IT’S hard to add to the debate on Luis Suarez, if for no other reason than Neil Atkinson boxed it off with a brilliant article the other day.
The only thing I’d add to Neil’s piece is that Liverpool should not sell Suarez. Why should they? If Real Madrid, for example, were to buy him, what would he do for them? Collect the bibs? No, he’d play for them. So why shouldn’t he play for us? Because we should be above all that? Because it’s not morally right to keep him? Ok. But I live in the real world where the point of football is to win. He’s clearly a little bit mental, but why shouldn’t he be our little mental player?
I’ve seen people say it’s time for Liverpool to turn their back on him. This couldn’t be further from the truth. It is without argument that Suarez has mental issues. But if these issues were to manifest themselves not in on-field violence, but in drug abuse or alcoholism would the club be encouraged to turn their back on him? Or to get him some help?
Is the ban FIFA have now imposed on him right? Is it fair? There’s no question that Suarez only has himself to blame. He bit a man. For the third time. He deserves little sympathy, and even the most ardent of his supporters would struggle to argue against the idea that a lengthy ban is both right and fair.
But is the notion that he shouldn’t play for Liverpool for four months right? Or fair? When he committed his last indiscretion he wasn’t allowed to play for Liverpool, but was able to appear for Uruguay. Why isn’t the same true in reverse? He’ll likely miss nine games for Uruguay but 13 for the Reds. And FIFA have declared that Liverpool have no right to appeal the ban. Forgive me, but it seems a little bit like they’re just making it up as they go along.
Liverpool are likely to find themselves in a situation where their star player can’t play for them – or even train with them – until November. But if they want to sell him he’s likely to go for half of the market value because he can’t play. It’s lose lose.
It’s also important to put the whole thing in some kind of perspective. According to FIFA, if you break an opponent’s bones (Tassotti, Leonardo) the ban will be somewhere between four to eight games. If the fans of your club are found guilty of racism you’ll be fined £65,000. But if you bite a man – without breaking the skin (despite what The Mirror’s pictures might have you believe) – then you’ll be banned from ALL footballing activity for four months.
The natural response to that is “he’s done it three times”. Fair enough – but it doesn’t wash with me. The implication of that statement is that you can commit three different types of violent activity without serious repercussion, but not the same one. Deliberate elbow, breaking someone’s nose? Three-match ban. Deliberate head-butt, breaking someone’s jaw? Three-match ban. Deliberate two-footed tackle aiming to end someone’s career? Three-match ban. Be as violent as you want, just mix it up a bit.
There’s also an argument that says “all of those things should receive harsh bans”, which is entirely true. Any deliberate violent action should be clamped down upon. If this was the start of FIFA doing just that, I’d be right behind it. But we all know it isn’t. It’s FIFA reacting to press condemnation and public embarrassment. Their statement even says as much:
“Such behaviour cannot be tolerated, especially during the World Cup.”
So it’s bad usually, but it’s especially bad in a World Cup? Not dissimilar to the FA’s laughable idea that Suarez’s punishment for his last indiscretion should be heavier because he trended on Twitter.
Let’s also look at the example of Pepe. Here’s a quote on him from Wikipedia:
“On 21 April 2009, he was…involved in an incident with Getafe CF’s Javier Casquero: with the score at 2–2 and only a few minutes to play, he brought down the midfielder in the penalty area, being subsequently sent off. He then proceeded to kick the fallen opponent twice, once on his shin and once on his lower back. When being pulled away from Casquero, he also pushed his head into the turf and stamped on him several times; in the ensuing mêlée, he also struck another opposing player, Juan Ángel Albín, in the face.”
He was banned for 10 games for all of that. In the Portugal v Germany game in this year’s World Cup he head-butted Thomas Muller. It wasn’t an accident. They weren’t jumping for the ball. He just head-butted him. Where is his extended ban? This is a player with a proven history of violence, who continues to commit violent acts, but who hasn’t been punished in the same way as Suarez.
If FIFA wanted to start to crack down on violent acts then everyone would applaud them. But they don’t. They want to make an example of one person so they can look as if they’re doing something. But without following that up on every violent action it’s just cruel and unusual punishment. As Stuart Gilhooly pointed out on Twitter, “…FIFA have played the man, not the ball…now sets the precedent for physical incidents at all levels to get [a] worldwide ban”.
How many times can people be violent before they get banned from any type of footballing activity? Two? Three? Or is it only if they commit an indiscretion when the world is watching?
Looking past the ban, though, I don’t care about rival fans kicking up a fuss about Suarez. If anything I’d be disappointed if they didn’t. He’s one of the best players in the world and he doesn’t play for them. I’m only surprised they haven’t broken into his locker and sprinkled cocaine all over his shoes. Rival fans and clubs should be doing everything in their power to get Suarez booted out of the Premier League. I have no problem with that.
What I do have a problem with is Liverpool fans being criticised for…well…not being all that arsed. It’s as if every other club has never had a player who has misbehaved. Or, if they have, that they only did it once and, therefore, that Suarez’s repetitive behaviour is truly beyond the pale.
United fans nod along to Paul Scholes’s assertion that Suarez has “embarrassed his club, his country and his family” whilst wearing their ‘King Cantona’ t-shirt and watching DVDs of Roy Keane’s worst tackles. Someone tweeted me to call me a “Suarez apologist who should be ashamed” – their avatar was of Ryan Giggs. So suggesting a bite should be dealt with in the same manner as other violent acts are dealt with is something to be ashamed of, but hero-worshipping someone who (allegedly) slept with their brother’s wife is A OK? Which one’s worse? Which would you prefer to happen to you?
