Jamie Carragher apologises for Aston Villa comments after litigation threat

Jamie Carragher has apologised for his “clumsy” and “tongue-in-cheek” criticism of Aston Villa after the club threatened to take legal action against him.Villa released a short statement on Friday night, signed by club chairman Nassef Sawiris, in which they outlined a plan to “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.”It came after Carragher’s comments this week regarding links between Villa head coach Unai Emery and the Manchester United job, in which he suggested he might be tempted by a higher-profile job.“I can’t believe that a manager who is so successful in the Europa League – take a player, if you’d won the Europa League three or four times surely you’ll then want to go for the Champions League,” he said. “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United.”He later added: “And there will be teams below Aston Villa, and they’ll take their players or manager, so shut the f**k up Aston Villa fans. Aston Villa will never be Manchester United.”Read MoreCarragher then doubled down on X, but since Villa’s statement, he has apologised for his criticisms, which he branded “clumsy”.“I’d like to apologise to Aston Villa, the owners & their fans,” he wrote.“My language this week was clumsy & wrong. I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek but I can understand it’s not come across that way, so apologies.“Good luck today (Up the Villa)!”