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Any Chance At All?
Now that Liverpools owners, board, manager and Suarez himself have apologised for the non-handshake and admitted they were in the wrong - will all the Liverpool fans who were trying to justify it now admit they were wrong too?
James (please let this be the end of it now), Godalming
...So to all the liverpool fans defending Suarez and Dalglish in the mailbox after the non hand shake. Seems the club disagrees with you and has apologised, bet you feel a bit silly now.
Leighton Taylor
Feeling Sorry For Suarez
Regardless of how horrible a human being Suarez is being made out to be, I can't help but feel completely sorry for him.
Yes he was punished for racially abusing Evra. A punishment he received based on Evra's word. If intended as racism then he should have been hanged, there is no room for it in football or society. We need to look at the cultural diversity of the league, and this country for a matter. In Uraguay, his comments are not viewed as being racist, just as the word 'Paki' is not racist in Australia. That being said, when you visit another country the onus is on you to obey their rules and respect their customs. Suarez is guilty of this much.
Regarding the handshake. He is a grown man, who has chosen not to shake the hand of a man who insulted him and who by his own admission made lewd comments about his sister in Spanish. Why hasn't more been said about Rio Ferdinand's refusal to shake Suarez's hand moments later. Why isn't Sir Alex disgusted by his reaction, or the intentional baiting of Suarez by Evra post-match. By all reports, it was Evra who was the aggressor in the tunnel at half-time as well. It seems to me that Suarez was incredibly well-behaved given the ample opportunities he had to react.
My last criticism lies with LFC. They should have condemned Suarez's comments when the race row first raised its ugly head and be done with it. Understandably the club and Kenny Dalglish decided to stand by their man. Dalglish has just confirmed to the world he is a subordinate to Sir Alex. The one time he should have come out all guns blazing and take Ferguson down a peg or three, he folded. The club could have deflected attention away from their man by raising anyone of the above points, but instead chose to make a scapegoat out of Suarez.
What a shame that one of the most exciting players in recent history could be forced from this league as a result of cultural differences and a spineless club. I look forward to seeing Ferdinand snubbing Terry next time they meet and everyone gloss over the issue out of fear of a grumpy old man's outburst.
Drew Alford, unhappy LFC fan
Why Suarez Should Have Shaken Hands
There are a lot of Liverpool fans who are asking why Suarez had to shake hands with Evra and the simple answer is that he doesn't (which calls into debate as to whether it should take place at all, I'm for shaking hands at the end but that's another debate). For those myopic fans, or the Kop as they are called, who will grasp at any straw to justify the actions of their players, draw ranks amongst the slightest of criticism and never see the bigger picture or admit they could ever be wrong I can give you a fairly robust reason why Suarez should have shook Evra's hand.
He said he would.
He told your beloved club he would. He told your messiah manager and his management team he would. He effectively told you, the supporters he would. But he didn't.
Say what you want about whether he had to shake hands or not, with regards to 'The Respect' campaign, Suarez has shown Liverpool/Kenny/The Fans no respect at all. If Liverpool want to carry on supporting him then they will have to endure the muffled chuckles and shaking of heads coming from all other fans.
Chris ITFC, Liverpool
...The reason why he should shake his hand is because this has got ridiculously out of hand, millions of kids were watching and Liverpool had said he would do it.
Do you really think Evra wanted to shake his hand?? Of course not! but he realises what the right thing to do is. Worst of all it has further prolonged the embarrassment for Liverpool FC.
Azza MUFC, Melbourne via Belfast
Just get Rid. Now.
I love how all the Liverpool fans are rushing to the defence of Luis Suarez over the whole handshake issue. Why bother? You have been given the absolute perfect get-out-of-jail-free card here, by none other than Sir Alex himself; Suarez is a disgrace to your football club and you should get rid. You've been handed the excuse (endorsed by Suarez himself) you can all use for getting rid of him; that he misled everyone at the club and, acting independently, was an embarrassment to Liverpool FC.
You can all try and defend his actions with the myriad of misguided 'Why should he shake Evra's hand?' arguments, but Dalglish (before the match day even arrived) said he wanted to draw a line under the Suarez/Evra issue. Patrice Evra was willing to be the bigger man, and offered a gesture of forgiveness to a man who racially abused him, Suarez ignored it. If you think this is behaviour befitting of Liverpool FC, then you have a much bigger problem than just Suarez.
Ed, Manchester
Everyone's A Loser
I am a lifelong Liverpool supporter. I was appalled by the clubs stance on the Evra allegations, especially after the judgement. Kenny Dalglish has risked destroying his reputation, directly as a result of the piece of **** wearing the venerated '7' on his back.
Following yesterday's embarrassment, Suarez should go - if only to win back some of the respect that the traditions and values of the club have built up over 40 years.
That said, did Ferguson remove Keane when he admitted he had intentionally gone out to injure Haaland? Is there anything worse a footballer can do to a fellow pro?
The (non) handshake was petulant and unforgivable, however it pales into insignificance by comparison to what Keane did. Let us not forget that he used this attack as a selling point for his book.
Ferguson should not have the temerity to suggest banning Suarez from the club, when he himself ignored a pre-meditated career-ending assualt by his captain on another player.
His ongoing hypocrisy knows no bounds, and in this instance he should have kept his mouth firmly shut.
(Tevez/Ballotelli/Terry/Suarez....is this the tipping point? Will we one day look back and say that 2012 was the year that signified the beginning of the end?)
Jason, LFC
Come On, Just Say Sorry...
