Jamie Carragher was absent from his usual slot on Monday Night Football - which was held at Stoke's Bet365 stadium - after being suspended for spitting at a 14-year-old girl
SKY Sports presenter Dave Jones acknowledged the spitting scandal currently engulfing Jamie Carragher during the Monday Night Football broadcast in Stoke.
At the end of the show - held atBet365 Stadium following Carragher's suspension - Jones said: "Thanks very much, Gary, enjoyed your company, it's been cosy here tonight."
There had been no mention of former Liverpool icon Carragher, 40, prior to Manchester City's win over Stoke.
Sky decided to ditch their London studio and usual hour-long dissection of the weekend's action before Monday's game.
Carragher - who issued a grovelling apology live on Sky News earlier on Monday - was absent from the Premier League clash, leaving Gary Neville as the only pundit to dissect the Citizens' 2-0 victory at the improvised studio.
MNF's pre-show was also cut to just 30 minutes as it began at 7.30pm - half an hour later than its usual slot - with all analysis of the weekend's games cut from the running order.
Carragher's former Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers was scheduled to be a special guest in the London studio for the game, but Neville and presenter David Jones instead did the outside broadcast from Stoke.
Despite over 77 per cent of fans calling for the 40-year-old to be sacked, Neville believes his colleague should keep his role with Sky Sports.
Carragher has has come under intense scrutiny from former footballers, including Vinnie Jones and Joey Barton.
The 1988 FA Cup winner blasted the ex-England international whilst speaking with , revealing exactly what he would have done to him.
Jones said: "It is cowardly. How has the lad driving it not driven after Jamie, rammed him, dragged him out of the car and beat seven?... you know what I mean.
"If someone spat at my daughter sitting in the car, I would have been after them.
"There is no sitting on the fence here, Jamie is down the road - down the Jobcentre tomorrow.
"Spitting at 14-year-olds through a window? He is presenting on the TV. For Christ's sake, he is supposed to be one of the top men.
"You can't condone that whatsoever. It is filth, it is absolute filth."
The 2005 Champions League winner has been suspended of all Sky Sports activity following the incident, which he described as a "moment of madness".
He held back the tears while being grilled by a Sky colleague earlier today, as he apologised on live TV.
In the interview, Carragher said: "There's lots of regrets but the biggest one is for the 14-year-old to be caught in the middle of my altercation with the father.
"That devastated me more than anything else – a young girl who wasn’t involved in anything is now embroiled in this.
"The fact that it is a young girl feels slightly worse.
"I've got a daughter exactly the same age and if someone had done that I don’t know how I'd react if I bumped into that person.
"All I can do is apologise as much as I can. I can't go back. I've done that with the family and hopefully they accept that."
Here are a collection of tweets from fans discussing Carragher's absence from Monday Night Football...
