Aston Villa say they will initiate legal action against Jamie Carragher over what the club branded as “unacceptable insults”.

Posting on their social media on Friday, Villa released a statement signed by their chairman Nassef Sawiris accusing Carragher of insulting the Premier League side and its fans.

It added the club would “not allow anyone to stop our ascension in English and European football”.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Carragher attracted criticism from Villa fans by suggesting their manager Unai Emery would be interested in becoming Manchester United‘s head coach.

Michael Carrick’s position at United is hanging in the balance after a dismal start to the campaign and Carragher said “Aston Villa will never be Manchester United“.

“Surely he would want that opportunity to manage a giant again,” Carragher said.

“There is a chain in football, whether you like it or not.

“So Real Madrid will take Manchester United‘s best player, they did it with [Cristiano] Ronaldo.

“And there will be teams below Aston Villa, and they’ll take their players or manager, so shut the [expletive] up Aston Villa fans. Aston Villa will never be Manchester United.”

Carragher, a football pundit for works for Sky Sports and American broadcaster CBS, has already commented on the backlash he received after he told the fans to shut up.

“It was a joke after the stick Villa fans have given me over saying Emery may fancy joining Man Utd,” Carragher said on social media.

“I hope these clown clips show me praising Emery/Villa like I have done for years & saying how pleased I was you won [the 2026 Europa League] in Istanbul.”

On the Overlap Daily, Carragher went into more detail.

“I just think Unai Emery is the best manager in the league and if you’re Man Utd you’re thinking ‘what’s the best we can get?’. I’m not saying he’ll go – I’m just saying if it was me I’d ask the question,” said Carragher.

“Certain managers are good at certain clubs and that’s Emery. He reminds me of Rafa [Benitez]. I think your own ego if someone said ‘that’s your level’ would say ‘no I’m not’. That was my point.

“It’s grew arms and legs. I ended up telling them to [expletive] which maybe I shouldn’t have done but it was all in jest because they’ve been all over my social timeline. I was saying [expletive] off my socials.”