The basis for this interview is today's game so I thought I'd put it in here as its a good one and well worth a read. Got to love Carra's honesty and attitude. True legend.
Manchester United v Liverpool: Jamie Carragher takes the long view of Anfield destiny ahead of Old Trafford trip
By Jason Burt
10:00PM GMT 12 Jan 2013Jamie Carragher captained Liverpool during last Sundayâs FA Cup tie away to Mansfield Town. This Sunday he expects to be back on the bench for the resonating Premier League trip to Manchester United.It has, understandably, taken time for such a proud competitor to reconcile himself to the fact that he is no longer first choice. âIf I was in this situation 10 years ago or even four or five years ago then I would have left, thereâs no doubt about that,â Carragher admits.
âBut now, Iâm coming towards the latter part of my career and I donât want to cause a problem for my club. Iâve never even spoken to the manager [Brendan Rodgers] about my situation or said I want to play. I wouldnât want to do that.
âHe doesnât need me asking if I can play in certain games and, listen, Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel are better than me now. They should be playing. In a one-off game my performances are still good enough to play for Liverpool, but not when itâs three games a week.
âIâve had my go, the team wasnât built around me but I was one of the main players. Itâs their team now and I help â thatâs the way I look at it and I wouldnât want to cause anyone at the club a problem or finish at the end of the season or the next 18 months with a cloud over me.â
That will never happen â whether Carragher, 34, signs a new deal this year or not â and a conversation he had with Jamie Redknapp springs to mind. âLast season when I started to be sub a lot I was getting frustrated,â Carragher reveals. âHe told me 'thereâs nothing worse than a bitter subâ and that stayed with me. And what he meant is you still have to prepare properly. If you watch me, Iâm always warming up, I donât just sit on the bench. I could be on any minute. I do my running after the game, my massage before, my ice bath.â
It is part of Carragherâs character and also, he goes on to explain, a key component of âthe Liverpool wayâ. âIâm always thinking about football,â he says. âIâve never taken anything for granted and always thought 'I might get droppedâ. I always train and play as if itâs my last game. Iâm always thinking 'how will the manager use me?â When I was playing regularly, and we lost, that was me for days. I couldnât sleep either. I never switch off and donât do so now.â For too long, of course, Liverpool have been sleeping. A sleeping giant.
Too often managers â and players â have been chopped and changed and Carragher says, with Rodgers, it is time for that to stop.
âLiverpool are different from most clubs,â he explains. âAnd what has happened in the past few years with changing managers is not Liverpool Football Club. The thinking with Brendan Rodgers is that we want to build something for the future and get back to where we were.
âThe manager has to get results, but you see other clubs changing managers and weâve done that and itâs not the Liverpool way.â
The 'Liverpool wayâ means a lot to Carragher; the last link to the clubâs fabled âboot-roomâ. âSometimes people think itâs an old-fashioned view â sometimes our supporters say it even â and I can understand that. They look and say 'why are you harking back to what Bill Shankly did or Bob Paisley?â but those values still mean something today.
âThe humility of the club, you never see players step out of line here or think they are bigger than the club. The manager is always the boss. I look at other clubs and think thereâs a way of conducting yourself. To be honest, there have been times over the last few years at this club when Iâve thought 'thatâs not the Liverpool way, should you really be getting involved in thatâ?
âYour onus as a player is: do your job, keep quiet, back the manager. That respect for the Liverpool way is something Iâd like to keep up. Itâs engrained in the club and itâs something I have to maintain and the players after me have to maintain. Itâs about not being too big for your boots. I was brought up like that.â It is a characteristic of Liverpool as a club, the city also.
For Carragher, who grew up an Evertonian, the Merseyside derby will always be âthe biggestâ but he recognises that the clash along the East Lancs Road with United has âtraditionally been the biggestâ for the Premier League.
âAt the moment people might sneer at that comment,â he adds, mindful of Liverpoolâs decline. âI guess some fans at other clubs will say 'you are talking about a different era nowâ,â Carragher says.
âFor now, also, the Manchester derby might be a bigger game in terms of winning trophies but history, fan-base, trophies still dictate this match.â
The rivalry remains sharp â and sharp-tongued. âI have great respect for Sir Alex Ferguson, Giggs, Scholes â the trophies theyâve won. But I donât like seeing them win and I was glad that Man City won the league last year rather than Manchester Unitedâ.
Really? âOh yeah,â Carragher says. âYou look at what United have achieved and itâs fantastic and they have been the club over the last 15-20 years as Liverpool were before. And thatâs what weâre been trying to get back to.â
The rivalry is also built on ârespectâ and Carragher echoes Ferguson in saying âI donât think thereâs been a problem between Man United and Liverpoolâ. He adds: âObviously we had a situation with SuĂĄrez and Evra but thatâs not something that happens all the time. Thereâs respect between the clubs and players. Iâve had a few words with Alex Ferguson in the tunnel but Iâm sure weâve both had that with a lot of people because we are passionate, because we want to win. You are fighting for your own team.â
What was said? âI was probably trying to stop him talking to the referee, thatâs the usual one!â Carragher says. âAnd he was probably doing the same to me. I admire his will to win, his passion. Thatâs how I am as a player.
âThere are also a lot of similarities between the clubs. Sir Alex Ferguson is to Man United what Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley were to Liverpool Heâs there and we have to stop him and United and by doing so we will be better ourselves, and more successful. Maybe with a new manager here, a young manager, who was like Alex Ferguson when he took over at Man United â you canât say he [Rodgers] will stay as long as Alex Ferguson because heâs a one-off â but hopefully he will be here a good, long time and set some foundations for the future.â
It may, Carragher accepts, take Ferguson to retire for United to be âknocked off their perchâ (to borrow â and clean-up â the Scotâs own phrase) and Carragher said Liverpool must be there to take advantage. First, they have to get back into the top four and the Champions League, but he despairs at how some clubs see this as an end in itself.
âYou canât put fourth place on a mantelpiece,â Carragher says. âListen, weâd be delighted with fourth but the way the game is now there are so many statistics, and managers talk about statistics â 'last season we got so many points, goals, weâve not lost in 10 gamesâ â and Iâm thinking 'great but at the end of your career what do you remember? You remember semi-finals, finals, away in Europe, how you got there, who you were with, how you got home! Itâs about memories, not statistics and they come from winning trophies, not staying in the Premier League or getting fourth place.
âI always remember Leeds as a perfect example. It was always talked about that 'this team got to the semi-finals of the Champions Leagueâ. So what?
âWhat did they ever win? What did they actually do? OK, they got to the semi-final and got beat by Valencia. Big deal. I would rather have won the Carling Cup. You always want to win something.â
There is one glaring absence from Carragherâs own impressive collection: the Premier League title. âItâs been a disappointment,â and admits he does not think it will happen in his playing career. âBut weâve only really had two title challenges in 15 years and I canât really say we threw it away.â
Carragher may have another role to play. He has spoken about going into coaching and management and is considering a career in the media. He would be a natural at both. âMaybe itâs something for later,â he says of management before, tellingly, adding: âItâs in the back of mind â and I do think about it every day.â The dream, clearly, would be to help restore Liverpool to the peak.
âIt will happen one day,â Carragher maintains. âIf we get things right, and I think the manager will do, and bring through players from the Academy and build a team â then we will challenge. Football goes in cycles. Liverpool will be back.â
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9797318/Manchester-United-v-Liverpool-Jamie-Carragher-takes-the-long-view-of-Anfield-destiny-ahead-of-Old-Trafford-trip.html