Carra: Souness Brought Us Down

Jamie Carragher has spoken of
his admiration for Sir Alex
Ferguson and Jose Mourinho
while he has blamed Graeme
Souness for knocking 'Liverpool
off their perch'.
Carragher, who hopes to sign a
new contract in the near future,
will mark his 13 years at the club
on Saturday when he lines out
with the likes of Michael Owen
and Emile Heskey in his
testimonial.
The 32-year-old defender is
Liverpool to the core but despite
this he makes no secret of his
admiration for Ferguson and
Mourinho, listing the former as
the person he would most like to
sit down and interview.
"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
explained.
"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. It was
just the way he was - no
messing. I loved that.
“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."
Carragher joined Liverpool three
years after Souness' controversial
reign came to an end and he has
no doubts that the former
manager is responsible for the
Reds fall from the top.
"If I was in his (Ferguson's)
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," he told the Daily Mail.
"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?"