De Boer : Suárez proved his liability to do “stupid things”

• dragg

  14 Feb 12, 10:48

  LIVERPOOL'S owners will warn Anfield's top brass there must be NO repeat of the storm which dragged the club through the gutter.

  Fenway Sports Group front man John W Henry is due here this week, ahead of the Carling Cup final date with Cardiff on Sunday week.

  And he will warn Kop chiefs they can afford no more PR disasters like the Luis Suarez saga.

  The news emerged on the day Liverpool's main sponsors joined a growing list putting the boot in over the handling of the racism storm.

  Standard Chartered are nearly half-way through a four-year, £81million deal — the biggest in British football.

  But they are fuming at Suarez's refusal to shake Patrice Evra's hand. A bank spokesman said: "We were very disappointed and have discussed our concerns with the club."

  FSG have refused to comment publicly but US sources confirmed they played a major role in Sunday's apologies issued by boss Kenny Dalglish, MD Ian Ayre and Suarez.

  Henry and chairman Tom Werner are said to be concerned at the harm done to Liverpool's reputation and global marketing plans.

  Standard Chartered are based in London but makes most of its profits in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

  Along with the American owners, they also had a big hand in Sunday's three-way apology.

  Suarez's actions set the tone for a stormy showdown with players from both sides clashing in the tunnel at half time.

  He still faces the possibility of disciplinary action by the club.

  Referee Phil Dowd also spoke to Evra after he celebrated United's 2-1 victory in front of Suarez.

  But the two clubs will not face any FA charge.

  The Uruguay striker's refusal to shake hands is not a disciplinary issue, Dowd dealt with the celebration row and the tunnel bust-up did not reach a stage where it merited further action.

  from the sun

• zocoss

  14 Feb 12, 11:02

  Their MD Ian Ayre don't know how to handle things i find... He isn't MD material just got promoted because of the takeover he played a small supporting part and the other 2 guys have since left. He seems to be too respectful of Dalglish and left him to handle everything.

  Now he also kenna fire from Yankee big boss.

• Jacky Woo

  14 Feb 12, 11:13

  ya hahaha. should hire peter kenyon, this guy got experience isnt it

• zocoss

  15 Feb 12, 01:48

  Luis Suárez future at Anfield in doubt as Liverpool owners step in to try and restore order

  Liverpool striker Luis Suárez’s future at Anfield has been thrust into doubt after his club condemned him for “misleading” the club by refusing to shake Patrice Evra’s hand before Saturday’s clash with Manchester United.

  

  Hands away: Luis Suarez refused to shake hands with Patrice Evra ahead Manchester United's match with Liverpool at Old Trafford Photo: GETTY IMAGES

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  Suarez apologised for his conduct, and Kenny Dalglish also felt compelled to say ‘sorry’ for his post-match behaviour following the 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford, admitting he did not behave in a way befitting a Liverpool manager’.

  During an extraordinary afternoon when Liverpool issued three chastening statements in an effort to repair the damage of another grubby episode, the club’s American owners, Fenway Sports Group, took a hands-on role to restore a sense of order at Anfield.

  FSG were furious about the sequence of events before and after the match, having recently demanded everyone at the club recognise the importance of repairing Liverpool’s battered image.

  After coming under mounting pressure, in both England and the United States to take the lead, this was the day the men in Boston took firm action.

  Dalglish’s statement, released after those of Suarez and managing director Ian Ayre on Sunday, was the most astonishing, containing an acknlowledgment that he was at fault.

  It read: “When I went on TV after yesterday’s game I hadn’t seen what had happened, but I did not conduct myself in a way befitting of a Liverpool manager during that interview and I’d like to apologise for that.”

  Ayre effectively said Suarez lied in the days before the game, having earlier informed the club’s Director of Football, Damien Comolli, he would not refuse the handshake with Evra.

  “We are extremely disappointed Luis Suarez did not shake hands with Patrice Evra before the game,” said Ayre.

  “The player had told us beforehand that he would, but then chose not to do so. He was wrong to mislead us and wrong not to offer his hand to Patrice Evra. He has not only let himself down, but also Kenny Dalglish, his teammates and the club.”

  Such strong public criticism of the striker is unprecedented by Anfield standards, and exposes the deep sense of anger at Suárez’s undermining of Dalglish.

  Earlier attempts to suggest the ‘non handshake’ was instigated by Evra were rejected out of hand by Liverpool.

  They are now assessing whether to take disciplinary action against the 24-year-old South American, but they must establish if they can legally do so under the terms of his contract.

  Having been ostracised by the rest of English football for his conduct in the original Evra race row, Suárez is now completely isolated.

