Liverpool lost a match yesterday and thanks to Suarez they lost a PR battle too - which probably matters more, as he made the club look stupid and tarnished its name worldwide, a disaster from which it may never recover. The American press are reporting that the American owners of Liverpool ordered the two apologies issued today, with the ultimatum to Suarez being that if he didn't apologise he would never play for Liverpool again. Suarez maybe a complete jerk with no sense of PR whatsoever, but if there's one thing the American owners understand above everything else is that Liverpool FC is a global brand and what Suarez did yesterday may have damaged that brand forever. Perhaps the swift action of the owners in moving to take control of things will prevent Liverpool's name from forever being tainted with this sorry story and forever being associated with rascism.
Kenny Dalglish before the Man Utd match:
"I'm sure people will want to talk about Luis Suarez but it's time for all of us to draw a line under what happened and move forward. People are already speculating on the pre-match ceremony, but from Luis's point of view we have spoken to him and I know he will shake the hand of Patrice Evra and the other Manchester United players before the game. The Suarez story is over."
Or was it just beginning?
luis suarez thought he was bigger than liverpool football club.... WRONG!
It's good if the owners have taken a firm hand, as someone at the club needs to demonstrate that they have a grip on reality. I suspect that the Dalglish apology was also ordered by the club's owners, as well as the Ayre and Suarez apologies.
(12-02-2012 21:47 )cosmonaut Wrote: [ -> ]I suspect that the Dalglish apology was also ordered by the club's owners, as well as the Ayre and Suarez apologies.
This on the above subject from the Guardian:
"Despite the intervention of the club's owners, it is understood Dalglish changed his stance on Suárez completely after watching a replay of the incident with Evra and, as the statements reflect and his close friend Alan Hansen suggested on Match of the Day on Saturday night, he feels badly let down by a striker he has defended to his own cost throughout the affair."
Suarez is now going to be forever associated with what happened yesterday, so it's something of a career defining incident. He'll be forever remembered as not being man enough to shake hands. It was interesting how it became such a global sory, even being a major story in the New York Times. I think the fact that the story was so big in the US - where the owners have a baseball franchise to protect - was what forced the owners to order the apologies.
Which poses the question, will Liverpool stick with Suarez? If not, cant see there would be any clubs interested after all this. Sad really
It's a terrible own goal by Suarez - he's demonstrated to the world that Evra is a bigger man than he is.
Yes I agree, it's a real result for Evra, who has come out of this saga looking like a bigger man than Suarez.
He will be sold in the summer