are privileged but people look at the money we earn and the cars some drive and think we don’t do normal stuff, like we have servants to look after our babies or something . . . I’m up at half seven every morning, getting the kids ready for school, making sure they’re brushing their teeth, getting their breakfast, taking them to school. That’s the same as anyone really.”

His workplace just happens to be special. He has been Liverpool’s company man since signing ‘S’ forms 18 years ago, making 611 appearances, and a record 120 in Europe. If a Team of Carraghers is the Kop’s dream, a side without him is its nightmare. Yet Rafa Benitez says, because of age, Carragher will not be considered for a contract extension until this summer, when his current deal will be a year from expiry. Carragher only turned 32 five weeks ago, has enough juice in his legs to have started the most games of any Liverpool player this season, and none give Benitez greater service.

It is even harder imagining Carragher in another club’s shirt than Steven Gerrard. But Carragher’s outlook is as no-nonsense as his defending. He’s not going to become an old lag clinging to the red shirt or coasting as a squad player if Liverpool prove lukewarm about his future usefulness, and would consider other playing options, including abroad, provided a move suited his kids.

Benitez says: “With Carra we will have to see.”

“I’ve no problem with that. That’s up to the club. I play my football and I’ve got 12 months left in the summer. The club will give me a new contract if they want to, if not it doesn’t matter, I’ll still play my best and if I have to move I’ll move, no problem. It wouldn’t bother me,” Carragher says. “I made the England decision [to retire] very quickly. I’m not scared of making big decisions.”

His club still need him, on recent evidence. Carragher has been at his cussed best as Liverpool (one league defeat in 10 games) finally have turned their campaign round. “I’ve come through this season well because at the start it was ‘Jamie Carragher’s finished’. The whole team was struggling and probably myself, Mascherano, Stevie, since we’re classed as the spine of the team, we were getting the criticism. And people jumped on me because of my age. I had a bad first half at West Ham, a really poor game, but I’d have one of them every season. Then Drogba got the better of me for a goal in the 90th minute against Chelsea when I’d played well for the other 89. I had to get on with it. It sort of became me against the world and I don’t mean I was sitting at home crying, I was going into training every day to prove to everyone I’ve still got a career.

“I’ve always thought footballers who say they’ve nothing to prove are talking rubbish. Every day on the training pitch you have got to prove you’re better than the competition. I’m not finished and the performance I gave against Rooney, best striker in the world, the performances versus Everton, Villa away, Tottenham, big games . . . I was there.” Being “there”, on the field, is all-important.

He once had a collapsed lung and was back playing — wheezing and grimacing — three weeks later. This season he has ignored a twisted ankle and strained groin to turn out during difficult times. “I’m proud of the fact that . . . ” He chooses his words carefully. “ . . . well, I’ve played with lots of players like this and when it’s not going well it’s easy to get out of the firing line, pick up a suspension on purpose, get a little nick, stay out for two or three weeks.

“I was always there, I’m maybe too honest at times, always there to be shot at. But I don’t feel you’ve got to be 100% fit to play. I’ve got to be 100% injured not to play. And the reason is simple: I’m terrified of losing my place.” Liverpool also have status fears. The race for fourth spot is “going to the wire”, says Carragher. “Manchester City’s win at Chelsea was a big one but you don’t know if it’ll galvanise them or prove a freak result. Tottenham are the ones I’m wary of. They keep a lot of clean sheets and score goals and have fantasy players. But, when it gets to the wire, there’s games you need to win 1-0 and over the past month Liverpool have been probably one of the best teams in Europe at grinding a result out.

“That’s what we’re doing, grinding. We’ve come back through fight, desire to do well, and we could never be accused of lacking that. But we’re still not playing fantastic football, we’re not good enough to.”

In March 2009, Liverpool thrashed Manchester United, Real Madrid and Aston Villa. Why does March 2010 find the club in such a different place? “What’s gone wrong? I think about it all the time. I don’t think we’re as bad as we’ve been this season. This has been us at our worst, and last season was us at our best. The ‘real’ us is probably somewhere in the middle.”

