Gary Neville leaves Jamie Carragher furious with 'controversial' Liverpool claim
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have clashed over their opinions of Robbie Fowler's achievements at Liverpool and whether he'd have done better at Manchester United
by Felix Keith · The MirrorJamie Carragher reacted with fury after Gary Neville claimed Robbie Fowler would’ve enjoyed a better career had he played for Manchester United and not Liverpool.
Fowler is regarded as one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players, having scored 183 goals for the club after coming through the academy. The fact he was known simply as “God” among Liverpool fans shows his standing at Anfield and, while he also played for Leeds and Manchester City among others, he is synonymous with his hometown club.
He helped Liverpool win two League Cups and FA Cup during two spells, but never lifted the Premier League trophy, or the Champions League. Meanwhile, his international career didn’t match up to his club form, with just seven goals coming in 26 caps.
United legend Neville believes that it was the environment that prevented Fowler from ascending to another level. And as a graduate of the United academy during the famous time which also produced Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and his brother Phil, Neville has a unique perspective on Fowler.
He wasn’t afraid to share his take with Carragher, Roy Keane and Ian Wright on Sky Sports show The Overlap on Tour. “Can I make a controversial statement?” Neville said.
“It might not even be controversial. Robbie Fowler could have been England’s greatest ever goalscorer if he hadn’t grown up in that Liverpool team. So if he’d have been part of the Class of '92, at United.”
Carragher quickly fired back: “The Class of '92 never went for a drink. Oh my God! We went to Italy and prayed. We went on walks. The Class of ‘92 won because you had Peter Schmeichel, [Eric] Cantona and Roy Keane. It was nothing to do with you. Honest to God!”
Fowler scored 18 goals during the 1993/94 campaign but really announced himself at Liverpool on August 28, 1994 when he scored a hat-trick in four minutes and 33 seconds in a 3-0 win over Arsenal. He was just 19 years old and was making his second appearance of that season for his hometown club.
Liverpool’s homegrown players of that era – Fowler, Steve McManaman, Jason McAteer, Jamie Redknapp and David James – were nicknamed the “Spice Boys” due to unfounded speculation of a romance between Fowler and Spice Girls member Emma Bunton, but accusations about their lack of professionalism have been dismissed.
“Football went from a drinking culture to actually like a superstar culture. We trained as hard as anybody else, we gave it everything,” McAteer told Sky Sports. “But we fell short to a really young Man United team – the Class of '92 team had come through, Eric Cantona was brought in, very similar to us.
“But what they had, they had a different mentality. If you watch 95/96, we were arguably the best team in the league in terms of watching football, expansive football, free-flowing, goals.”
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