An apoplectic Jamie Carragher phoned a radio station
yesterday to defend himself live on air against accusations that he
was a bottler for considering retiring from international
duty.
In an astonishing outburst, Carragher, the Liverpool defender,
called talkSPORTs Drivetime show shortly after 5pm and hit back at
Adrian Durham, the programmes co-presenter, for claiming that he
no longer had the stomach to play for England.
Staff at the radio station were so taken aback that at first they
thought it was a crank caller and asked Carragher to disclose
personal details, including his date of birth, before putting him
through to Durham.
Dont ever call me a bottler on radio with all those thousands of
people listening, Carragher raged. Ive had the stomach to fight
for my place for the last eight years. All I can do is play as well
as I can for Liverpool. Ive never really played centre half for
England and, to be honest, Ive never really played that well for
England because Ive played a lot of the time at full back. But at
centre half, I dont think Ive really played as much as maybe I
deserved.
Carragher had confirmed in an interview with a local newspaper that
he was on the verge of announcing his international retirement. The
29-year-old had originally considered leaving the national set-up
after the World Cup finals last summer but decided to stay on for
the Euro 2008 qualifying matches. Yet, having since fallen below
the likes of Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate in the pecking
order, he has concluded that now may be the right time to
stop.
He was particularly dismayed that, in the absence of the injured
Rio Ferdinand, Steve McClaren, the England head coach, overlooked
him in favour of King for the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia
last month.
Carragher has been in constant contact McClaren in recent weeks and
has been persuaded to put a decision about his future on hold until
the next international friendly, against Germany on August 22, but
it appears unlikely that the defender will represent his country
again. Asked by Durham why he was not prepared to fight for an
England place, Carragher said: Theres that many people he
[McClaren] has played ahead of me. Its a game of opinions, but
when youre at my age they are all younger than me. They are all
going to improve and maybe I wont at my age.
I played in the Champions League final. Theres not much more you
can do at club football but win it, which we did a couple of years
ago. He [McClaren] played Ledley King [against Estonia] who is a
top player, but hes been injured all season, so how would you feel
in my situation, what would you do? When John Terry was out,
Woodgate played.
Im 29, Ive been doing it for eight years and obviously I havent
proved it enough, so its not going to change now, is it? Its not
like Ive just got in the squad and Ive jumped out.
When asked by Mickey Quinn, the stand-in co-presenter and former
Coventry City and Newcastle United striker, if he thought that he
would regret retiring, Carragher said: Time will tell. But for me
now its time to concentrate on my Liverpool career.
Nor did Carragher believe that there was much chance of him being
picked for the World Cup finals in 2010 in South Africa. If Im
not getting a game at 29, theres no chance of me getting a game at
32, he said. Every centre half the manager has picked is younger
than me.
