Jamie Carragher Twitter prank causes mobile meltdown

Image source, Scott Forsyth

Image caption,

Scott Forsyth said his phone had not stopped ringing since Jamie Carragher's Twitter post

A man whose mobile number was inadvertently shared on Twitter by football pundit Jamie Carragher has said he "panicked" when he was inundated with thousands of messages.

Carragher tweeted a seemingly random number in a bid to mock his Sky Sports sparring partner Gary Neville - which happened to be Scott Forsyth's.

Mr Forsyth said: "My phone has not stopped ringing."

Carragher has been contacted for a response by the BBC.

Mr Forsyth said he had received hundreds of calls and thousands of WhatsApp messages since Carragher's post on Sunday.

Neville missed a clear-cut chance in a legends rematch of Manchester United's 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich.

Ex-Liverpool defender Carragher tweeted that he was in Turkey and wanted someone to send him a clip of the miss via WhatsApp.

He then posted a mobile number, sparking the deluge of calls and messages to Mr Forsyth.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption,

Carragher asked for people to send him a link to the clip of Gary Neville's missed chance

Mr Forsyth, from Wylam in the Tyne Valley, told the BBC: "I was driving home and my phone wouldn't stop ringing and I started panicking thinking it was some kind of virus.

"I was expecting to hear by phone if I had been successful in getting a job as I had been to an interview.

"I have no way of contacting these people so I'm just hoping they email me."

He added: "I answered one of the calls and someone asked if I was on Twitter - I checked Twitter and that's when I realised what was going on.

"I've had people asking me for Champions League final tickets and others asking if my Geordie accent is real."

You may also like:

Some Liverpool fans who thought the number belonged to Neville, and United fans who assumed it was Carragher's, "haven't been nice", according to Mr Forsyth.

He added: "Part of me is annoyed but part of me can see the funny side."

Mr Forsyth said he had received about 54 calls an hour and a total of 50,000 WhatsApp messages before the tweet was deleted.

But he then received a fresh wave of calls when screenshots were shared on Facebook.

Mr Forsyth said he had not received any apology from Carragher.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption,

Gary Neville was playing in a re-run of the 1999 Champions League final