Micah Richards reveals he blames Man City star Scott Carson for costing him £1MILLION after nightmare game
MICAH RICHARDS blames Manchester City goalkeeper Scott Carson for a staggering £1million loss in 2007.
That was when England lost 3-2 to Croatia at Wembley and were officially denied a place in Euro 2008 under then manager Steve McClaren.
Carson started between the sticks in that nightmare qualifier as did Richards at right-back in McClaren’s heavily rotated starting line-up for this must-win game.
Slaven Bilic’s men opened the scoring after just eight minutes with a long-range shot by Niko Kranjcar that the keeper couldn’t hold on to.
The Croats doubled their lead only six minutes later when Ivica Olic dribbled past the now 38-year-old shot stopper with ease and hit the back of the net.
England managed to fight back with goals by Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch in the second half.
But Croatia sealed their place in Austria and Switzerland with a magnificent long-range shot by Mladen Petric.
Richards still remembers that awful performance and is not shy to express his honest opinion about Carson’s display.
In fact, the ex-City star still blames him for missing out on a £1m bonus that he would have received if England made it to the Euro 2008 finals.
Richards told The Rest Is Football as he joined Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer: “The team we had that day…
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“We didn’t have Rio [Ferdinand] or John Terry. It was a mixed-bag team.
“[David] Beckham was on the bench as well. It was all over the place. But we thought we could get a draw.
“That was terrible! I think my player rating after that game, at best, was a two.
“But I blame Scott Carson. I blame him. I’m sorry. He’s at Man City now, taking all the accolades, winning the treble, medal after medal.
“And he cost me a million quid. He cost me a million pounds sterling!
“Not euros, not pesos, not francs… That was my bonus – get to the Euros, [have] so many appearances for England, and you get more money on your contract at Man City.”