Jamie Carragher enforced Liverpool dressing room ban

Jamie Carragher has revealed that under no circumstances were his Liverpool team-mates allowed to vote for rival players if they were up against the likes of Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in the hunt for individual awards.

Carragher, who enjoyed a stellar Anfield career in which he made 737 appearances for the club, spoke on the Stick to Football podcast in the wake of this week's FIFA Best Awards and lifted the lid on the dressing room culture when it comes to players voting for the biggest individual accolades. During Carragher's 17-year career at Liverpool, Owen and Gerrard were both named the PFA Young Player of the Year.

Gerrard later won the illustrious PFA Player of the Year honour in 2006 although Torres missed out on that honour to Cristiano Ronaldo despite a stunning debut season on Merseyside in 2008. And Carragher has disclosed the protocol.

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He said: "I’d get the [PFA] forms [at Liverpool] and if I thought someone had a decent chance of winning something – Stevie [Gerrard], or Fernando Torres for player of the year – it would be like [in the changing room], ‘Well no one can vote for his rival’!" I’d make sure of that. I’d tell players: ‘You can’t vote for him’!"

And while that might not have worked in 2008 as Ronaldo took the spoils, in recent years, Liverpool have enjoyed great success on the PFA front, with Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk winning the award in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Trent Alexander-Arnold followed in the footsteps of Gerrard and Owen by winning the Young Player of the Year award in 2020 as