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New opening for sports lawyers as Villa sue Carragher

We live in a litigious age and sports lawyers are increasingly becoming prominent in the game.  A recent Private Eye cartoon displayed well-nourished lawyers running round with briefcases and wearing Manchester City shirts.

However, defamation actions are still relatively rare, although not unknown   For example, note the recent claim launched by West Ham's David Sullivan against the BBC: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/13594030/david-sullivan-west-ham-co-owner-suing-the-bbc-in-lb150m-defamation-claim-over-panorama-documentary

Aston Villa have announced plans to initiate legal action against Jamie Carragher for his “unacceptable insults” about the club.  Villa released a statement signed off by chairman Nassef Sawiris outlining their intentions on Friday after incendiary comments from the Sky Sports pundit earlier this week.

“Aston Villa will initiate legal action against Jamie Carragher for his unacceptable insults about the club and its fans,” it read.. “Aston Villa will not allow anyone to stop our ascension in English and European football. Nassef Sawiris, Chairman.”

Sources with knowledge of Villa’s position have indicated  to The New York Times that Sawiris is escalating the matter with Sky leadership, while the club believe that Carragher’s behaviour is unacceptable.

“As custodians of this great club we can not stand still while the F word is directed at the Villa fans in any media outlet,” added Sawiris. “Having any critical opinion is different than using foul language against any fans and showing up as if nothing has happened the following week.”

Carragher, a former Liverpool player and Sky Sports pundit, sparked backlash from Villa supporters for his comments concerning the club’s size and the future of manager Unai Emery. The 48-year-old said on podcast Stick to Football that “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United”, suggesting Emery could instead go to United to replace Michael Carrick.

Any individual or commercial entity is entitled to resort to law to right perceived wrongs.  I would not like to add up how much I have paid my solicitors in the past year.

However, I do wonder if the increasing resort to lawyers does mean that relations in the game are becoming more tense as greater sums of money are at stake.
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