Meanwhile, Evertonians are delighted to be looking down on Liverpool fans, convinced that we’re bang out of order for supporting Suarez. But where was their public outcry when “Big Dunc” came back to Goodison Park? Or is going to prison for assault just standard Bluenose behaviour?
It doesn’t matter that United fans still hero worship Cantona, or that Evertonians chuckle when they reminisce about Ferguson throttling Steffen Freund in the middle of a game against Leicester City. Virtually every club has a “bad boy” whose reputation they turn a blind eye to, if not positively revel in.
It’s the hypocrisy of forgetting you do just that that irks. As if Liverpool fans are somehow to be demonised for not calling on Suarez to be deported.
Where the press is concerned, we can hardly be surprised. It must have been like a dream come true when Suarez gave them a ready-made excuse to splash their pages not with a story about phone-hacking (who’d want to read about that), or about England’s pathetic, limp, Hodgson-inspired (or should that be insipid) display, but with yet another tale of Uruguayan cannibalism.
No Oli Holt, Paddy Barclay et al can only do so much fictional writing about their mate Roy being let down by those terrible England players. Sooner or later they need another tale to tell. The sharks had already been circling on the “Suarez transfer” stories before the man himself chucked some Italian blood into the water. So we shouldn’t be shocked that the tabloids are covered in hyperbolic reactions to something way out of the ordinary.
The BBC are supposed to be above such sensationalism. But they’re not.
Is there somewhere in the BBC’s charter that says it needs to offer impartial information on things apart from the football? Let’s consider opinions expressed by those working for the Corporation. Gary Lineker, for example, told us that Luis Suarez had “taken a chunk out of Chiellini”. What?! Taken a chunk out of him?! Holy hell, the man needs locking up! It’s ok, Danny Mills has got that opinion covered. In fact, Mills thinks he should not only be locked up but have the key thrown away, too. Thank goodness Mills never set a foot wrong on the football pitch, hey?
Over on ITV, Glenn Hoddle seconded Mills’s thoughts that prison was the only answer. Presumably the mild-mannered, sensible thinking Hoddle also reckons Suarez will be disabled in his next life. These are the people who are setting the tone.
How many of the people demanding Suarez be banned for life have even heard the name of Joss Labadie? Have you? In March Labadie was found guilty of biting a Chesterfield player in a League Two game. Where was the moral outrage over that? The front-page coverage? Is it ok because he’s only done it once?
Or is the suggestion that biting’s only bad if someone high profile does it? Who knows what the FA would have done had Labadie been trending on Twitter.
Biting is bad. No one sensible is suggesting otherwise. But it should be treated as other acts of violent conduct are treated – not more harshly simply because it’s batshit mental. Elbowing, head-butting, punching and eye-gouging all happen and they’re all arguably worse than biting. That doesn’t mean that biting shouldn’t be dealt with severely – of course it should. But so should all the other things. And if you’re not going to clamp down on everything why choose this one thing in particular to act harsh over?
Footballers aren’t saints. Some of them do some terrible things. But, as Paul Tomkins said in his blog about it all, whether you hold them in disdain for those things depends entirely on whether he plays for your team. Liverpool fans aren’t excusing Suarez’s behaviour, just asking for it be judged in line with everyone else’s.
So criticise him all you want. He deserves it. But before you head off to grab your rocks to throw at the Liverpool fans who refuse to condemn him, maybe you should pull the blinds over on that glass house you’re living in.
Spot on. Absolutely spot on.
The British media will hound him & hound him if he stays around. Can’t see him wanting to play in this country again.
Good article. However, am not too sure if his value will depreciate much. If anything, his value appreciated considerably after he returned from his previous ban.
We are looking at a ban of 2 months. We would miss him tremendously during this period. But, may not be the case at Real Madrid or Barcelona, who both have an abundance of strikers.
The problem for Suarez would be the pathetic media, with their constant needling and harassment. Not even BR or John Henry can protect Suarez from that.
All in all, it seems to be a win-win, both for Suarez, and for LFC with 80million quid in the coffers.
Couldn’t agree more
The idea of Liverpool terminating his contract is of course absurd. The fact is that it’s far easier to be morally indignant and be rid of a player like Ben Thatcher or Adrian Mutu than someone who is the club’s best player and most valuable asset.
Suarez could be gone regardless of whether he bites another player or not. The sad thing is that he clearly could not give a stuff about the consequences both for himself and the club who pay his wages. He has already dragged the club’s reputation through the mud already and a number of people have embarrassed themselves trying to clean up the mess he’s left.
It’s an interesting moral dilemma as to whether a bite is worse than a headbutt or a two-footed leg breaker. I guess the point could be made that a bite, unlike say an elbow or a rash challenge, is caused solely to inflict pain and humiliation on the recipient. Whether this is result of some psychological disposition I don’t dare try to guess. It is however utterly moronic.
No need to indulge in whataboutery here. Suarez has no-one to blame but himself. Whether he stays at Liverpool though is a decision made independently of incidents such as these. That’s just modern football.
