Jamie Carragher is to be honoured with the One Club Award by Athletic Club and will go to Bilbao to collect the prize. It is given to a player from any team who has demonstrated a real connection to the region of their club, representing just that one side.
Carragher, who made 737 appearances for Liverpool during his long playing career, will receive the award at Athletic’s home game against Girona on September 24. Speaking to Carragher at Anfield about the honour, his pride at this unexpected prize is obvious.
“People talk about medals and trophies, but one of my biggest achievements is playing for a club of the stature of Liverpool for my whole career,” he tells Sky Sports. “That is something I am proud of and to be recognised in this way by another club is special.”
The One Club Award is unusual in football in that Athletic celebrate players from other teams. Winners include Paolo Maldini of AC Milan, who Carragher faced in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League finals. A women’s award was also introduced in 2019.
His Sky Sports colleague Gary Neville is eligible having been a one-club man for Manchester United. Will Carragher be recommending him next? “I will but there may still be 10-year curfew before he can go to Spain after what he did to Valencia,” he jokes.
“But I have seen Maldini is on the list. Wow. It is a special football club, isn’t it? I was obviously first aware of the club in the 1980s when I was a kid and Howard Kendall left Everton to go and manage Athletic. How they go about things, it is just unique.”
Athletic’s Basque policy
While other clubs import players from all over the world, Athletic have been steadfast in sticking to their policy of selecting only Basque players connected to the region. In of itself it is remarkable. But even more so because it has not stopped them thriving.
Along with Real Madrid and Barcelona, Athletic are one of only three clubs to have been a permanent presence in LaLiga and this season they are returning to the Champions League. “You cannot quite believe the success that they have,” says Carragher.
“I think anybody looking from afar, even if you are not a supporter of Athletic, you see it and you think, wow, that is special, imagine if my club was like that? We all love transfers, of course we do, but it is something special that a club can do that.”
‘I would never leave Liverpool’
Was there ever a possibility of Carragher leaving Liverpool? “I would never have gone,” he says. “When I was younger, I would have gone on loan if I needed to but I was playing for the first team at 18 or 19.” What about at the end? A season elsewhere, perhaps?
He acknowledges that his great friend Steven Gerrard did just that, going out to Los Angeles. But it was not for him. “I think in my situation, it would just have been daft. It would be really strange to lose that just for the sake of an extra 12 months,” he explains.
“I think the longer you are inside a club, the more you are aware of that one-club-man status. I was aware of it. Once I had established myself at Liverpool, I never wanted to go anywhere else and I did think it would be pretty special just to finish my career there.”
Jamie Carragher made 737 appearances for Liverpool
Losing that connection
Other Liverpool academy graduates have made different choices. Former team-mates Steve McManaman and Michael Owen left Liverpool in their prime to make the move to Real Madrid. Just this summer, Trent Alexander-Arnold has made that same switch.
Carragher resisted any temptation to collect his award at Athletic’s home game against Real Madrid – not least because it happens to fall in 2026 and the award is for 2025. But while he respects that everyone has the right to choose, he remains disappointed.
“That is one of the reasons why I spoke so passionately about Trent Alexander-Arnold moving on. I felt he could be another one. Those players like Trent gain something, of course they do. But to be a one-club man, that would have been really special for him.”
Perhaps that is the key point. McManaman won the Champions League twice with Real Madrid and has no cause to regret his decision. It may well be the same for Alexander-Arnold. But while these players gain from the experience, they do lose something too.
“It was always the Liverpool way for me. I did not experience those other things, finding out how other clubs worked. I did not have that and I suppose it would have been nice to have those different experiences. But I am glad I did what I did, to be honest.
“It is unfortunate because they are great players but some people just do not have that same connection with one club, really. Or something happens and that is them done. It will be interesting how the supporters react when Trent comes back with Real Madrid.”
Watching Carragher make his way through the crowds at Anfield, posing for photographs, exchanging hugs and handshakes with supporters and staff, you realise what a precious connection it is. The odd Arne Slot ribbing aside, this is his home.
“I would not say I am universally loved by every Liverpool supporter just because I stayed here for the whole of my career,” he acknowledges. But there are not many of us out there who played our whole career here.” And there is life after football to consider.
A bond with the club for life
“When you are an old man in football, you are still a young man in life. I know that more now. When you get into your mid-thirties, you are still a young fella, really, but you are seen as this really old, experienced guy in football. There is a long life ahead of you.
“That is why, when I think sometimes about people making choices to leave clubs, I do think you have to think about a legacy. Listen, getting the most from your career is more important than anything. Winning trophies, earning money, playing for big clubs.
“But I do think at times there are certain moves that players make where I think, you are a long time retired. And sometimes being well thought of at a particular club, maybe being a one-club man, I think in some ways it is more of an accomplishment, really.
“Look at Stevie. I mean, he could have gone to Chelsea and he could have won a lot more trophies, there is no doubt about that. But when he looked back on his career, would people look at him the same way? I don’t think so. It would have left a bad taste.”
Whether there will be many in the Carragher mould in the future remains to be seen. But profit and sustainability rules are certainly not helping. Clubs are actively encouraged to move on graduates for pure profit. “It just does not feel right to me, that situation.”
The result could be fewer and fewer candidates for the One Club Award. “It is going to be more difficult,” agrees Carragher. Cherish them while you can, as Athletic are doing. Because football loses something without them. And footballers lose something too.