Wednesday, 1st November 2006
Jamie Carragher will become the 41st Liverpool player to reach 300 League appearances for Liverpool if he steps out against Reading on Saturday.
He is Liverpool’s longest serving player currently on the books, having joined as a boy working his way through all the levels of football.
Jamie made his senior debut in a League Cup defeat at Middlesbrough on 8th January 1997, coming on for Rob Jones. He made his Premiership debut against West Ham United three days later, as a half-time substitute for Neil Ruddock in a goalless draw. He made his full debut the following week and marked it by heading a corner into the Kop goal against Aston Villa as we won 3-0. From the Liverpool team that day only he and Robbie Fowler are still at the club. Those were Jamie’s only appearances that season.
The next season Jamie managed a total of 20 Premiership games, but it wasn’t until the following season 1998-99 that he became a permanent fixture in the side, and if it had not been for a harsh red card shown by Mike Reed after Martin Pringle theatrically went down following an innocuous challenge, he would have been an ever present. He also scored his second and last Premiership goal so far in a 7-1 defeat of Southampton in January 1999. He also made his England debut that year coming on as a sub against Hungary.
Since the first Premiership game of that season against Southampton he has missed a total of 37 out of a possible 276 games. Sixteen of those missed games came as a result of a broken leg after a challenge by Blackburn Rovers’ Lucas Neill.
Over the seasons Jamie has had to adapt quickly to a number of positions on the park. Even though he started in midfield he was moved to right-back were he stayed until the arrival of Markus Babbel. Jamie then switched to left-back and despite a few nervy moments he made that position his own and the back four of Babbel, Hyypiä, Henchoz and Carragher were the foundation for a marvellous season that saw us win in Cardiff twice and in Dortmund.
The following season Jamie reverted to his old right-back position after Babbel was struck down by Guillain-Barré syndrome. The arrival of Abel Xavier in January 2002 meant Jamie once again moved across to the left for the remainder of the season.
He spent the first four Premiership games of the next season as a substitute, but was soon back into the fray in his right-back slot. He only missed one more game that season in the League.
2003/04 was the worst season for Jamie as he broke his leg and missed nearly four months of the season. He also found himself playing in all positions across the back-four after he returned at left-back at the end of January for the 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers. The arrival of Steve Finnan meant he had competition for the right-back berth, so he moved across to the left again, but also found himself playing at centre-half alongside Sami Hyypiä.
The following season he never missed a single minute of Premiership action and he found possibly his best position on the pitch in the centre of the defence. The season will always be remembered for the Champions League Final in Istanbul, and Jamie played his own starring role, managing to get some last ditch challenges and blocks in despite being riddled with cramp.
Last season Jamie picked up his first trophy as Liverpool’s captain as CSKA Moskva were defeated 3-1 in the UEFA Super Cup, and missed only two Premiership games - against Birmingham City and Manchester City both at Anfield.
This season he was injured in the first game against Sheffield United and like other players around him his form has suffered slightly, but he will always be one of the first players on Rafa’s team sheets.
He is the record holder of Premiership appearances for the club, only Sami Hyypiä (260), Robbie Fowler (253) and Steven Gerrard (242) come anywhere near to him. But Jamie himself will never catch Ian Callaghan’s all time record League total of 640 games. But if he plays every Premiership game for the rest of the season he will get into the top 30 League appearances for the club. He is however in the top 20 all time appearances with 431 total games for Liverpool.
In his previous 299 Premiership games, he has been cautioned 37 times, with five of those coming in games against Manchester United and three in games against Chelsea. He has been dismissed just once, against Charlton Athletic.
Jamie has scored two League goals, against Aston Villa and Southampton, but has managed to score four own goals - two for Manchester United in one game and two for Tottenham Hotspur in both games in 1998/99.
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