I am writing you from Uruguay. I find your comments to be fair, precise and really focusing on what matters. Personally, I would stress the need for Luis to get professional help on how to deal with frustration, which ends up becoming impotence and rage. Nonetheless, yours is an article to reflect on, not the type of junk and hypocrisy that I read in so many tabloids and online sites of England
I’d agree with pretty much all of that. The frustration for me regarding this situation is that steps seem to have been taken by the club to help him control his behaviour, we got through all of last season, including the high pressure title run-in, without an on pitch melt down from him. I don’t know exactly how this was achieved but I assume this has been done by a combination of his efforts and the way he has been managed/supported by various people at the club including Brendan Rodgers and Steve Peters.
I do wonder though if the way he is managed while he has been away with Uruguay has done him any favours, their players seemed to be in a state of near frenzy around him after the win against England when perhaps he would have benefited over the longer term from a calmer atmosphere. The problem here is Liverpool have a measure of control while he is with us but no control over what happens while he is away on international duty. When there was a clear distinction between the two there was no problem but now any indiscretions that occur when he is playing international football directly impact on a Liverpool then there is a problem.
I don’t want to see him leave Liverpool, at the very least he is the best footballer in the Premier League, but a scenario where we are losing our best player for ten games every season surely cannot continue.
His constant diving, cheating, feigning injury, leaving studs in on players, angling for a way out of the club and away from the fans that have stood by him in the face of the shitstorms that HE brought upon the club, the dozens of games he’s been banned for, the complete absence of responsibility or contrition, the biting, and the likelihood that he’ll drag us back into the shit at some stage again in the near future.
That’s why we should sell Louis Suarez.
At least learn how to spell his name right before suggesting we should sell him.
The article is spot on. Sick of all this moralising going on over this. Of course we should keep him, he’s one of the best players in the world, end of story.
Where were all you moralisers last season when he was banging in the goals and producing one of the best seasons we’ve ever seen from a Liverpool player in recent times? Eh?
The club has done it’s level best to help him curb his behaviour and last season it seemed to be working. His behaviour had improved dramatically.
So what’s changed? Absolutely nothing. He hasn’t done anything we haven’t seen him do before. The club are in no way culpable or in the wrong here and won’t be if they decide to keep him.
In fact last season all concerned were being praised by the usual bellends and hypocrites in the media for the great job they had done with him, and how they were deservedly reaping the rewards on the pitch. The same hypocrites who were up in arms after the Ivanovic incident, and the same hypocrites who are saying we should sell him now.
This.
Excuses, excuses, smoke and mirrors.
The Ivanovic incident was tied in with him wanting a move away from the club. Lo and behold same thing again. Suarez is no soldier, he’s a mercenary. The club is bigger than him – a man who has been proved to be a liar, a cheat and unreliable. And that’s after giving him the benefit of the doubt re Evra.
What use is a footballer, no matter how superb, if, as a result of his own behaviour, it means he can’t play large sections of the season?!
The only question now is will any club take him? And if so, how will that affect his price?
The only shame here is that we didn’t sell him earlier when his stock was higher.
Fans / apologists.
Not this!
he didn’t play a large section of last season, do you still need it to be explained to you what ‘use’ he was to us last season.
Do YOU still need it to be explained to you what ‘use’ he was to us last season?
Quickly calculate how many more points the team would have amassed last season had he played every eligible game – title’s won. Why didn’t he play? Because he bit a player in a game. For the second time. No one put a gun to his head and made him do it. And spare me the pop psychology floating about. Messi is a world class player from a poor background that gets as much, if not more, stick from defenders and he manages to cope so why can’t Suarez?
Suppose we miss out on the title by the same margin again next season, do you think the pleaseant rosy glow that coming second last season will reign again or will supporters just lament “If only Suarez had played….”?
And is there anyone here that can say, hand on heart, that they trust him keeping his cool in the Champions League? Disaster waiting to happen and we’ll go through all this again.
You don’t call yourself ‘softlad’ for nothing, do you? Yeah, in an ideal world Suarez would be more like Messi in stonewalling getting booted (which you’d know Suarez did all last season if you were paying enough attention), be less unpredictable/exciting to watch, be a bit more boring/media friendly and score all the goals to multiple league titles but football doesn’t really work like that.
Great work, Adam. Written a lot of what I’ve been thinking the last couple of days amongst all the shit I’ve overheard. Big Dunc was A-Okay in being a cult hero because he, like Everton as a whole under Walter Smith/David Moyes, was an irrelevance and shite at footy. If a player violently transgresses in a forest and no one is remotely arsed enough about him or his club to see it, did it really happen? Apparently not it seems.
Completely DISAGREE!
Who cares what everton fans think.
All fair enough. Incidentally what gives FIFA the authority to ban someone from stepping foot on land or premises belonging to someone else? By the terms of the ban he’s not allowed to step foot into “the confines of any stadium”, presumably regardless of whether Liverpool or The Stones are playing there. That’s not just a plain old restraint of trade but a clear breach of his human rights.
We only have ourselves to blame. We kidded ourselves that he was no longer a risk. Somehow, he got to the end of this season without screwing up again. We should have been looking to get a deal done as soon as the transfer window was open. Then spent the money early, rather than wait for things to go wrong at the 11th hour, like we usually do.
I won’t pretend I was calling for this. I was lulled into believing he had sorted himself out like all Liverpool fans were. The club employs people on very high salaries to take a more cold and clinical view, though. The upside to keeping a player with his sort of previous – a player who clearly doesn’t want to be at Liverpool and who’s value was unlikely to get any higher at his age – should have been weighed against the downside.
