At the time, when he was defended by Kenny and the team, along with the embarrassing fiasco of the T shirts, I was lambasted by posters on TIA when I said I believed he had intended to racially taunt Evra. I wonder how many have since changed their opinion.
Interesting to read Evra’s account. Although he was turned into the villain by most Liverpool fans, he comes over as a decent enough guy.
dont give a shit what anyone says about Luis,
he is someone who will do anything to win,
a born fighter and winner at all costs
he left us because he out grew us, simple!
He went to the best team in the world and made them better.
it was a privilege to have him play for us
I thought he was absolutely stupid for saying what he said. Not sure if intention was there. I don’t think the club did the right thing at that time either.
Surprising to see posters claiming now that Suarez did in fact racially abuse Evra. If I recall correctly, the overwhelming majority of the TIA forums back then believed that it was a stitch-up.
I wonder how many changed their mind after the Barcelona semifinal.
My position on it hasn’t changed a bit. Suarez used racially aggravated language towards Evra and was definitely trying to wind him up. But I don’t think he saw it as racialised, given the context of the word in his language.
The sense that Luis got a bit harshly thrown under the bus was reinforced by the fact that John Terry got half the ban for a much worse case of racial abuse.
To me it always seemed like a bunch of white men in blazers trying desperately to look tough on racism, by telling a mixed race man that a word he used from his own culture, which has very little history of racism, was racist. It needed dealing with, and some sort of sanction applied, but the whole thing could have been handled better.
Really? You know that for certain do you?
From this article which paints a much different picture..
The hard core of racism persists: deep inequality and barriers in access to opportunities, which are disproportionately concentrated in the white Uruguayan population.
then there was the Cavani case…
The thing that leaps out to me from that transcript, above the hearsay, the flimsiness of the accounts, the potential for misunderstanding and confusion, it’s this. Every single person is referred to formally - Mr Suarez, Mr Evra, Mr Kuyt, Mr Dalglish, Mr Marriner etc.
Except one. One person in the transcript gets an informal, pally sobriquet, which speaks volumes.
It wasn’t me
Suarez destroyed Man Utd at Anfield. Kuyt hat trick, but Suarez was brilliant that day.
He continues to shine…then Ferguson tells, yes tells referees to keep an eye on him. Says he dives. The die is cast, Suarez is a cheating little foreigner.
He didn’t cover himself in glory with the Evra incident, but the punishment was harsh. As @Mascot says, Terry the Ingurland hero got half the punishment in a much more clear cut case.
Suarez presented challenge to Utd, SKY, referees…he was always the villian. He was a twat at times, but it was never easy for him with the narrative surrounding him.
I saw Gerrard, Barnes, Dalglish, Rush, Souness all play…he was up there with them. Tremendous footballer. Pity is, Klopp would have helped him personality wise.
Suarez was Suarez, he did things where he can only blame himself, no one else. I don’t think anyone could’ve made him control himself better or change his personality.
Perhaps the whole language/culture barrier in England didn’t help, but he ended up in trouble also outside of England, so… that’s just him and some things you cannot change.
Klopp would’ve helped him by playing him in a better footballing side. And that’s it.
But it was also time he moved on where he wanted, win the biggest prizes and play in one of the best attacking trios the game has seen (even if it didn’t last too long).
I was surprised to hear on a you tube video recently that he is a massive fan of the Football Manager video games.
It actually isn’t “it”.
Suarez would have benefitted from Klopp’s man management. Klopp had an understanding of people, certainly better than Rodgers. Klopp would have channelled that aggression and energy. He loved winners and Suarez was a winner. All he needed at Liverpool was someone who atched his desire. Rodgers and Kenny Mk2 weren’t able. Kenny back in his glory days would have loved him.
My position hasn’t changed I remember you got in the neck for even calling it stupid at the time. Whether he was doing it deliberately or some act of stupidity it was fucking dumb and I didn’t much like the t shirts.
It never sat right with me. I was in the camp of giving him another chance (as everyone needs another chance). But as his recent antics did show , he clearly hasn’t changed.
I don’t really care whether he went to Barca , but you would think that he would change for the better after all these years , he clearly hasn’t.
I don’t mind saying this again and again. But throughout my professional life and personal life. I believe in treating people as people , anyone who doesn’t do that comes down majorly in my opinion. Suarez has shown that he doesn’t treat people equally.
I’m still in awe of his abilities as a footballer. But then as I mentioned before I’m in awe of MJ too and his music skills. Doesn’t mean I’ll respect them as human beings
I really don’t care what Terry did and whether he was rightfully punished or not.
I rate him as a person worse than I do Suarez though. Suarez for all his lunacy never went down the depths of sleeping with his mates wife.
And for all people who think Klopp would have improved Suarez.
He probably would have made him even better as a player. But Klopp is a hard Taskmaster when it comes to discipline etc. The no dickheads rule too.
And you can’t polish a turd (wrt Suarez as a gobshite human being)
Just like you constantly show how you have no idea what you’re talking about?
Suarez is an equal opportunity biter. He bites you no matter what ethnicity you are.
All that about him supposedly being racist is absurd. Somehow the narrative has shifted over the years without a corresponding shift in facts.
Cavani did the same too without even a fraction as much furore. The exact same word. Somehow it was fine and accepted as being non-racist then though?
When I first saw you mentioning MJ I first thought of Michael Jordan, and I realised that Jordan and Suarez are driven by the same psychopathic need to compete and to win, and while it led to Suarez biting and spitting and to Jordan treating his teammates like dirt, it also made them great at what they did.
That’s the extent that I’d go though, as we don’t know nearly enough to form an educated opinion about them outside their professional lives. Apart from that highly controversial incident, there’s nothing to suggest that Suarez is a racist. On the contrary, from what little has surfaced, he seems to be a nice and down-to-earth person. Similarly, Jordan may be known for his gambling and his bullying, but he’s also helped thousands of kids with his foundation and charities.
Ultimately, what I am saying is that when it comes to Suarez there’s more than meets the eye. You can’t possibly draw conclusions one way or the other.