"I’m sick all day of reading about journalists, or other people who have got no affiliation to Liverpool, telling Liverpool supporters how they should feel."
That was the fiery message from Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher in response to the fan backlash to Trent Alexander-Arnold's decision to leave Liverpool.
The England right-back is expected to sign a deal with Real Madrid following the expiration of his Liverpool contract this summer and the decision has been met with opinion on both ends of the scale.
Some Liverpool fans are happy for him and what he has given to the Reds since rising through the youth ranks at Melwood. Others, meanwhile, have hit out at the 26-year-old for turning his back on the club and ending his loyal association with the Reds.
In a rant on Sky Sports, Carragher said: "There’s this thing that I’ve been reading throughout the day, obviously when the news breaks. You’ve got the reaction of Liverpool supporters, which are different. Some people wish him all the best, some people are really angry, some people are somewhere in the middle. I’m probably one of the ones who are somewhere in the middle.
"Liverpool as a city and a football club is very emotional and that's what makes us what we are. I don't think people out there should be telling Liverpool supporters how they should feel. Liverpool supporters can feel how they want about this situation."
Carragher, of course, is absolutely right. No person has any right to tell another person how or what they should feel about any given situation.
The problem is that Carragher, as someone in the media, has suggested how supporters should feel in the past himself, and that's what grates.
When Harry Kane left Tottenham for Bayern Munich in 2023 - a move not dissimilar to Alexander-Arnold's Real Madrid move, bar the excess of trophies the Liverpool man won in his time on Merseyside and the huge fee Spurs received for their all-time top goalscorer - there were differing opinions from Spurs supporters.
Of course most will have wanted Kane to stay and remain loyal to the Lilywhites, but others were happy for him and felt he deserved a shot at winning trophies, something he did not manager with Spurs.
But when Kane failed to win a single thing in his first year with Bayern, it did give some supporters something to smile about. He has, of course, rectified that this time around, with Bayern being confirmed as Bundesliga champions at the weekend - Kane's first ever trophy win.
Last year, though, Carragher said: "There is always this sort of criticism of him or maybe people laughing at him because he never really won a trophy at all at Tottenham.
"He goes to Bayern Munich, serial winners, and then he doesn’t win a trophy. I don’t understand the ridicule. This is a guy who is one of the top strikers in world football, certainly from an English point of view, we should be proud that one of our players has gone over to the Bundesliga, one of the biggest teams in the world and he is producing one of the best seasons we have seen from an English player playing abroad.
“People ridicule him, whether it’s Spurs fans, who should actually be proud of him that one of their players is playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world and he has come through their academy."
Carragher told us that we shouldn't ridicule him and that we should be proud that one of our academy players was now playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Personally I am proud of him and I was accepting of him leaving to go and further his career. But I'm not necessarily like everyone else. Some people bear a grudge, football means everything to them; just like it does to Liverpool fans.
Liverpool supporters are not unique. It doesn't mean more to them than anyone else. We all love this game and we all have the right to feel how we feel.