We gambled. The odds weren’t very favorable and we lost our bet. That’s what we are getting punished for here. Making a bad bet at stakes we can’t really afford.
Don’t forget that we have sponsors. There are also companies who might want to sponsor, or be affiliated to us in the future. They will look very closely about how responsible we were in previous years, in terms of not exposing sponsors to this sort of thing. They value their brands very seriously. When your brand is at the mercy of Luis Suarez, your company is sitting at the roulette table and betting more than it should be.
We know Suarez’s player-biting is out of control. We have no idea just how far this lunatic is prepared to go though. He looks capable of anything and I don’t just mean with the ball at his feet.
I would agree that there is something comical and endearing about him and all of this seems very unfair. If only he could have just been happy to be one of the world’s best players, playing for Liverpool and for fans that adored him. If only he was only half as mad, but just as brilliant.
Right now, we (the club) are like a 7/10 guy who has got himself a 10/10 girlfriend. As a 7/10 guy, I have learned that the only 10/10 girls that have shown any interest in me have been complete psychos. If I’m going to ever get a 10/10 girl that isn’t nuts, I need to turn myself into a 10/10 guy first. Otherwise, I am just asking for trouble!
^Brilliant!^
Apologies to the other poster named softlad. I wasn’t trying to make false posts on your behalf. I just picked the name at random and did not realise that someone else was already using it!
Don’t be worrying about it. You’re both divvies. Same difference.
It’s done. Time to move on. Idiots like Adrian Chiles will try to keep it going for as long as he can. He’s leading the witch hunt because Suarez all but knocked England out of the world cup. Gordon Strachan was defending Suarez and Chiles couldn’t shut him up quick enough. We have a world class player, perhaps the best player in the world, who has a mental problem. Any Liverpool supported who thinks we should sell him needs to think about the words of that song we sing at Anfield every week. The part about ‘walking through a storm’ and ‘never walking alone’? Well Suarez is walking through a storm right now, but at Liverpool we don’t just sing that song because it’s catchy. We mean it. I for one will not abandon Louis Suarez to walk alone.
….er he’s not actually killed any one.
….er he’s one of us.
…..er he’s the second best player in the world and he plays for us – in champions league
……we managed his mental health very well last season – so it’s Uruguay’s fault.
…..if they say biting is not on then then they say all other assault is fine!
Most sensible thing I’ve read from you mr bob. Well said.
Lets join the fucking circus:
ooh he should be banned…..blah…blah….blah..
“ill make a living from taking a moral stand point” – blah blah
ex LFC stars: blah shite blah.
LFC managed that crazy fucker very well last season – successfully so. Clearly he has a mental health issue. Clearly!
But, what do we do? Abuse him!
That’s called abuse.
oh fuck im pissed….. you know what i mean………..
they’re all cunts leave him alone
It has taken me some time to become a BTL poster rather than just a reader but it must now be done.
ANY Liverpool fan not giving Luis Suarez their full backing to continue his glories of last season at Anfield can go and boil their head in a slow and arduous manner.
We didn’t let him walk alone when it happened playing for us. He came back firing. Why would we abandon him now, due to his (seemingly) high-pressure problems, when playing for his nation?!
“It looks bad on LFC.”
Then stop reading Twitter twits and Facebook fools!
Liverpool have been smeared in the press for a long time. Players, fans and the club. The city itself, even.
And? We fight it. We go on.
I just hope he stays.
Imagine the point he would want to prove. Imagine having him fresh for a title run-in or CL must-win…
… or could those softlads possibly envision him facing us?
“Why would we abandon him now?”
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s rather keen on abandoning us.
He won’t stop biting people, the ban increases as he keeps doing it. It is not so hard to understnd.
It would be stupid not to keep him, we simply don’t but players of his guaranteed quality in the forward/winger positions; Beardsley and Dalglish being the only exception maybe Suarez himself but the Dutch league factor combined with the fact he just bit a guy made him more undervalued and risky than the other two.
Instead we develop prospects bought from other lesser teams (Sterling, Rush, Keegan, Hunt, Torres and Suarez), undervalued castoff players from other teams of equal or greater stature (Sturridge, Luis Garcia, Ray Kennedy, Coutinho, Bellamy), and through the academy/local ranks (Gerrard, Owen, Fowler, Fairclough, Callaghan). And for all the successes I just mentioned there are many times more players for even more total money and from similar developmental origins that ended up doing little to nothing for us.
We can still do all of those things while continuing to play Suarez whenever he is available, he should still have a few more good years in him, and nobody here knows when he will snap out of it and stop doing stupid stuff. He seems good in the dressing room and off the field. Fans should take any goal he provides us now as an unexpected bonus. Because if he wasn’t so flawed he would have been off long ago anyways.
In the end the problem is Liverpool fc even with the money Suarez will in bring is just not that attractive of a prospect for the small group of forwards at Suarez’s level. They want teams with bigger fan bases, bigger stadiums, nicer cities, and billionaires who can pay obscene wages. That’s just the reality Liverpool fc have always been in and probably always will be. Liverpool fc don’t win like that they win by developing great players in all positions, again something we can continue to do with Suarez in the team.
