Aston Villa escalate dispute with Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher

Aston Villa have announced they are taking legal action against Sky Sports analyst Jamie Carragher over what the club described as “unacceptable insults” aimed at the club and its supporters.

The move was revealed on social media by Aston Villa co-owner and chairman Nassef Sawiris, who responded to comments Carragher made about the club’s fans and manager Unai Emery.

In a brief statement posted on the club’s official account late on Friday, Aston Villa said: “Aston Villa will commence legal proceedings against Jamie Carragher for his unacceptable insults against the club and its supporters.”

Sawiris added: “Aston Villa will not allow anyone to derail our upward trajectory in English and European football.”

Carragher’s comments came while discussing whether Manchester United should appoint Emery if Michael Carrick were dismissed. The former Liverpool defender said Emery would want the opportunity to manage the Old Trafford club.

Speaking on Stick to Football earlier in the week, Carragher told Aston Villa supporters to “shut up” and said: “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United.”

The remarks prompted a strong reaction within the club.

Carragher had described Emery as an outstanding manager because of his achievements from one season to the next, despite regularly having to deal with significant changes and players who needed time to adapt.

He said: “But the reason I react to Aston Villa fans is because I cannot believe that a manager who has had all that success in the Europa League, if you are a player and you have won the Europa League three or four times, you must then want to try and compete in the Champions League.”

Carragher continued: “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United. I just think he has not had the success he would have wanted at Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal, maybe because there were battles among the people with influence in the dressing room and things like that, but he will definitely want the chance to manage a giant club again. There is a hierarchy in football, whether you like it or not.”

He also said Real Madrid would sign Manchester United’s best player, as it had done when Cristiano Ronaldo joined the Spanish club, and argued that clubs below Aston Villa’s standing would still be able to attract their players or manager.

“Aston Villa fans, shut up. Aston Villa will never be Manchester United,” he said.

Carragher addressed the controversy again on Friday during an appearance on The Overlap Daily, saying the incident had grown far beyond its original significance.

“It has been blown up and become much bigger than it was. I ended up telling them to get away from me, and maybe I should not have used that phrase,” he said. “But it was all banter because they had filled my social media pages with comments.”

He added that he had meant for the supporters to stop contacting him through his personal accounts.

“If you want to have a laugh at me in the pub with Mr Goldbridge, I have absolutely no problem with that, but stay off my personal accounts,” said Carragher. “We will all bring this dispute to an end. I am a big Aston Villa fan.”