Jamie Carragher has broken his silence after Aston Villa’s chairman confirmed the club was taking legal action against him over “unacceptable insults” he made on the Stick to Football podcast.

Former Liverpool captain-turned-pundit Carragher annoyed Aston Villa supporters earlier this week when he suggested Unai Emery should replace Michael Carrick as Manchester United head coach, saying that “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United”.

“Surely he would want that opportunity to manage a giant again,” Carragher said on Thursday’s episode of Stick to Football.

“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.”

Villa fans leapt to the defence of their club on social media, prompting Carragher to address his remarks on X.

He wrote: “It was a joke after the stick Villa fans have given me over saying Emery may fancy joining Man Utd.

“I hope these clown clips show me praising Emery/Villa like I have done for years and saying how pleased I was you won [the 2026 Europa League] in Istanbul.”

On Friday’s episode of The Overlap Daily, Carragher was once again forced to discuss the topic during a conversation with Mark Goldbridge and Becky Ives.

“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?’ I'm not saying he'll go; I'm just saying that if it was me, I'd ask the question,” he added.

“Certain managers are good at certain clubs, and that's Emery. He reminds me of Rafa [Benitez]. I think your own ego, if someone said, ‘That's your level,’ would say, ‘No, I'm not.’ That was my point.

“It's grown arms and legs. I ended up telling them to [expletive], which maybe I shouldn't have done, but it was all in jest because they've been all over my social timeline. I was saying, ‘[Expletive] off my socials.’”

However, Carragher’s justification did not prevent Aston Villa chairman Nassef Sawiris from taking legal action over what he described as “unacceptable insults” about the club and its fans.

Jamie Carragher issues statement after Aston Villa legal action

In a statement released on Friday evening, Sawiris wrote: “Aston Villa will initiate legal action against Jamie Carragher for his unacceptable insults about the club and its fans.

“Aston Villa will not allow anyone to stop our ascension in English and European football. Nassef Sawiris, chairman.”

Carragher had stayed silent since the statement before finally issuing an apology on Saturday (October 31).

Carragher wrote: “I’d like to apologise to Aston Villa, the owners and their fans. My language this week was clumsy and wrong. I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek, but I can understand that it hasn’t come across that way, so apologies. Good luck today, UTV!”

Villa return to action at home against Fulham later today (October 31), before travelling to the Camp Nou, where they will face Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday (November 3).