Now if we somehow get Alexis Sanchez for Suarez now, then something has truly changed but it will most likely end up being Shaquiri or Llana and we’ll be left instead hoping for Suarez to fetch any decent fee or not get into anymore trouble, for Sterling to become truly world class and for our defense to come together.
I’ve read enough about Suarez’ chompers to bore me out of my own mind and, if it were mine, the other one Steve Martin has in that film of his. Surely we can all agree that el Pistolero is a genius on the pitch but that his crazed antics deserved sanction. He is not the first, he will certainly not be the last. The thing I find so disconcerting, however, is how disposable these players have become. Clearly, Suarez has unresolved issues. Clearly, he committed an act deserving of punishment. It does not make Liverpool any less of a club, it makes Suarez no less a footballer. It does make me wonder, however, how much like a commodity the modern footballer is. There is a tendency for players that, if not fitting into the mold of x y z and following all logical rules and regulations, it is very easy to become singled out and marginalised. And even then, as we’ve clearly seen time and time again, what is justifiable for one is not for the other. Not that hurtful behaviours are to be welcomed, but players such as Suarez (all biting aside) add something to the conversation of football. How fickle has the modern sport become when this is the major talking point in the midst of a major international tournament?
England international rugby player, Dylan Hartley, was banned for 8 weeks in 2013 for biting an Irish player’s finger, during an international match at Twickenham. He’s previously been banned for 6 months for eye gouging, and been sent off for calling a referee a “fucking cheat” to his face.
Yes, the howls of moral outrage are strangely absent when the words “England international” are involved.
As for Alan Shearer, didn’t he kick Neil Lennon in the face once? That’s arguably worse IMHO. Funny how they’re never on the BBC panel together!
Let’s establish some basic facts:
1 – The British media are, mostly, scum. The day I’m influenced by something Oliver Holt writes, I’ll put a gun in my mouth.
2 – Rival fans are hypocrites. Of course they are. For Luis Suarez, read John Terry, Eric Cantona, Duncan Disorderly, you get the picture.
3 – We are hypocrites. For John Terry, Eric Cantona, Duncan Disorderly, read Luis Suarez.
4 – Contrary to the consensual medical opinion that prevails on these pages, human bites can be very dangerous. Ask your doctor.
Also, comparing biting on the pitch with OTT tackles and elbowing misses the point. For right or wrong, there are certain indiscretions that come with the footballing territory. Biting isn’t one of them, however few careers biting may have ended. I’ve never heard of a case of spitting to end a player’s career, either, but ask any pro where spitting sits in the hierarchy of footballing crimes. If Suarez had fisted Chiellini it’s unlikely that would have ended the Italian’s playing days and he may even have enjoyed it, but that wouldn’t spare Suarez a long ban.
I think pretty much everything that could be asked of our club to accommodate Suarez has been asked and we’ve not been found wanting, even when it has resulted in us being traduced across the mainstream media. If LFC have decided enough’s enough, I certainly won’t blame them. And I’d be writing this even if we were talking about a player who was a boyhood fan and would in other circumstances spend the rest of his playing days here. But we’re not, are we? We’re talking about a player who wants to leave our great club. In fact, if he’d had his way, he would have left our club 12 months ago, and not just to join what is (arguably) the biggest club in the world, but also one of our main rivals for honours in the EPL. Thing is, I don’t blame players like Suarez for seeking out these other opportunities. He’s not playing for his boyhood team; he has no more ‘connection’ to Liverpool than Genghis Khan. I was similarly phlegmatic about Torres wanting to leave for precisely the same reasons (it’s Torres’ timing I had issues with). But the fact remains, he *wants* to leave. This leaves us looking like the desperate boyfriend who just can’t handle the fact it’s over. That thing when you beg her to stay even when you’ve caught her cheating, when you promise things will be better and for a while they are…it always ends the same way, right? The only question is: do you wait until you come home earlier one day and catch her being analised by the suave Spaniard from across the road, or do you cut her loose now?
Luis Suarez: if you love him, let him go.
Jim Boardman’s piece about this was spot on, and this one is pretty much the same, although arguing about number of times and profile is a bit disingenuous; let’s not be naive. The whole thing is about PR from FIFA’s real standpoint, so why wouldn’t they go harder on a higher profile case? The bigger the influence, the bigger the threat, the greater the deterrerent must be.
I agree with the comment that it’s a restraint of trade for him to not be allowed in a stadium, and I think this extends to the punishment of not being allowed to train with Liverpool. Correct me if I’m wrong but there is no precedent for that and it seems to me like it’s an added extra that the Barça/RM heads with influence over FIFA have ‘suggested’ to push LFC to sell – The media have only said that he isn’t allowed to train with Uruguay or us; does that mean he is allowed to train with another team?
As Adam said, the fact that the punishment gravely effects LFC, yet LFC aren’t even allowed to appeal is frankly laughable, and if I were a lawyer, I’d be trying to ascertain whether or not it is legal. Certainly I think LFC should appeal. If anything this happened in spite of us, not because of us. If not, we surely have grounds to sue Uruguay Football Federation, as this happened on their watch. This ‘Win at all costs’ mentality that seems to come from the national ethos has undone several careful months of conditioning at LFC, where Luis had behaved impeccably all season, winning the Football Writer’s Player of the Season awards etc. Did the coaching of Tabarez and the atmosphere inside the Uruguay dressing rooms re-ignite what Dr Steve Peters and Brendan Rodgers had worked so hard to quell? Even as the Premier League title slipped away from him, Luis Suarez didn’t sink his choppers into any Chelsea/Crystal Palace players. Why not? If he cried into his shirt, he obviously cared enough. Yet he didn’t even come close to the insanity that gripped him in Brazil.
