We all dream of a team of Carraghers

The headline is a song that was sung by the Kop in admiration of one of its most loyal players and typified what being a Scouser meant.

Born in the district of Bootle in Liverpool, Jamie Carragher was a boyhood Everton fan, a notorious paradox considering his enthusiastic celebrations whenever Liverpool won at Goodison Park. He has been at the club since an age when children only really start getting into the game; he was already beginning to fulfil his dreams at that age.

He was brought up during probably the most successful era of the Liverpool youth side. Talents like Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp, although young, were already household names. He was also in the same team as Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard when they won the Youth FA Cup.

He had a debut which youngsters only dream of, when he scored against Aston Villa. Funnily enough, he scored only 3 more goals since! Steven Gerrard wrote in his autobiography that every Carra would often be mocked by his teammates about how he had scored more own goals than he had scored goals for the club. But he would showcase his typical Scouse wit and reply, “I have saved more goals for the club than all of yous.”

Carragher is someone whose career was built around the atmosphere where he had to prove himself again and again. During the early part of his career, he was played in different positions across the back four but never settled into one position and people often wondered whether he could ever be the first name on the team sheet; but Carra never gave up. All he wanted to do was to play for the shirt he wore and he put it before all personal interests.

For me, the turning point in his career came when Rafa Benitez became the manager of the club. He finally settled into the position of his liking and a position he was comfortable with; and alongside Sami Hyypia, formed one of the most formidable centre-half partnerships of modern football. Together, they held off players like Javier Saviola, Rivaldo, Didier Drogba, Dimitar Berbatov, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alessandro Del Piero on their road to Istanbul. Although their tenacity was ripped apart in the first half of the finals against AC Milan in the final, they came back strongly and were solid till the very end of the match.

Carragher never possessed extraordinary speed like many of his contemporaries but was always two steps ahead of them with his immaculate reading of the game. A close observation of all Carragher footage will reveal that he particularly made a lot of last-ditch tackles and a large number of goal-line clearances during his career. His never-say-die attitude was always on display.

Ask any one in the football world and most of them will struggle to name a player more loyal to a single club. Spending roughly 20 years at a club is no mean feat and he has always obeyed the command of his club rather than forcing them to obey his. We live in a world where players refuse to play for the club or go as far as threatening to score an own goal if their wishes are not met. But for Carragher, his primary aim was the betterment of his club. He famously wrote in his autobiography that for him, the Liverbird absolutely mauled the Three Lions; keeping the club versus country debate aside, this was proof that he only cared for Liverpool. Although unconfirmed, there are reports he still doesn’t earn a six-figure salary, when 20 year-olds earn ridiculous amounts of money. His love for the club is evident in every bit of his personality.

There may be better footballers than Carragher in the future for Liverpool, but no one will ever have the honour of this man.