Does anyone else feel the apology from Dalglish and Suarez sounds exactly like a child being forced to say sorry by their parents?
Ricci (not like Americans to wait forever to get involved in a conflict is it?)
...It can't just be me but given the childishness of all Luis Suarez's actions recently does anyone else reckon he had his fingers crossed during his 'apology'?
Drew Peacock - MUFC, Manchester (I'll not mention the fact there was still no apology to Evra and its all about self preservation by apologising to his employers)
...As keen as I am to draw a line at this Evra/Suarez situation and move on, let me tell you an analogy:
Boy A hits boy B in school.
The school teacher decides that boy A is guilty and punishes him.
Boy A issues an apology to his own parents
Boy B's parents saying thanks for Boy A's apology.
Amazing isn't it...or maybe I'm just daft...
Adrian (MUFC), Singapore
A Good Question
When US media started taking notice of the LFC/Suarez saga, it seems the owners jumped and apologies were issued left, right and centre (although it remains a question how sincere these were). Had the owners laid down the law earlier, a lot of all this could have been avoided. Is racism only bad if it starts hurting your investment?
Thomas Jacobsen
Sorry Not The Hardest Word At All
How hard was that? If only they'd done this four months ago then there would have been much less fuss. As it is, they created a siege mentality, convinced everyone involved with the club (including Suarez and the fans) that they were the victims, made the players train in ridiculous t-shirts when all it would have taken was an attempt to diffuse the situation.
In issuing these statements now however, we must accept them with good grace and finally try and move on, Liverpool are a huge club with a fantastic following and an illustrious history, let's hope that the past few months haven't sullied their reputation too much.
Clint Day, York (MUFC)
The Politics Of Handshakes
Pre-match handshakes are not in place to conveniently paper over any on- or off-pitch bickering between players seconds before they just happen to be facing each other on the pitch, neither are they for the benefit of the managers, the fans or the media. The only person who should be getting his knickers in a twist when a player refuses to shake the hand of another player is the referee.
At the risk of sounding Victorian, players shake hands before a match only to show sportsmanship for the endeavor they are about to take part in. It confirms there is a respect and an understanding between everyone on the pitch, officials included, that they are about to engage in a sport and that they will mutually observe proper and fair sporting conduct during this encounter. After the match they may choose to pick out a worthy opponent and shake his hand again. Often they do. Alternatively they can get off the pitch without shaking hands with anyone if they are quick and distraught enough. No-one cares by then.
The choice facing the FA seems obvious. Either:
a) the pre-match handshake is non-obligatory, in which case it is scrapped and players can just choose whose hand they wish to shake, as at full-time, or
b) in keeping with the FA's Respect campaign, it remains part of the game, but the FA tighten up its rules and make clear its purpose. In which case failure to shake a pre-match opponent's hand is tantamount to the offending player admitting he has no intention of going about his business on the pitch in a sportsman-like manner nor with any respect towards his opposition and is a sending off offence.
Either of these options would have avoided all the antics we have witnessed this miserable weekend.
Fergie got one thing right though: the next riot in a football stadium will be sparked by a single employee of a football club. And when it does, that club will continue to blindly blame the fans. The asylum has truly been taken over by the lunatics.
Mort Snort, Saints
To Dive Or Not To Dive?
It's about bloody time that the higher ups at LFC stepped in to stop the mockery that Dalglish and Suarez have been making of the club. Atm, Dalglish is doing far more harm to his legacy, than even Henry has done good to his.
Anywhoo, I'd like to raise another talking point which has long been a bug bear of mine. There was an incident with Welbeck which perfectly exemplifies why diving is so rife in football. I am referring to the incident where he was fouled on the edge of the box, but stayed on his feet to take an off balance shot which was comfortably wide. This resulted in the pundits complementing his 'honesty', but led to no tangible benefit for his team.
Surely if referees want to encourage players to stay on their feet when they can, they need to reward the players for doing so? In this instance the referee was right to use the advantage rule and let Welbeck play on imo, but seeing as his team didn't immediately go on to gain any advantage, surely the play could still have been drawn back to the point of the initial foul right? Otherwise the only lesson to be learnt is that your best bet is to just go down at the slightest touch, grab the ball and take the free kick that will inevitably follow.
Jay (football fan first) Wright, LFC
Weekend Thoughts
1) Now that Suarez and Liverpool have finally apologised for silly behaviour and Sir saying Evra's little jig of delight wasn't an Enstein move, can it please be over and done with?
2) City show dogged spirit? Well I'll be damned, didn't think they were ready to be challengers just yet, let alone leading the charge.
3) Were the Spurs fans who were singing Adebayor's name at WHL the same ones who sang that song about whores and washing elephants?
4) Lovely to see Saha score two goals, always liked him as a striker - if he could stay fit he would still be with United.
5) Are Bolton doomed? Wigan are most likely gone but Bolton looked like they could go on a run. How deflating it must be to lose to the wooden spoon elect.
6) Jonny Evans was outstanding against Pool, seems to have gotten over his funk from last season.
7) A bit disturbed to see Rooney copying the Carroll arms ridged at a 45 degree angle celebration, it's rubbish and is possibly worse than Shearer's wheeling away one arm aloft trademark. Adebayor getting tickled like Elmo was the celebration of the week.
Aaron Sik
Awful. Just Awful
On what I suspect may be a lighter note, can I just say that my wife has asked me to get rid of my new 40" telly because Alan Shearer's MOTD shirts look even worse in HD. Saturday's was particularly dreadful.
John, London