  Liverpool felt particularly let down given their staunch defence of the player throughout the initial Evra case.

  Liverpool’s owners will be undoubtedly monitoring his form and conduct closely over the last few months of the season as they consider if his career on Merseyside can recover from recent events

• zocoss

  15 Feb 12, 11:53

  Liverpool's American owners have decisively clipped Kenny Dalglish’s wings at Anfield

  Kenny Dalglish’s management model for his second reign at Anfield has been part Bill Shankly, part Sir Alex Ferguson. The returning hero has endeavoured to revive the cult of the leader at a club run in large measure by remote control from America.

  

  Power player: Kenny Dalglish has appeared the dominant figure at Anfield Photo: GETTY

   

  

  By Paul Hayward

   

   

   

   

  The spiritual grandeur of the Shankly years preceded the Bob Paisley-Joe Fagan era in which Dalglish achieved immortality as a player. If this template was still in his head when he returned as manager in January last year, it was Ferguson’s autocratic power he most envied in today’s game.

  There have been days over the past 13 months when King Kenny looked a fair bet to reduce John W Henry and his coterie to passengers on their own Mersey-built ship. That possibility expired with Sunday’s flurry of statements after Luis Suárez had reneged on his promise to shake hands with Patrice Evra at Manchester United.

  The Suárez apology and the moral lashing administered to the player by managing director Ian Ayre (“he was wrong to mislead us”) left marks on Dalglish’s authority, as did his own apology for snapping at Sky’s Geoff Shreeves when challenged over the Suárez incident. “I did not conduct myself in a manner befitting of a Liverpool manager,” Dalglish conceded.

  This was the first real moment in 13 months when he could no longer present himself as the boss, the unchallengeable heartbeat of the club. His gamble of mobilising the whole institution and red half of the city against the Football Association and behind Suárez presupposed that the player would repay him by obeying team orders and would pledge himself to the cause.

  That betting slip was torn to shreds when Suárez exposed Liverpool to more vilification with his rejection of Evra’s outstretched hand. The supportive T-shirts, the circled wagons and the faith in Suárez’s character all came back to torment Dalglish as the club’s owners opted for unqualified contrition to protect their investment.

  The Kop’s greatest hero is now caught in the middle of this. As supreme leader he takes the blame for conceiving the relentless defence of Suárez, which was founded partly on objections to the evidence laid out against him but also on the more pragmatic hope that sticking up for him now would yield goals and points in the future.

  Plainly, Fenway Sports Group went along with the us-against-the-world stance up to the point when Suárez blew the party line sky high with his antics against United on Saturday. Rather than admit to a collective corporate failure, Fenway heaped their indignation on Suárez and left Dalglish to seek forgiveness for his mistake in trusting the player to behave.

  When the banks start weighing in with moral cudgels you know you have a problem. Yesterday Liverpool’s sponsors, Standard and Chartered, let it be known that they had “concerns” over this latest episode. This is boardroom code for: 'You have embarrassed us. If you do this again you will have Crown Paints back on your shirts.’

   

  It took John W Henry and co almost five months to offer Dalglish a long-term contract. One reservation is said to have been the fear that he would seek to run Liverpool the way Ferguson manages United, extending his power across all areas. In that mission, Dalglish may have overlooked Ferguson’s political skill in ceding ground to the Glazer family where expedient and generally not taking them on.

  Most Liverpool supporters would feel safer as citizens of a Dalglish dictatorship than as mere consumers in a world run by absentee speculators.

  However significant the damage inflicted on the manager’s office by Suárez, the biggest test is whether the vast sums spent on Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Luis Enrique and Sebastian Coates have made any difference to Liverpool’s prospects of breaking back into the top four, much less winning the league for the first time since 1990.

  Suárez was a star buy in strictly footballing terms but has been a PR disaster. To this point, Carroll, Downing, Adam and Henderson are nowhere near the status of title-winning catalysts. Craig Bellamy, a free transfer, remains the best single piece of business.

• Medicated Oil

  15 Feb 12, 12:19

  It will take many years of experience to learn the skill of buying and getting the right players.

  Liverpool have flopped in buying british players who show flash of potential in small team but unable to perform at the highest level for every game.

  Ah Ken may have not looked deeply at the present players where they are more active in drinking then showing any progress in their game.(Wrong attitude)

  Ah Bell is the only player that when u played him, he will run the field like crazy.

  Now, it is same situation as Chelsea where the owner have to move in to make some drastic decision to gain control of the situation.

  Henry should be getting a new manager for the next season and to clear out most of the flops that the manager have signed.

