Liverpool fans used to dream of a team of Jamie Carraghers. Now they will have to get used to a club without his presence at all, writes David Maddock.
The Anfield legend - and he is a legend in the true sense of the words - is the modern embodiment of Liverpool Football Club, and it is hard to conceive how on earth they will go about replacing him.
Some weeks ago, he spoke passionately about his friend and team-mate Steven Gerrard being the greatest ever player to have represented the club. And so too is Carragher.
I would put him up there alongside Kenny Dalglish, Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Rodger Hunt, Ian Callaghan and Billy Liddell in the bracket of the true Anfield greats, and that shows just how irreplaceable he will be.
He is a local lad who will play more than 500 league games for the Reds and will stand just behind Callaghan at second in the all time list of appearances. No one, not even Gerrard, knows more about the bond between fans and players, and no one knows more about what it means to represent LFC.
It is hard to imagine anyone ever will from now on either. It is getting harder by the year to represent your local club, and it seems inconceivable that anyone will stay with one club for as long as Carragher and Gerrard.
Yet it is not just his admirable passion and commitment, his love of the city of Liverpool and their club that makes him stand out. He is also a top class defender, with the emphasis very much on the IS.
He was man of the match against both Arsenal and City in the last week, and the fact that he has fought hard to win his place back in what will prove to be his final season speaks volumes about his incredible quality.
At his peak he was the best defender in the country, as his remarkable performance in that 2005 Champions' League final testified, and it is still my contention that had Capello picked Carragher ahead of Upson against Germany in the 2010 World Cup, we would have won that game and had a chance of lifting the trophy.
Of course, he has been underrated at international level, just as he has even been sometimes overlooked by his own fans, who were quick to criticise him under Gerard Houllier and only recognised his real quality after Istanbul.
Carragher will not at least go out on a high, with fans realising the man who reinvented himself from midfielder to centre half to left back to right back and into centre half again to have a career at the club he loves, is one of the true greats.
And if they have a memory of him, it will be that one in Istanbul where - almost crippled with cramp, he flung himself to deny a certain goal for AC Milan and take the final to penalties where Liverpool confirmed their greatest ever triumph.
But there will be another memory of Carragher too, of quiet times at Anfield when his high-pitched voice could be heard above the crowd, screaming instructions to his team mates and organising better than any defender of his era.
And that is why I would suggest he is the greatest defender to have played for Liverpool. His quality is greater than many give him credit for, his organisational skills impeccable, and his desire and commitment second to none.
Had he won a league title, it would have been no contest, but still I would place him ahead of Hansen, Lawrenson and Ron Yeats.
And yes, I would dream of a team of Carraghers.
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