Jamie Carragher - Carra: My Autobiography

I was determined to ensure when the time came for me to tell my story it reflected how I play: completely honest. That's why I imagined I'd wait until I'd played my last game before putting pen to paper. In normal circumstances it's difficult for players to express how they really feel until they've retired. But as I approached my thirtieth birthday I suppose I hit that age where I had so much to get off my chest I couldn't keep it in any more. My wife, Nicola, thinks I've got grumpy old man syndrome forty years too early, so with so much to be said about my life, career and Liverpool FC there was no way I could have waited another four or five years to do this book. Besides, no one might be so interested after I pack it in!

As an avid reader of sporting autobiographies, I couldn't wait to get started. On the Liverpool coach heading to an away game, on a flight to Europe or just lounging around a hotel awaiting kick-off, I'm usually hiding behind the latest football book to hit the shelves, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I took the plunge. I've often felt I had more of interest to say than those I was reading about; and in some cases I was so impressed by the story I felt inspired to follow suit.

I had a fair idea in my mind what makes a good read. Without wishing to sound big-headed at all, I often find myself inundated by interview requests during the course of a season. It made sense for me to present my story and my views in my own way rather than see myself plastered across different newspapers from one week to the next, with little or no control over how I come across. That's why I instructed my agent of the past ten years, Struan Marshall, to accept an offer from the publishers Transworld, and work on Carra began.

As well as my family and close friends, to whom I've dedicated this book, I'd like to thank Struan, his assistant Kathryn Taylor and Andy Sterling for all their help with this autobiography and throughout my career. Thanks also to the Transworld team, including Giles Elliott and copy-editor Daniel Balado, and finally thanks to writer Chris Bascombe for piecing together my story and putting up with my attention to detail and constant changes. Jamie Carragher, July 2008

In the summer of 2007, Jamie and I met in the reception of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong to begin work on this book.

Pre-season is a time when the line between optimism and delusion is unavoidably blurred. Liverpool's Far East summer tour was enhancing the same expectations we'd both grown accustomed to across the previous decade Jamie as a player and me as a Kop season ticket holder and LFC newspaper correspondent. As Jamie handed me his notes, mapping the journey he'd take through his memories, he left suitable gaps for the successes in the months to come.

A year in the writing, Carra was intended to conclude triumphantly in May 2008 with Liverpool's elusive nineteenth League title or sixth Champions League win. But just ten minutes after our first meeting I conducted my second interview of the day, this time on behalf of my former employers at the Liverpool Echo , and assistant manager Pako Ayesteran succeeded in bursting the bubbles I'd been inflating moments earlier, painting the picture of a football club in turmoil behind the scenes which was still far from ready to capture its 'holy grail'.

'This club is not ready to win the title,' Ayesteran stated.

His words were scarily prophetic, but I doubt even he foresaw the extent of the imminent disturbance. Within three months Ayesteran had left Liverpool, Rafa Benitez's position was under threat, and the recent American takeover was creating one dramatic headline after another. As Carra reviewed plans for the book, there was a growing realization the finale would not be one of triumph but of painful reflection on a traumatic season.

Jamie always intended this to be far more than a traditional, clichd footballer's autobiography, and the background against which it has been written underlines why. It's a record of a turbulent yet triumphant time in the club's history, as the modern Liverpool Football Club has fought a continuous battle with the ghosts of its past. The paradox is, while Liverpool has been gripped by uncertainty and instability, Jamie has been a permanent symbol of what it used to be, what through players like him it quite often still is, and what it eternally aspires to be. Without him, Anfield would have been a far grimmer place over the last ten years. It's his efforts as much as any which have ensured regular honours for Liverpool, and safeguarded a place among the European elite.