  It is the same thing for Ah Roy where he signed some good and bad players.

  So, it will be another round of musical chair for Liverpool.

  Not sure which manager can Henry get.

  As for the No. 7, it is blow of proportion by the press that every tom, dick and harry get involved to making unnecessary noises.

  Some players just dun get the liking of the press and they have find any single thing to get him out.

  He also not doing himself favour in doing the childish act.

   

• zocoss

  15 Feb 12, 14:01

  It will be almost impossible to get rid of some of the under-performing uk players Dalglish bought when we look at their transfer fee and wages. Players like Carroll, Downing, Henderson came with rather big fees as well as big salaries... So even if a club is willing to take say Downing, who is willing to take over his $80, $90k per week salary as well?

  One option is to let a new manager who might be able to get them to perform or like Cole, loan them out and still pay part of their hugh salaries... Either way a no win situation.

  Or sell them on the cheap like they did with Robbie Keane.

• Medicated Oil

  15 Feb 12, 14:09

  I guess the new manager have to live with the players that Ah Ken have left behind.

  Just wondering who Henry will employ to revive Liverpool ?

  Ah Ben ? He is still unemployed at the moment.

  As for the UK pets, maybe Ah Ken is too soft on them and did not give them some hairdryer treatment from Alex.

  Their performance is not even consistent at the moment with the amount of money paid to them.

  2012 - 2013  Season: Return of Jose and Ah Ben Strike Back !

• zocoss

  16 Feb 12, 12:28

  Red rumble

  By The Fifth Official
  

  

  GettyImagesLuis Suarez attempts to stop himself saying something controversial

   

   

   

  Few of us like a Monday morning, but The Fifth Official does, for it brings with it a chance for him to point the finger and laugh. Here he pulls out the pretty, the puzzling and the downright pig-ugly from a week brimming with potential victims.

   

   

  A ship called dignity

   

   

   

  For a brief spell on Sunday, Liverpool's website turned into apology.com, and it's a bloody good job it did. A series of climb-downs helped King Kenny et al edge back onto the fringes of the map marked 'credible football clubs' after a shameful episode in their proud history reached its nadir on Saturday. Perhaps Dalglish's preposterous insistence that it was "bang out of order to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened here today" provided the epiphany he and the club needed to emerge from their ludicrous bubble of self-importance and hysterical paranoia. Their wave of contrition was the necessary first step in what will be a long road to redemption.

  For all the talent that flows so fluidly in Luis Suarez's boots, zero blood seems to run through the man's brain cells. His decision not to shake Patrice Evra's hand was so staggering, it forces one to repeat the circumstances again and again in a bid to comprehend why a man who was found guilty of racially abusing another player saw fit to snub said player's offer of a handshake, when closure of a grubby affair that has seen Liverpool's stock sink lower than the Titanic was within his grasp.

  Even more disturbing was his manager's refusal to admit even the slightest hint of wrongdoing as Kenny lapsed into his familiar aggressive, defensive posture. You get the feeling that had Suarez pulled Evra's arm out of its socket, Dalglish would still have backed him. But Suarez is the chief culprit, his actions leading his manager to make a mockery of himself. Dalglish staunchly maintains he is trying to protect the good name of his football club but look where that has brought Liverpool - into an embarrassing triple apology that could have been so simply avoided.

• zocoss

  16 Feb 12, 12:30

  Liverpool striker Luis Suárez's snub to Patrice Evra was predictable according to Ajax coach Frank de Boer

  Ajax coach Frank de Boer, the man who sold Luis Suárez to Liverpool, claims the Uruguayan proved his liability to do “stupid things” by refusing to shake the hand of Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

  

  Predictable: Luis Suárez's actions last weekend did not surprise his former coach 

  Liverpool forward Suárez, who issued an apology on Sunday in the wake of the controversy caused by his decision to snub Evra prior to the weekend defeat at Old Trafford, left Ajax for Anfield in Jan 2011 — just weeks after serving a seven-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal.

  That incident led to Suárez being nicknamed the ‘Cannibal of Ajax’ and, after earning an eight-match suspension this season for racially abusing Evra, the striker’s reputation took a further battering in the wake of his non-handshake against United.

  “We know Luis is a winner and he does everything to win,” De Boer said. “But sometimes he does some stupid things, like he did here in Holland.

  “I don’t know the details of what happened in that specific game [against Manchester United], but I don’t think it was very smart that he didn’t shake the hand of Evra. It has put more attention on everything.

  “Outside of the pitch, he is a fantastic person. For everything else, I cannot say. He does everything to win, but these kinds of things are bad for himself and for the club.”