But FIFA say never mind, the British media are stirring up all this trouble, give them bad-boy Suarez’s head on a platter and maybe they’ll forget about Qatar 2022, eh? All the other Premier League clubs are having a right old laugh about this, and as the OP says, why not? But how lamentable for FIFA to actually be influenced by the British media.
Suarez broke the rules of conduct to get what he wanted. FIFA punished him.
Then FIFA broke the rules of conduct to get what they wanted. Who will punish them?
Luis is our beautiful flawed son. FIFA are punishing him; fair enough, but their punishment is entirely misguided and punishes the family who were keeping him on the straight and narrow. Why? A more suitable ban would be a ban on next 2 World Cups and possibly a suspended sentence for all club matches – that’s it. Then if he commits another similar sin while playing for Liverpool, this punishment would be appropriate.
The unwritten rules of sport. Competitors must play within the rules/laws of the game or they are sanctioned by the ref. Then there are the unwritten rules which are accepted by all the players/coaches – anything goes if you can get away with it. The media can pretend different but morality doesn’t come into it. However, there are some things that are off limits.
Biting is one of the few things in football you don’t do. Like spitting – “It’s the worst thing you can do on a football field”. A little nibble won’t do much damage but you just don’t do it. See Chiellini’s reaction. Most other discrepencies are forgotten after the final whistle. Violence or career threatening tackles/assaults are defended with “he’s not that kind of player” because, those things are just acceptable.
His Massive and controversial profile is the thing though. Had it been a less famous player, even from Uruguay, then it would have been skirted over and forgotten quickly. Also he’s done 3 times now. For me though, he’s the ultimate anti-hero. He’s a genuine outsider. He doesn’t give a shit. We know that what other fan’s think is all because he’s ours and not theirs. If it winds them up that we defend him, then even better.
He’s the best player to watch on the planet. His will to win is incredible. Not only does his ridiculous effort demand more from his team-mates, but he brings the crowd along with him as well. Once he’s gone from Liverpool, whether it’s this summer, next or whenever, football will be a lot more boring. A lot.
A reason to sell him is that it’s for his own good. His talk of ‘retribution’ after the England game for the treatment he’s been given in the past? Face it, that will be like hero worship to what he’ll get next season if he stays.
Every sly John Terry type will be sidling up to him in a corner “bite me you dirty ****”. The media that named him player of the season will pounce about every fall in the box, every petulant swipe, trip or air shot… every headline win or lose will be ‘chewy suarez’. The begrudged respect he built from opposition fans after letting his football do the talking after returning from his customary late start to the season? The chant scribes in the Trafford pubs probably already have a binder full of biting (pun intended) satirical ditties.
There is a word in South American culture (Brazilian not Uruguayan) ‘Malandragem’- the bad boy, the hustler, someone who has no concern for ethics, win at all costs, but who is revered and even respected. (think puss in boots in shrek, you know what I mean) There is even a footballing precedent for the Malandragem, ‘Gérsons law’; “I like to get an advantage in everything.” Even the Uruguayan President more than hints that this aint exactly a negative personality trait.
It’s not a short fuse we are talking here, it’s an exposed powder keg. By all accounts Luis the man is a lovely fella, but Its like he was exposed to some gamma radiation that triggers a transformation at the merest whiff of winter green. The biting thing suggest some deep seated trauma that is etched into his psyche. His issues are written in his DNA, culturally ingrained.
If Liverpool want to stand by Luis Suarez, then its going to be the cry of the lover in a doomed relationship, ‘if you love me, then let me go’. The only way for him to move on is to move out, a fresh start a la balotelli. His own line needs to be drawn, because if Luis Suarez stays in the Premiership and thinks he can turn this round, support of the club or not, we’ll likely be discussing his total meltdown this time next year.
I for one wouldnt sell him, but as a Club I would fine him, if only to re-allocate his wages for the months he is banned towards the transfer & wages pot (a tad over £3M?).
IF liverpool did decide to sell, then why should it be at a significant loss as many of the ‘suarez hounders’ (or ‘fans of all the other premier league clubs except Liverpool’ as they are otherwise known) are saying.
He would likely sign for another club (Real or Barca) on a 5 year contract, as they will want to keep him long term because he is undeniably one of the top 3 players in the world.
So based on an average of say 50 games a season (assuming he played in league/champions league/domestic cup competitions), thats 250 matches he would be bought by another club to play for them in.
He will miss approx 12 of those with his current 4 month ban.
That means he would be ineligible to play in 5% (4.8 to be precise) of the games he would have played in had he not been banned and had he been transferred regardless.
So, at best any club wanting to buy him could maybe ask for a 5% deduction, which based on the alleged £80M release clause would mean they could ask to sign him for around £76M.
However every club, (particularly Real & Barca) are well aware of his past, this is not a ‘1st offence’, so to now claim hes damaged goods and should qualify any buyer for a substantial discount is laughable.
Furthermore, his release clause is (allegedly!) a figure at which Liverpool would enter talks with another club about selling him, it doesnt say they have to sell him for £80M.
