Aston Villa have dropped their threat to sue Jamie Carragher for “unacceptable insults” to the club and fans after the TV pundit apologised for his remarks.
Carragher infuriated Villa chiefs last week by saying the club’s supporters should “shut the f*** up” and recognise that their manager, Unai Emery, might be tempted by the prospect of joining Manchester United because they are a bigger club.
Villa responded by threatening legal action, which Carragher appears to have averted by posting a statement on Saturday in which he said his language had been “clumsy and wrong”.
“I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek but I can understand it’s not come across that way, so apologies,” he added.
It is understood that Villa did not get as far as initiating legal proceedings and it is unclear on what grounds they would have sought to sue the former Liverpool and England defender.
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Carragher sparked the controversy with remarks he made as a regular guest on Stick To Football, the podcast and YouTube show that is part of Gary Neville’s The Overlap network.
“There is a chain in football, whether you like it or not,” he said. “So Real Madrid will take Manchester United’s best player – they did it with [Cristiano] Ronaldo – and there will be teams below Aston Villa, and they’ll take their players or manager. Aston Villa will never be Manchester United.”
His comments came amid speculation that United could target former Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla coach Emery to replace Michael Carrick, who is under severe pressure after winning just one of the club’s first nine league games this season.
Villa co-owner and chairman Nassef Sawiris took exception, however, saying in a club statement on Friday: “Aston Villa will initiate legal action against Jamie Carragher for his unacceptable insults about the club and its fans. Aston Villa will not allow anyone to stop our ascension in English and European football.”
The following day their momentum was checked, however, by Fulham, who fought back to earn a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.