Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool stalwart, candidly shared his post-retirement exploration of coaching and punditry careers, ultimately choosing the television route due to difficulties in adjusting to coaching duties – and thinks the future of punditry will be in short-term contracts.
The ex-Reds centre-back has become a household name as one of TV’s most incisive football pundits, regularly gracing Sky Sports’ Premier League showcases with Manchester United rival Gary Neville. Several of Carragher’s old Liverpool teamates have joined him in media analysis, whilst others like Steven Gerrard and Craig Bellamy have taken managerial paths.
Carragher’s post-playing days are notable for his appearances on various networks, including ITV for international game commentary and Sky Sports’ Premier League broadcasts, as well as CBS Sports’ Champions League coverage.
The 47 year old Liverpool legend indulged in some coaching ambitions at the end of his playing days but soon discovered a greater passion for punditry. “As I got to the end of my career, probably different to Scholesy and I was thinking, ‘what do I want to do’ so I started doing my coaching badges and at the same summer I went to Euro 2012,” Carragher divulged during the Overlap Fan Debate.
“I was still a player so I wanted to try a little bit of both and see what I liked. I didn’t enjoy the coaching and I loved the summer, just being around people talking football.
“I was with Roy [Keane], there was a panel of three pundits but there was four of us and we split the games, Gareth Southgate, Roy Keane, me and Roberto Martinez, the people you’re spending time with, chatting in the bar, I enjoyed it, I dipped my toe into both before I finished and went down the punditry route.
(Image: Julian Finney, Getty Images)
“But I do with players coming out of the game, you always want the most successful ones, who have played in the biggest games but they want to do the best games as well – which is normal. I don’t think the best players, no disrespect, will be at Norwich on a Friday night with the travel, me and Gary were in the zorb balls bashing in to each other.
“The future of punditry might be 10-game deals, if you notice a lot of people, they don’t want to put themselves in one. So I when I went in at at Sky, you were with Sky none of this crossover but now it’s like people are on Sky, BBC, something else.
“Sky and other companies have almost had to bite the bullet a little bit and just say, ‘ok, we accept that people aren’t with one team’. I think that’s the future of where it’s going.”
