Jamie Carragher, in his column for The Daily Telegraph, once again discussed Emery and Manchester United. Previously, Aston Villa officially stated that they would take legal action over Carragher's insulting remarks.
Jamie Carragher's Column
Aston Villa currently have a better team, a more outstanding manager, and a brighter prospect of achieving their goals this season than Manchester United, but the two clubs cannot be compared in terms of size. Aston Villa are about to travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United. Given the current state of both clubs, Villa Park is indeed a better place to be than Old Trafford.
But Aston Villa are not a bigger club than Manchester United. This statement is not meant to provoke controversy.
I previously suggested that if Manchester United's hierarchy believed Emery was the most suitable managerial candidate, they should consider hiring him. This view upset Aston Villa fans, which I can understand. But I still stand by my opinion: if I were part of the hierarchy at a top European club looking for a new manager, Emery would definitely be on my shortlist.
You could say it would be a foolish decision for Emery to leave Aston Villa for Manchester United. You could also point out that he is about to sign a new contract with Aston Villa, and that Aston Villa are perfectly capable of rejecting offers from other clubs for some time. I don't object to any of these points.
But one thing is beyond doubt: Manchester United far surpass Aston Villa in terms of trophies, fan base, financial strength, historical heritage, and global influence. In these respects, the two clubs are simply not comparable. Traditionally, when a club like Manchester United sets its sights on an Aston Villa manager or player, they usually get who they want.
I understand that some Aston Villa fans don't want to hear this, and many have already made that clear.
Last week, I apologized to Aston Villa for the wording I used on 'The Overlap'. At the time, I was just trying to respond to fans on social media in a playful way. I wanted to convey: "Stop dwelling on it, and don't just pick out the parts you disagree with and ignore the rest."
My opinion has its full context. Therefore, I cannot accept claims that I was deliberately belittling Aston Villa, putting them in their place, or hindering their ability to challenge top clubs by stressing my admiration for Emery and the fact that other big clubs might be interested in him. That is complete nonsense.
The suggestion that, because I once played for Liverpool, I would defend so-called "elite clubs" or look down on other teams is a deliberate distortion.
No one needs to explain the football pyramid to me. I go to watch my son James play, whether he was playing for Inverness Caledonian Thistle in Scotland, Oldham in the National League, or now Wigan Athletic in League One. Both grassroots football and top-tier football matter deeply to me.
Football's most exciting stories are often the unexpected ones, especially those in which clubs that have long lacked honors finally win trophies.
Leicester City winning the Premier League was a great thing for English football because it gave hope to other teams, including Aston Villa, who were relegated that season. In 2016, Leicester City were the best team, but that didn't make them a bigger club.
That was confirmed the following summer, when bigger clubs, including Chelsea, took some of Leicester City's best players.
In 2025, when Newcastle United beat my former club Liverpool to win the League Cup, you can look back at what I said then. I thought it was a good thing for football.
I would be very happy if Aston Villa won the Champions League
I also enjoyed seeing Tottenham win the Europa League, and West Ham United win the Europa Conference League under Moyes, with the winning goal scored by a player signed from Hull City.
If Aston Villa unexpectedly won the Champions League, I would be very happy for them. Although it's best not to say it too loudly in Merseyside, if Everton won a cup this season, they would also deserve applause.
What disappoints me is that, even for clubs like Aston Villa, whenever they face powerhouses accustomed to winning, the game is framed as an underdog challenging a stronger opponent. Football must find a solution to this. Last week, when I discussed with football finance expert Kieran Maguire on 'The Overlap' how Aston Villa could stay in the Premier League's top four, I reiterated this point.
But even if the playing field among top clubs becomes fairer, some clubs will always be more attractive than others. Football has always been this way.
When I played for Liverpool, we always knew that if one of our good players or managers performed well for a long time, Real Madrid or Barcelona might come calling. The departures of Michael Owen, Xabi Alonso, and Javier Mascherano from Liverpool to Spain are examples of this. Of course, you hope to prevent it from happening, but it will never change.
Similarly, 90% of our opponents in the Premier League or Europe had players we considered better than some in our own squad, and we believed Liverpool had the ability to sign them.
Aston Villa also benefit from this football system, yet some people focus more on who Villa might lose to bigger clubs than on who they sign from smaller ones.
When Aston Villa were relegated to the Championship, it didn't change the fact that they were the biggest club in the Midlands. No matter what Tom Brady achieves at Birmingham City, that won't change in the short term. Aston Villa sought and eventually won promotion, and along the way they took players from Brentford.
No one complained at the time about this sleeping giant taking Dean Smith, nor did anyone lament that the signings of Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins might hinder Brentford's development.
Similarly, when Aston Villa hired Emery from Villarreal, no one thought it was a strange appointment, even though Villarreal had just won the Europa League and reached the latter stages of the Champions League.
At the time, Villarreal were a stronger team in a healthier situation. But Aston Villa were a bigger club, and they made full use of that advantage. Emery also didn't want his stint in English football to end in failure as it did at Arsenal. Ultimately, he proved his critics wrong.
This principle applies at every level of football: players and managers all want to move to bigger platforms.
My point was never that Emery should leave Aston Villa to join a bigger club. Why would I want Emery to join Manchester United? That would only make Manchester United stronger.
If Emery eventually signs a new contract with Aston Villa, it would be good for Aston Villa and the Premier League, and it would show he is very settled there.
But there is a question worth considering: has the constant praise for Emery as a coach who excels at achieving success with teams not considered capable of competing for league titles and Champions League titles become a backhanded compliment, seemingly praising but actually belittling him?
No world-class manager would be content to be seen as suited only to clubs outside the top powerhouses, and Emery is undoubtedly a world-class coach. This impression stems from his difficult period at Arsenal and his time coaching Paris Saint-Germain. He achieved domestic success in Paris but fell short of expectations in Europe, and was inevitably compared unfavorably with Luis Enrique.
Does Emery still have a strong desire to manage a club that would give him the chance to compete for the highest honors every year? As long as he does well enough, such a club would allow him to compete at the highest level.
Manchester United are clearly not at the level of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain right now. But any manager of Manchester United will be required, during his time in charge, to build a team capable of competing directly with these European giants. Failing to achieve that means failure.
Aston Villa, however, will not be judged by such standards.
Emery is Aston Villa's best manager since Ron Saunders led them to the title in 1981. But even if he takes the team to Barcelona and suffers a 3-0 defeat, it would be seen as an understandable setback against a European powerhouse.
Manchester United's manager, however, would face far greater scrutiny after such a loss.
I wouldn't be surprised if Aston Villa finish above Manchester United
This is both the advantage and the pressure that come with being one of the world's biggest clubs. It is also why Manchester United might be looking for a new manager again soon, even after Carrick led them back to the Champions League. This weekend's match is likely to be Carrick's last in charge of Manchester United, so it was reassuring to see the pressure on him ease after the midweek comeback against Roma.
Aston Villa could win at Old Trafford. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually finish above Manchester United and qualify for European competition again. That would be an excellent season, because Emery had to sell some of his best players, including Morgan Rogers and Konsa, after bigger Premier League clubs made offers and financial rules forced Aston Villa to sell. This situation would not happen to Europe's top powerhouses.
Every Manchester United manager is well aware of the club's long-term goals, no matter how unrealistic they may seem at the moment: to win the club's 21st English top-flight title and its 4th European Cup.
Regardless of the outcome of this weekend's match, that is the difference between Manchester United and Aston Villa.