With Bale going for circa £80M, and as Suarez is one of the 3 top players in the world, that figure should be significantly higher than £80M, and Liverpool would have known that when giving him a new long term contract, with a view to starting an auction to the highest bidder (between Real and Barca at least).
How much is Messi worth? Ronaldo similarly?
So lets start the bidding at £100M, see what figure we end up at, and then IF Liverpool do want to sell him, I’m sure they would consider a 5% discount.
#ynwa
With regards him not being allowed in a stadium etc, and possibly not allowed at Liverpools training ground, then there is a simple solution, legally binding and hence would be subsequently outwith the jurisdiction of FIFA.
If Liverpool were to sell Melwood to Suarez for an agreed fee (with a clause that should he no longer be a Liverpool player that he sells it back to them for the same amount of money, which would be wholly legal), then Melwood is no longer anything to do with Liverpool FC, and is a personal possession of Suarez, just as the purchase of a house would be.
Suarez has (we think) been banned from training at Liverpool by FIFA, however the other players at Liverpool have not been banned by FIFA from ‘associating’ with Suarez.
There is nothing in the FIFA ban stopping anyone, regardless of whether they are a LIverpool FC employee or not, from visiting him on his own property.
Nor could FIFA stop Suarez from having a kick around or training on his own property, that would be a complete breach of his human rights and would never stand up in a court of law.
Jobs a good’un.
‘When he committed his last indiscretion he wasn’t allowed to play for Liverpool, but was able to appear for Uruguay. Why isn’t the same true in reverse?’
Suarez bit Ivanovic during a Premier League game, therefore it’s up to the English FA to dole out the disciplinary action, not FIFA.
Suarez bit Chiellini during the FIFA World Cup. Funnily enough, FIFA govern world football, and can sanction worldwide bans on any player who breaks the rules during their tournaments.
Other than that, a good article. Personally, I think the ban is deserved. You can’t bite 3 different people without concequence. But you’re right, he’s a phenomenal player so I’d rather keep him at Liverpool banging in goals and take the risk that he’ll probably bite someone again and get banned for 8 months. When you play with fire..
Decent well balanced article quite unlike the irresponsible tabloid media contributions hellbent on whipping up hatred and mob hysteria. There’s no sense of perspective with them. So Luis is well out of order and he has these flaws and so he gets punished. But why punish Liverpool FC and the fans. Every subjective irrational reason in the book will be thrown at Liverpool by all those anxious to prize this phenomenon of a footballer away from us. Reject and ignore all the opposition crap Liverpool, prioritize keeping hold of Suarez and ram all their attacks down their
throats by having a great season ahead.
Let’s put it this way. Which would you rather have your family around, Glen Hoddle or Luis Suarez? Why anyone would listen to Hoddle, let alone, pay to hear his opinion, tells you all you need to know about the media’s credibility.
This is probably the best piece I have read on the whole affair so far: http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/donal-og-cusack/donal-og-cusack-suarez-is-just-another-crazy-mixed-up-kid-not-a-bad-person-273535.html
Great read but imo I think the severitly of the punishment is so great because mot that its amy worse than eye gouging,head butting etc but the fact he keeps Fu**ing Doing it #LFC #Suarez
“If Suarez had fisted Chiellini….”
so the bite was just foreplay?
Good read
NB – thanks for the link, that’s a super piece. It’s one that, along with another night sleeping on it, would make me soften my position a little. But Luis needs now, in the cold light of day, to acknowledge what he did and accept responsibility. That doesn’t appear to be happening, not as yet at least. Fair enough if he snapped again in a pressure situation, but if that’s what it was at least acknowledge now and admit he needs to start the rebuilding process again. Whether he does that with us is another story, because the suspicion is that he’d be off to Spain at the drop of a hat.
It’s all well and good to get all twinkly eyed talking about never walking alone and standing by your man etc, but you just end up looking ridiculous when that man wants shot of you.
The biting thing has got blown way out of proportion, for me the accumulation of events is the thing, particularly his desire to leave the club. If he were to accept responsibility for this indiscretion and re-commit himself to the psychiatric work at the club then I could get behind Luis again. But I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
Suarez has made watching liverpool a joy. Not only by his skill but his complete dedication to the cause.
Like most sane people I regret what he’s done, as I’m sure he does. But I suspect he reacted on impulse and didn’t think about it at all. I once punched at mate who jumped out from behind a wall to surprise me. I was sorry and apologised profusely, but it was an involuntary action.
The FIFA ban seems more about showing how macho they are rather than a measured response, maybe a nervous spasm from them as well. The length of the ban seems to target LFC as well as Suarez. Does FIFA think LFC has something to answer for?
Childs isn’t too bright is he?
Well Luis, I for one will continue to support you and pray the club and owners stand by their man.
I’d laugh my ass off if FIBA banned Kobe Bryant or Lebron James from playing in the NBA for the L.A. Lakers or Miami Heat respectively. The NBA would literally tell them to Fuck off.
