Realistic Carragher admits end is nigh at Anfield

LIVERPOOL’S vice-captain Jamie Carragher yesterday admitted his career could be over in a year’s time.

Carragher has made 676 appearances for Liverpool since coming through the youth ranks and making his debut 14 years ago.

He has been a regular in the Reds defence since coming on as a substitute in Liverpool’s League Cup game against Middlesbrough in 1997, but the 33-year-old concedes his long and glittering career may be nearing its end.

When asked how long he had left in the game, Carragher said yesterday: “Ask (Liverpool boss) Kenny Dalglish. He picks the team. It will be up to the coaching staff, I suppose.

“You want to try to get as much out of your career and play as long as possible. The time will come in the next 12, 18 months, maybe two years.

“That won’t be down to myself. It will be down to the people around me, the staff, the manager. They will decide.”

The defender admits he would love to go into coaching after hanging up his boots.

“Do I want to go in to coaching or management? Yes, I think so,” Carragher said. “I’ve taken my first steps to coaching and the B licence.”

Carragher made morning headlines when he claimed that England are ‘cheating’ by employing a foreign coach as their national manager.

The defender insisted last night his claim should not be viewed as an attack on England boss Fabio Capello, but more of a plea for placing trust in homegrown coaches, and he even claimed that every part of the national football set-up should be English.

“It’s nothing against Capello or anybody who comes in in the future,” Carragher added.

“It’s nothing against foreign players or coaches. I just think that’s what international football should be about. For me we shouldn’t have a foreign member of stuff. The best doctor in the country should be the England doctor or the bus driver. That’s what international football is. If we’re not up to it in certain areas we have to improve.”

Carragher also thinks the presence of so many foreigners impedes the development of English players. The defender hit out at the Premier League for not protecting the homegrown youngsters coming through the ranks.

“Everyone wants to play in the Premier League now. Players at our academy don’t get a chance,” he said.

Former England and Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes claimed recently that the England camp had been divided into Manchester United and Liverpool cliques during his time on the international scene.

Carragher, a member of the squad at the same time as Scholes, agreed, saying: “I saw that. I don’t think it was Man United and Liverpool. It was more Man United and the rest.

“It was just like the five best mates together. They’d all come through together. It was a tight-knit thing.”