Jamie Carragher apologises to Aston Villa after remarks about Unai Emery and Manchester United

Jamie Carragher apologised on Saturday to Aston Villa, the club's owners and their fans after posting on social media that his language had been "clumsy and wrong" when linking Unai Emery to the Manchester United managerial vacancy following comments made on the Stick to Football podcast.

Carragher, who works as a pundit for Sky Sports and American broadcaster CBS, had suggested on the Stick to Football podcast that Emery would want to manage a "giant" club and told Villa supporters to "shut the [expletive] up", adding: "Aston Villa will never be Manchester United." The remarks came amid reports that Manchester United manager Michael Carrick's position was hanging in the balance following a dismal start to the season.

Aston Villa criticised Carragher's comments as "unacceptable insults" and referenced the podcast remarks in a club statement. The statement, while condemning the language used, also drew attention to the public nature of the remarks made about the club and its supporters.

Posting on social media on Saturday, Carragher wrote: "I'd like to apologise to Aston Villa, the owners and their fans," and added: "My language this week was clumsy and wrong. I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek but I can understand it's not come across that way, so apologies."

The original Stick to Football remarks included: "Surely he would want that opportunity to manage a giant again. There is a chain in football, whether you like it or not. So Real Madrid will take Manchester United's best player, they did it with [Cristiano] Ronaldo. And there will be teams below Aston Villa, and they'll take their players or manager, so shut the [expletive] up Aston Villa fans. Aston Villa will never be Manchester United."

After criticism from Villa fans, Carragher said on social media that telling them to shut up had been "a joke" and that he had been praising Emery and the club "for years". He reiterated on the Overlap Daily podcast that his message to Villa fans had been meant "in jest", adding: "I just think Unai Emery is the best manager in the league and if you're Man Utd you're thinking, what's the best we can get?"

On Friday, Aston Villa said they would initiate legal action against Carragher for what they described as "unacceptable insults"; the club's statement was signed by chairman Nassef Sawiris.