Excellent article from Carra cutting straight to the truth as usual. I have always said that Souness took a machine that worked and broke it for no other reason than to saitisfy his ego.
Now Carra has come out and publicly stated it. Top notch article from Carra on his Testimonial day.
Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t knock us off our perch... Graeme Souness did, says Liverpool's Jamie Carragher
By John Edwards
Last updated at 3:07 AM on 4th September 2010
Jamie Carragher had been on the receiving end for the best part of half an hour, across a desk at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground, when he was given the opportunity to turn interrogator.
A student of the game with a thirst for knowledge to go with his hunger for success, whose mind would he tap into if he could sit down with any football figure?
The answer raised one or two eyebrows and was delivered in a typically forthright way that may raise a few hackles with Graeme Souness, who presided over a Liverpool decline during his controversial three-year reign as successor to Kenny Dalglish.
Must win game: Carragher was desperate to beat West Bromwich Albion so he could enjoy his wife's birthday party
They don’t come any more Scouse than Carragher, Bootle-born and so devoted to his home city that Everton had to be the opponents for his testimonial at Anfield today.
And the proceeds were never going anywhere other than his 23 Foundation for local causes.
He feels the bitter rivalry between Anfield and Old Trafford as keenly as anyone, yet Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was the name he nominated as his imaginary interviewee.
‘I love talking about the game, learning things from people, but there’s always a mystique about people you haven’t had the chance to speak to,’ he said.
‘The likes of Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, I could talk to them all day and that’s one reason I answered the call from Fabio Capello to go to the World Cup. I wanted to see him at close quarters.
‘I wasn’t disappointed and got on great with him. He used to make me laugh every day, honestly. It was just the way he was — no messing. I loved that.
Respect for rivals: Sir Alex Ferguson is Carragher's choice of a dream interview, and he'd love the chance to quiz Jose Mourinho too
'I’ve also spoken at length with Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez about their methods, so if I had to choose someone, it would be Ferguson.
‘What would I ask him? How long have you got? All day? I’d just want to find out what he would make of certain situations and how he would react to them. Just how he goes about things, how he makes it all work.
‘If I was in his company, I would also tell him, first off, that Manchester United never knocked Liverpool off their ******* perch, as he put it. That’s just nonsense. Graeme Souness did that.
'When United were going for their first title under Ferguson in 1992-93, they were competing with Norwich and Aston Villa. They weren’t competing with Liverpool, were they?’
Carragher was just as candid about the challenges of the past 14 years and the way Liverpool’s public image took a battering towards the end of the Benitez regime, as the former Anfield boss found himself at odds with rival managers.
‘I care about the club and it concerned me that, last year, people just didn’t like Liverpool,’ he said.
‘Other managers hated us and stuff in the media was all negative. We weren’t doing well on the pitch, to be fair, but it was just negative Liverpool all the time.
‘We had situations where Martin O’Neill and Steve Bruce were criticising Liverpool and they were right. We shouldn’t be getting involved with stuff like that.
'Everyone else should look at Liverpool and say they have dignity, class. It should be like the way people look at Arsenal. They do things right, conduct themselves properly.
‘I’m not getting involved in what the causes were, but we need to get back to behaving in a way that wins respect.
‘When you are a Liverpool player, you’ve got to keep proving yourself. I remember when Steve Finnan was signed for the right back position.
'I’d been playing right back and it was the one time I thought “Hmmm, I wonder”, but I still got picked on the other flank.
JC by numbers
‘Then attacking full backs seemed to become the vogue. I was probably a great defender, but I wasn’t one for bombing forward.
'But we bought Christian Ziege, who couldn’t defend, and John Arne Riise, and he couldn’t defend either.
'The list was endless and it showed you have to be able to defend if you’re playing at the back.
‘I wouldn’t change anything about my career. I have loved every minute, even if the pressure gets to you sometimes. As players, we put pressure on ourselves.
‘It was my wife’s birthday party last Sunday, but I just knew I wasn’t going to enjoy it if we didn’t beat West Brom that afternoon.
'It was on my mind from the moment the whistle went. All through the game, I’m thinking, “We’ve got to win it, we’ve got to win it”.
‘And there were a couple of occasions last season when I opened cafes. They should have been great nights, couple of drinks and a bit of socialising, but all I could think of each time was how things had gone wrong on the pitch.
‘The first one had been a 2-2 draw with Tottenham and I hadn’t played well, and I scored an own goal in the second against Hull. Honestly, it ruined the whole evening.
'So, much as I would miss playing, there’s a part of me that can’t wait to unwind without any of that weighing you down. As a player, you can only enjoy your life if the football is going well.
‘You can have all the money and all the fame and celebrity status, but if the football is not going well, your whole life is affected by it. Unless you are on top of your game and winning, there is no enjoyment.
'Don’t get me wrong — it’s worth it, of course it is. I wouldn’t be without it and whatever happens after I hang up my boots, I can’t imagine life without football.’
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