Jamie
Carragher has hit back at what he believes is the 'hypocrisy' of Chelsea
fans unhappy with his suggestion Manchester United should target Thomas
Tuchel.
Responding to the news that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had been
sanctioned, plunging the Stamford Bridge club into turmoil, Carragher argued
United should seek to take advantage by pursuing Tuchel as their next
manager.
"It's fair to say that l had a few heated discussions at Stamford Bridge on
Sunday [when Sky Sports covered their match with Newcastle]," said Carragher
on Monday Night Football.
"The Chelsea fans are very passionate about their club and at this moment
feel like the world is attacking them, and they are defending their club. I
totally get that. But l wouldn't change my opinion on it.
"And the reason l think it's a little bit hypocritical of Chelsea supporters
is because if teams - such as Manchester United with the manager, or other
clubs with the players - are going to take advantage of the situation that
Chelsea are in right now, Chelsea have been doing that for 20 years.
"That was the big thing of Roman Abramovich coming - 'we can throw our money
about and get who we want'.
"The first thing they did was go to Manchester United and take Peter Kenyon
as their CEO. 'We'll go to Liverpool and take the best midfielder in Europe
and destabilise that club for two summers' - they didn't get him. 'We'll get
Ashley Cole, an Invincible who has won everything at Arsenal. Yeah, we'll go
and get him. We get caught tapping up? Doesn't matter, we'll pay the fine'.
"England, flying at the time with Sven-Goran Eriksson. 'England manager? No,
we want him as Chelsea manager. Don't worry about what he's doing with the
FA, we want him and we'll pay the fine'.
"Chelsea have taken advantage of every other club in the last 20 years
because of Roman Abramovich.
"So if l give an opinion on someone taking advantage of them, that is just a
way of life. That's the way it may be for Chelsea and you have to accept
that.
"Some of the things we've seen at Chelsea, such as closing the club shop and
stopping kids from getting Mason Mount on the back of their shirts, I don't
agree with that and I certainly don't want Chelsea to go to the wall.
"But, if that's my opinion of it, I certainly don't want Chelsea fans
questioning that opinion next time I go there because it's exactly what they
have done for the last 20 years."
Neville: Chelsea situation is a wake-up
call
Gary Neville hopes the government will allow Chelsea to be sold but admits
events surrounding Abramovich's ownership have served as a wake-up call -
both for football as a whole and for himself personally - about where the
game's money comes from.
"I agree with what Jamie said, there's no way Chelsea can go bust," he said.
"The government are going to have to ease the restrictions if needs be. I
can't see how a £3 billion sale can go through in the next 15, 16 days,
which is apparently the amount of time Chelsea have.
"I think the government know that Chelsea Football Club, with hundreds of
years of history, a fanbase behind them, an important part of the local
community, cannot go bust.
"They're going to have to make sure that a sale goes through and that a new
owner is found and obviously whatever happens with the proceeds is up to the
government.
"But it's a massive wake-up call, these last few weeks, for football, and a
massive wake-up call for me and my historical position on new money coming
into English football.
"It's improved the competitive landscape enormously over the last 20 years.
"I'm a fan of the traditional elite - Arsenal, Manchester United and
Liverpool - but I welcomed Jack Walker's money at Blackburn and Roman
Abramovich's money at Chelsea, and the fact Manchester City have come in and
challenged the elite.
"We've got an unbelievable Premier League with great football teams and we
have benefitted from that. Globally, the Premier League is seen as a model
for everywhere.
"I've also seen that when nation states have come into English football,
they have improved communities around them, as has happened in east
Manchester with Manchester City; as hopefully will happen with Newcastle.
"When that 'sportswashing' term has been mentioned, I've maybe seen it
naively, that we could have a positive impact through sport on the
communities and local people in the countries that are investing, that we
could actually make their lives better somehow, and that those states would
soften their hard stances on their appalling behaviours and that we would
try and make positive change through sport.
"However, in the last two or three weeks, those views have been greatly
tested, to the point whereby I'm even thinking that [this issue] is coming
hurtling down the street at football.
"The Premier League won't know what to do this and, to be fair, I can see
why.
"I can imagine the executives of the Premier League sat there looking at
their owners and saying, 'What do we do with this situation?'
"You've got Chinese money sat over here, you've got Russian money sat over
here, you've Abu Dhabi money sat over here, and you've obviously got Saudi
money at Newcastle.
"They will be sat there very nervously thinking, 'We don't want to set a
precedent here, what do we do?'
"The Premier League only reacted after the government had sanctioned Chelsea
and removed Roman Abramovich as a director. They weren't proactive, which is
not leadership, because they don't know what to do on this subject."
Neville now expects stricter rules and regulations to be put into place in
order to more closely scrutinise prospective owners and the origins of their
money.
"Football has got a big problem because I don't think it's going to be
accepted anymore," he added.
"I think there will be an independent regulator put into football.
"Super League, Saudi money, Russian money, Bury, Derby, lack of
sustainability, lack of real-time financial monitoring, lack of fit and
proper person tests… football is absolutely coming under huge scrutiny.
"It isn't just a football problem, but football is a massive part of this
country's fabric and it's going to be an issue in the next couple of years.
"I suspect if you're Abu Dhabi in Manchester, if you're Saudi Arabia in
Newcastle, you're going to be doing your risk assessments as we speak,
thinking 'What's going to happen?'"
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