Completely missing the point of the ban. Yes. It’s for biting someone 3 times. Yes, others have done violent acts more than once and not recieved the same punishment. The point here is he doesn’t learn from past discipline for a certain unacceptable behavior and that he has shown zero remorse for doing it…again. His excuse to FIFA is insulting to everyone’s intelligence. He lost his balance and accidentally hit his face teeth first on the defenders shoulder? Really? The point is he didn’t learn the first 2 times he was disciplined for this act and other equally terrible actions that he lied about doing (the Evra incident comes to mind). while I feel for Liverpool, they signed him right after his first bite and supported him after his second. They made the bed they lie in now. In the US sports, their commissioners can discipline players for stuff they did off the field or court even if they haven’t been prosecuted in a court simply for embarrassing their respective league’s reputation. Suarez went way beyond that and deserves everything he gets. I’m appalled Liverpool fans think this guy doing the same despicable act for a third time during a match regardless of what shirt he was wearing somehow justifies the argument that they shouldn’t negatively be impacted. Memo to you: you’re negatively impacted for continually enabling a player that has no repect for the game and the very shirt you root for.
I hope the next podcast isn’t just a wall of denial. I would like to hear at least one dissenting voice. Maybe, with a few days to calm down about it and look at what has happened rationally, the lads are able to see how much damage Suarez has just done to us.
Even in Uruguay, a few brave souls are now starting to speak out against Suarez. I would guess that these people are a little bit smarter and stronger-minded than the vast majority of their countrymen.
Whatever side of the argument you find yourself on, Suarez has now divided fans who were very-much united before this latest incident. Divided football clubs don’t tend to win a great deal.
The tribal one-eyed martyrdom and on-the-hoof rewriting of our own morality code, just confirms to neanderthal fans of other clubs that they were right about us all along. The bigotry will continue, although their voices will just get louder and more righteous.
‘Always the victims… it’s never your fault’ – how many more times are we going to have to listen to that dull song at football matches, next season?
Quite. Why sell Luis Suarez? Because he wants to go to Barca and he’ll make it happen. A lot of supporters seem to have forgotten he was desperate to join Arsenal last season for 40m + 1p despite the club having stood by him through both the Evra and Ivanovic affairs. He’s a world class player but I don’t see why the club or our supporters should bend over backwards to defend his actions when he doesn’t even want to be here! LFC is bigger than one player. Remember that.
Out of tune,blind folded by club supporting. Whether you like it or not Suarez action is disgraceful.
Like many fans replying to this blog, I too have been driven to add my two penneth into this due to the lengths people will seemingly go to. It surely all boils down to the simple fact that Suarez quite simply doesn’t want to play for this club.
His latest episode only is surprising as we expected it to be “Luis pleads to join [enter today’s preference]..” Rather than “Luis bites again”. Nowhere have I seen LFC or their fans mentioned in his sound bites (no pun intended)this is all about him.
The 1 paragraph press release on the LFC website following the ban says it all, even the club was completely in the dark!
Fans proclaim “we’ll never let him walk alone!” But seriously he couldn’t give a flying one, shouldn’t we be focusing our energy on the club and players who deserve it. If a deal cannot be brokered, of course he will stay. But rather like a wife, forgiving her husbands ‘descrepencies’ for the umpteenth time and allowing him back , it’s only delaying the inevitable, it’s staring us all in the face. I’m sure if the context of the original post had been ” Why should Liverpool suffer over Suarez?” We would have seen 100% support, as it’s obvious that the club and fans have done all they can with this guy.
So Barca started to get all shifty about a footballer that apparently won’t admit to the blindingly bleeding obvious and – VOILA! – Suarez comes out and decides to announce that he DID bite Chiellini thereby carrying out a complete 180 degree turn on what he’d told FIFA. Doesn’t run the announcement by the club that employs him first mind but then why would he? Beyond embarrassing now.
Still, all you Liverpool FANS keep defending him because we Liverpool SUPPORTERS are finding it hilarious.
He bit someone ? Did he I’m sure the Italian player will get over it cmon it’s always good having a bad boy on the team everyone needs to get the **** over it
erm… he dosen’t want to play for Liverpool. So the option not to sell is surely a secondary issue?
I’m Uruguayan and, till the last bite incident, I used to be a fan of Suarez. Being 43, I had an idol for the first time in my life. But then I realized he was and idol with feet of clay. The only truth is he brought shame to his country, to his mates and to his family. And worse than that, he was unable to say “Sorry” to his country, to the people who support, cheered and defend him (by the way, it’s false and xenophobic to say a whole nation can’t see a problem with his disgusting bites. A few dozen of idiots and a stupid president can talk nonsense, but that’s not a whole country). Biased media has put a whole nation on the headlines, because of HIM, and he doesn’t care.
He just doesn’t care. Now, I read Darren talking about: “His … angling for a way out of the club and away from the fans that have stood by him in the face of the shitstorms that HE brought upon the club”.
Very few people know that outside England, not in Uruguay at least… So it’s not new… That’s Suarez. I don’t want him playing for my national team again. He is a disgrace, no matter how good he is kicking a ball. And I feel bad because at the same time I know they will call him again. How can someone support people like him? He just doesn’t care.
(I apologize for my English. I know is far from being correct.)
£65m,…£70m….£85m…..!!!!!! this is the price ? So, it’s just about money ? LUIS SUAREZ IS OUR HERO !!!! HE MADE US HAPPY! BUT, WE JUST LET HIM DOWN ! next season Barcelona dream atac: MESSI-NEYMAR-SUAREZ, Liverpool again mid of the table! lallana-can -lambert…woooow. SUCH a bunch of s**t players!!!!
SUAREZ NOW; THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD !!!!
U LIVERPOOL FAN; YOU’LL CRY LONG TIME FROM NOW. REMEMBER THAT
RESPECT 4 OUR HERO
WISHING HIM ALL THE BEST