Jamie Carragher has savagely branded Richard Keys a "sad, desperate man" after being accused of 'borderline racism'.
In the World Cup clash we didn't see coming, Liverpool legend Carragher fired back at Keys after the former Sky Sports presenter - sacked by the broadcaster in 2011 for sexist comments alongside colleague Andy Gary - took issue with Carragher's opinion that the England football manager "should always be English!"
The ex-Anfield stalwart declared as much in a tweet posted on Monday morning, gathering attention in the wake of the Three Lions' World Cup exit and amid the uncertainty surrounding current manager Gareth Southgate's future.
This evidently ruffled Keys' feathers, as the now beIN Sports anchor quoted Carragher's opinion on his Twitter account. "What sort of nonsense is this? It borders on racism," Keys claimed. "The England coach should be the best person available England should not hide behind closed borders & minds."
Little over 90 minutes later, the 38-times capped England international brutally responded. "'It borders on racism'," Carragher began. "I hope you send similar tweets to a lot of journalists who have the same opinion, or is it because I work for Sky? You are a sad desperate man. P.S. love the blogs," he added, referencing Keys' often eyebrow-raising weekly postings.
Carragher had spent the morning being subject to claims of xenophobia for his stance - which more than 34,000 people appeared to agree with by liking his original tweet. The player-turned-pundit even jokingly followed up by writing: "Just to clarify, I voted remain!!!" in reference to the 2016 EU referendum in the UK.
Aside from Carragher and Keys' Twitter spat, the debate continues to swirl over who'll succeed Southgate should he resign. The 52-year-old has a contract with the FA until after the European Championships in the summer of 2024, but revealed following England's narrow 2-1 defeat to France on Saturday that he needs time to consider his future.
"Look, I've found large parts of the last 18 months difficult," Southgate, who failed to reach the semi-final stage with the Three Lions for the first time, admitted. "For everything that I've loved about the last few weeks, I still know how things have been for 18 months.
"What's been said and what's been written, the night at Wolves [a 4-0 loss to Hungary ], there's lots of things in my head that's really conflicted at the moment, so what I want to make sure, if it's the right thing to say, is that I've definitely got the energy to do that.
Have your say! Should the England manager always be English? Let us know your stance in the comments section.
"I don't want to be four or five months down the line thinking I've made the wrong call. It's too important for everybody to get that wrong. After every tournament, I've sat with everybody at the FA and talked things through logically and I think that's the right process to go through again."
The ex- Middlesbrough boss went on to say: "When I've been through the past few tournaments, my emotions have been difficult to really think through properly in those following few weeks. It took so much energy and you have so much going through your mind.
"I want to make the right decision either way because it has to be the right one to go again, or the right one not to go again and I don't think now is the time to make a decision like that. Neither are the next few days really."
