draw at Old Trafford, and made one further appearance in the 2003–04 season against Chelsea in May 2004. Robinson left Leeds in May 2004 and Leeds signed Scottish international goalkeeper Neil Sullivan two months later to compete with Carson for a first-team place, and to help Carson develop and improve. Carson's contract was due to expire at the end of the 2004–05 season but Leeds were keen to retain him and in December 2004 offered him a new long-term contract. However, he chose to join Liverpool, who paid Leeds a £750,000 fee for him, in January 2005. Liverpool Carson joined Liverpool on a four-and-a-half-year contract and was to provide competition for Jerzy Dudek for a first-team place. He made his first team debut for Liverpool in March 2005 in a defeat to Newcastle United, and made three consecutive appearances in April, including the home leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final victory over Juventus. He was an unused substitute when Liverpool were victorious in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final and 2005 UEFA Super Cup. Loans to Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic Carson made only four appearances in the 2005–06 season, all in cup competitions, and in March 2006, was allowed to move to Sheffield Wednesday on loan. Wednesday sought his services to help solve their goalkeeping crisis, while Carson was looking to gain more first team experience and to challenge for a place in the England 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. He kept five clean sheets in nine appearances for Wednesday, whose assistant manager Kevin Summerfield hailed his contribution as a key factor in helping the club escape relegation. He returned to Liverpool at the end of the season and in July 2006, extended his contract with Liverpool until 2011. In August 2006, Carson joined Charlton Athletic on loan for the 2006–07 season, after Charlton failed in a bid for Norwich City goalkeeper Robert Green. Carson explained that "Liverpool want me to get some experience and then hopefully I can go back next season and be challenging Pepe [Reina] for the number one spot. There were a couple of Championship clubs interested but I need to be playing Premiership football because Robert Green, Ben Foster and Chris Kirkland are going to be playing week in, week out so I need to be performing." He played in 36 of 38 Premier League matches, missing only the two matches against Liverpool