Pundits reckon finishing outside the Champions League places would be a “disaster” for Liverpool. “Nahh!” Carragher snorts. “People talk as if we’ve finished top four every year. We haven’t. Under Houllier and in Rafa’s first season we didn’t manage it. Liverpool FC will always be there. The top clubs will always regroup. If we finish fifth or sixth I know people say this player or that player will go . . . well if they do, somebody else will come in. Good players will always play for Liverpool. This club doesn’t depend on one player or individuals, it’s a top club, always will be.”

And, for Carragher, being a top club means you chase opportunities in all competitions to finish first rather than obsess about being fourth in one. Thursday’s Europa League clash with Lille is as big as tomorrow’s Premier League game against Wigan. “I don’t understand why people rubbish the Europa League. There are only two European trophies up for grabs every year. I mean, if you asked would I rather get in the semi-finals of the Champions League or win the Europa League I’d rather win the Europa. At the end of my career I could say, ‘I won that’. We got to the Champions League final in 2007, brilliant, but what did it mean in the end?

“People ask would you rather win the Europa Cup or finish top four? Well sometimes I think, ‘Win the cup’. I always hear Leeds got to the semi-final of the Champions League in 2001. So what? Newcastle had a good run. So what? It’s about winning trophies. The only way to make this season positive is by achieving both targets, finish top four and win the Europa League. Even if we do, next season we need to move on.” How? “The squad is capable of producing better and we probably need two or three players who will go into the team and make an impact every week and three or four more to beef up the squad. We probably need six or seven signings.”

Tactics 4 Families teaches family behaviour using football metaphors. Your “family” is your “team”, whether it’s a traditional unit or involves a single parent or other carers, and members must work together. It’s an especially significant message in areas of Liverpool where social breakdown is high. “My parents split up when I was 10 but it wasn’t one of them where you never saw a parent. I saw my dad every day. I was upset but we moved on and I have a great relationship with my mum and dad,” he says. “My heart goes out to kids who are not so lucky. I’m from Bootle and stuff goes on there with families that makes me realise I’m lucky.”

Family life is the factor that, post-playing, might stop him making what seems a natural progression into coaching. “I don’t like the idea of moving my kids out of school. I would for a playing thing, because that’s my career and how we make our money as a family, but managers can be out of a job in two or three months,” he says. He’s about to do his ‘A’ coaching licence. “It’s like being back at school! The thought of coming up with a new session every day, writing it down, all that stuff . . . I’m not the most academic of people. I’d be a manager rather than a coach.” He smiles. “I think I’m a pretty strong character who’d make decisions.”

Liverpool, if they vacillate over keeping him, should not doubt that.

• Tactics 4 Families, backed by the Premier League’s Creating Chances Programme, is a Liverpool FC project aimed at supporting positive family relationships.

GROWING PAINS

Carragher has followed the debate, prompted by the John Terry scandal, on whether footballers should be role models. ‘We have become like movie or pop stars and can easily be on the front pages as well as the back pages. We are role models and get a lot of attention, so people have a right to expect us to do the right things,’ he says.

‘But we’re only human. One minute you’re on a YTS contract, the next you’re on thousands of pounds a week. You go out for a drink, buy a fast car and end up in situations you shouldn’t. But then you’ve got to grow up.’


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article7052445.ece

Jamie must realise that at this point his better days are behind him and realistically cannot expect to be first choice in the scheme of things.
The length of any contract is also a reflection of his maturing years, maybe stalling is a panic reaction to the implications of the shorter contract deal. Whatever is going on there's no way Jamie Carragher will be treated with anything but the greatest respect by LFC and it's supporters.

Jamie must realise that at this point his better days are behind him and realistically cannot expect to be first choice in the scheme of things.
The length of any contract is also a reflection of his maturing years, maybe stalling is a panic reaction to the implications of the shorter contract deal. Whatever is going on there's no way Jamie Carragher will be treated with anything but the greatest respect by LFC and it's supporters.

Yes.

He is still very relevant in the defence line-up; but a guaranteed start is IMO asking for too much.

Is it me, or is Carragher, right now, a better RB than a CB?