The Martin Smith column: Sir Ken Dodd spread warmth and love. Jamie Carragher spat at a young girl

One a warm and loveable symbol of a generation of performers who lit up the world with their talent and energy.

The other is Jamie Carragher.

Sir Ken Dodd, part of the 1960s entertainment revolution and lately the grand old man of stand-up comedy died on Sunday aged 90.

Taxi-drivers’ friend, Dodd, known for his shows finishing long after last buses, was due to play a sold-out Sheffield Lyceum Theatre in July.

The wild-haired comic, like Joe Cocker, Cilla Black, The Hollies and the rest, were known for creativity, freshness and an attitude that helped shape the post-war world.

Liverpool played a special part in that new world.

If you’ve never seen footage from a 1964 Panorama documentary of the Kop singing the Beatles’ ‘She Loves You’ then you’re missing out on life.

That was the spirit of the time, the spirit that Ken Dodd epitomised throughout his life.

A spirit entirely absent in an act such as Jamie Carragher’s as he drove from Old Trafford back to Merseyside seeing his former side lose 2-1 on Saturday.

The 40-year-old ex-Liverpool captain was caught on video spitting from his car at a 14-year-old girl because her dad was gloatingly reminding him Manchester United had won.

Father of two Carragher apologised to Sky and to the girl and her family after a video clip of the incident emerged online. Sky have suspended him.

No doubt Carragher - an excellent tactical analyst and summariser - reqularly takes fearful and unacceptable stick from opposing fans.

But that’s no excuse.

Surely his Sky career is over.

How can he remain as the global face of one of the world’s most successful and innovative sports broadcasters?

Carragher once described spitting as ‘vile and disgusting’ when he was on the wrong end of it during a game.

What he did was worse.

Everyone makes mistakes and he won’t be the last decent person to do something out of character.

But sometimes people go too far - Sheffield Wednesday’s Paolo Di Canio pushing over the referee in 1998, Eric Cantona leaping into the Crystal Palace crowd in 1995.

Both were punished and returned to work.

But neither of them spat at a 14-year-old girl.

Is there a way back for Carragher after his Gob-Gate disgrace? Probably not.