Jamie Carragher

The Muppet

This is a story taken from the Liverpool Echo:-

Generous Jamie bails out stranded Reds fan Steve

REDS star Jamie Carragher gave £1,700 to help a fellow Bootle man pay for an away game trip that turned into a nightmare.

Steve Yardley was faced with the huge bill after losing his passport watching Liverpool in the World Club Championships in Tokyo.

The roofer spent two extra nights in the Japanese capital and paid £126 for new documents from the British embassy.

Mr Yardley, 45, was then told his original airline ticket was non-transferable and he would have to pay £1,700 to get home, leaving him to rely on a whip-round at his local pub.

But when defender Carragher heard what happened, he paid for the entire cost of the trip.

Father-of-one Mr Yardley said: "We were on our way to the FA Cup game with Luton when one of the lads handed me this envelope and said 'Jamie wants you to have this'.

"I opened it up and there was £1,700 in cash in there - I was absolutely stunned.

"The lads had loaned me the money to get home, but I had to pay them back and I was really worried about where I was going to get the money from."

The Reds star heard of Mr Yardley's plight when visiting family members in Bootle.

His father Philip had been on the same flight home as Mr Yardley and told his son what had happened.

Mr Yardley said: "It was an unbelievable gesture and just shows what kind of a bloke Jamie is.

"I was struggling for money after paying to get to Japan in the first place and then I had to pay for a hotel for another 24 hours, a new passport and a flight home.

"I had no idea how I was going to pay my friends back.

"I haven't missed a Liverpool game for six years, but I was really worried I'd have to give up my season ticket."

Carragher, 28, was given the Freedom of Sefton last month for his services to local charity and youth work.

He takes his son to the same youth centre where he learned his skills as a boy and is still in touch with all of his boyhood friends.

Mr Yardley said: "I managed to get Jamie's mobile phone number from someone and sent him a text saying 'From one Bootle Red to another - Cheers.'

"Jamie comes back to Bootle all the time to see his friends and family.

"He has always kept in touch with his roots and for him to do something like this for me just shows that all footy players are not stuck-up millionaires."

Decent bloke by all accounts.

mike65

As folk like to say these days - legend! Someone said on RAWK that he proberly does'nt look at the small print in his contracts. If Gerrard ever went under a bus he'd have to be captain.

Mike.

Tusky

Thats great.

zAbbo

mike65 wrote:

As folk like to say these days - legend! Someone said on RAWK that he proberly does'nt look at the small print in his contracts. If Gerrard ever went under a bus he'd have to be captain.

Mike.

Carra was offered the captaincy last summer after the Gerrard to Chelsea debacle, he declined and give it to Gerrard as StevieG needed it more than him.

Legend indeed.

Kingp35

Very nice gesture, fair play to him.

carpothepunk

Fair deuce to the fella,theres not many decent guys round anymore,Carragher is one of them

MrJoeSoap

What a hero.

jcoote

decent skin fair play its good to hear stories like that rather than '.... was banned today' or '....failed a drug test'...good man jamie.. rolemodelisious

Pigman II

At this rate Fowler had better watch out or he might have to hand over his title of 'god' at anfield.

Although doesn't it say somewhere that god helps those who help themselves? So maybe not.