The head of European football's anti-racism group believes Liverpool's reaction to the Luis Suárez affair has whipped up "a tribal fervour" at Anfield.
Piara Powar, the executive director of European football's anti-discrimination body, Fare, said some supporters are reacting in a worrying manner after Liverpool mounted a sustained defence of their Uruguayan striker. Last month, Suárez was found guilty by a Football Association-appointed independent regulatory commission of racially abusing the Manchester United defender Patrice Evra. He is now serving an eight-match ban.
Powar has criticised Liverpool for their response to the Suárez affair, and earlier this week he urged the FA to charge Liverpool and their manager, Kenny Dalglish, with bringing the game into disrepute.
On Sunday, Powar told the Sportsweek programme on BBC Radio Five Live: "If you look at the comments Dalglish has been making, if you look at how Liverpool resort to defend what they see as an injustice, look at the way their fans have been whipped up into a tribal fervour.
"Some of the words being used to describe the FA processes, some of the way to describe the FA and its role in governance on these sort of issues, that is really beyond the pale."
Powar said Liverpool were not setting an appropriate example to their supporters: "The environment at Anfield is so driven – in terms of the paranoia that some fans feel – [by] expressions of injustice from Liverpool, especially over the last few weeks.
"There is a wider issue here of the way Liverpool have dealt with this and it has disconcerted many observers. It is a constant undermining of the FA's role as the governing body in football."
Police have investigated allegations that the Oldham Athletic defender Tom Adeyemi was racially abused during Friday's FA Cup match at Anfield. A 20-year-old man from Aintree was yesterday arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence, following the alleged incident.
Liverpool, who beat Oldham 5-1, said on Saturday that they were also investigating the incident involving Adeyemi. The club issued a statement which said that they were continuing to work closely with the police to establish the facts surrounding the incident. Liverpool also said that they had supplied evidence to police, including CCTV footage and still photography and statements from stewards.
Powar is also concerned by the levels of abuse aimed at footballers on social networking websites. Powar said he did not think the problem of racism was getting worse but he also said the problem was generated partly by "the way in which fans feel they can get on something like Twitter and make comments without accountability.
"There is nobody touching them on their shoulder looking at their comments and saying, 'No, that is not what is acceptable.' I don't think the situation has been worse than it's been for a long time but we are dealing with difficult issues here between players and the way in which the clubs have responded."
