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12th Mar 2018

Jamie Carragher issues apology over “out of order” spitting incident

Conor Heneghan

Jamie Carragher

Sky have described the incident as “unacceptable” and said that they will be addressing it with the former Liverpool defender.

Jamie Carragher has apologised after footage of him spitting towards a 14-year-old-girl and her father surfaced online on Sunday night.

The incident occurred as Carragher was driving on the motorway in the aftermath of Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday at Old Trafford, where Carragher had been on punditry duty for Sky Sports.

Mobile phone footage, obtained by The Mirror, shows Carragher winding down his car window and spitting in the direction of the car after the driver, who was filming the incident on his mobile phone, repeatedly mentions the score of the game at Old Trafford.

Carragher subsequently drives away, after which the teenage girl, sitting in the passenger’s seat, is heard to say that Carragher’s spit had hit her in the face while repeatedly urging her father to stop the recording.

On Sunday night, Carragher issued an apology on Twitter, saying that he was “totally out of order” and that he had apologised to all of the family personally. While he said that he was goaded three or four times while driving on the motorway, he said there were “no excuses” for his behaviour.

https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/972948318904029184

According to the Mirror, Carragher phoned the family and told the teenage girl: “I just want to apologise and I hope you are OK.”

She responded by saying: “OK, thanks for apologising.”

Carragher elaborated on the incident itself, saying: “It was a bit more than, ‘Hiya Jamie, it was 2-1’. It went on for two or three times. I drove away at first and it just continued. I lost my head. I shouldn’t have done it but I was thinking what is a grown man doing, carrying on like that two or three times with his daughter in the car?”

Carragher is due to appear on Monday Night Football alongside his former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers and Gary Neville for Stoke’s clash with Manchester City on Monday evening.

Ahead of the game, a Sky spokesperson said: “It’s unacceptable behaviour and we will be addressing it with Jamie.”