Standard Chartered Keep Suarezgate Alive, and Other Monday Notes

Bob Barker reference....classic.

Excuse me, did I see a Bill Hicks reference in the first sentence?

Or am I just dumb for giving credit to a comedian when back and to left is obviously just a JFK reference?

Yeah, sorry, just JFK—conspiracies, paranoia, never knowing the truth, etc. Plus the Seinfeld clip. It may not be Hicks, but I've always liked that sequence.

As has been written numerous times, can we all make a promise to "draw a line under this"?

I don't care to hear about sisters, linguistic experts, t-shirts, hadnshakes or PR departments anymore.

I support Liverpool Football Club and I'm interested in the performance of the team whenever it plays - the next game being an FA Cup tie against Brighton.

The damage has been done and how we pontificate on it matters not.

Lets do our talking on the pitch and bring home a couple of cups and fight to the end for a top 4 finish.

Noel/Ed - no offence intended for your balanced reporting of the events so far but can you promise to ignore all future media resumptions of this 'race row'?

That'd be nice, and while we're not under the assumption that this is the only place that people get their Liverpool news, I feel like we need to at least mention what's happening, as regrettable as it might be.

So as long as everyone stops making an ass of themselves, yes.

Part of that depends on how much other stuff we have to talk about. Certainly if we've got other topics we want to deal with anything Suarezgatey is going to get pushed to the back of the line.

For anyone keen to take some time off the Suarezgate, only to indulge in a really fantastic video compilation that's only going to reopen the wounds of the departures of Alonso, Rafa and etc, give the following link a click.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Fantastic stuff for anyone especially if you've been following what the club has been through for the past couple of years.

Respect.  Like I said recently, if Dalglish ever goes, there's only one man to replace him.

Think no matter what the media does to our managers, players or fans, the only thing they really do is to strengthen the bonds between the holy trinity. 

Our managers are not chosen by the media, except for one of course. They are chosen by the very people who love Liverpool. 

I'm not a fan of the siege mentality. But, I do believe that those of us who have seen what the club has had to go through in recent memory, these events will only serve to reiterate that we've got to make our support for the club, the manager and the players count because no one else will.

I want to be neutral. If Suarez had the hand shake, Evra will never celebrate the way he did after the game. Even he had now, Fergeson did the right thing to say "he should not have done this".
I remember Rafa B did not like Jose Mourinho, but they did a hand shake after a game without eye contact, leave the media little to write. 
IMHO, Suarez should have done alot before the whole thing blow out, Liverpool club should provide the sensable advice to him. Suarez should has said sorry that a wrong word has been use unintentionally. Don't always think that letting people take advantage is a bad thing.
We back our supporting team player, but not blindly.
Liverpool should now keep low, let the football do the talking, win the Carling cup and continue to move on.
I still love Suarez as a football player, but not the way he conduct himself. But these will be forgotten and forgiven as time go by.

You have sensible thoughs Antonio.  

remember, when Sepp Blatter said things can be dealt with in a handshake on the pitch he was viciously condemned by the whole media and governing bodies.

Now the same group say Luis can only be redeemed by shaking hands with Evra.

It is hypocrisy.  It is very English who like principles and fairness but often fall short themselves.

Ferguson falls short every season with his players' conduct on and off the pitch, but I think has been trained in media and communication.  

Liverpool haven't learnt that lesson.

Fuggin banks.

Sadly we will probably have to put up with this circus until the summer when the England team will crash out of the Euro's after three games. We can then all relax as in the absence of an Italian manager, the press desperately tries to find a winking or handballing foreign player or ref to blame for England's failures.

In the mean time us Liverpool fans should back Luis Suarez 100%, cheer his name every game, support the bloke and let him know that YNWA. 

Where do you buy those Suarez #7 shirts they used for the show of support?

http://www.liverpooltees.com/s...

Suarez might have a mercurial temper, but I sincerely believe he believes he was innocent in the original charge - and as such had to suffer a grave mistake in judgment. I really feel for the guy. Not only did he suffer through the 8 match ban, but now because of all this, this just will not die.

To be honest, I have been in such situations, and just refraining from punching the guy who framed you falsely in the face is a victory. But... not if you play football in England, I guess.

Poor guy.

Oh, you could punch him if you like.  

You could give him a kung fu kick; 
You could assault him on or off the field; 
You could refuse to shake his hand and some years later berate someone else for doing the same; 
You could start any number of fights in the tunnel;
You could make up a story about him to the FA;
Heck, you could even steal his donuts

But, if you're going to do any of these and still intend to be paraded as a top player and possibly even get your manager a knighthood, you'd better have a good PR team and lots of inside connections.    

Brilliant video.  1st smile since before the weekend.

I'm tired of reading long, 5 paragraph comments. Can we go back to the drunkenly conceived sarcastic 1-liners that were the norm before this whole club drama thing came up?

I'm your huckleberry. 

That's just my game.

umm...Patrice Evra, AKA Pat Rice 4 Ever!!!!
So, Utd and Arsenal are clearly in cahoots to sabotage our season. Those dirty bastards, I should have known it all along.

http://www.google.com/search?q...

Needs more Lucas

"His likes include chicken, cuddling, and drinking his milk from silver cups. His dislikes include dogs, Evertonians, and the London media" Hahaha, thanks Noel, that is the kind of line we all needed after this depressing weekend.

"The sad thing is, we may never know the real truth."

what, about the cat?

no, from the clip lol

To the people sanctimoniously demanding an apology from Liverpool fans.  Look to the plank in your own eye and stop trying to extend the Suarez-Evra row for your own political gain.  There is no moral high ground here - so stop trying to find it.  This issue is not racial and Suarez is not a racist.  The whole thing for Evra and Fergie has become political and machiavellian to the point of being discriminatory itself.  The media appears to favour the views of Man Utd fans but perhaps they will at least listen to John Barnes, who is the only pundit making any sense on this issue.   As Barnes insists - what you propose does not fight racism - it just reduces a complex issue to black and white and actually encourages racism.  Suarez has been foolish and petulant - but he is alo a south American immigrant with a poor command of English.  The finding of his "lesser character" by the FA in their kangaroo court of "probability" could be said to be racially motivated.  The following and ongoing media witchhunt has now become a form of racial profiling and cultural defamation.  No one is covering themselves with glory here!

Evra is a dubious character with a sordid past and there is ample video documentation of his own epithets and slurs, including the full N word that he wrongfully accused Suarez of using in his initial charge.  He is known for winding up players and exacerbating situations.  His antics on Saturday were despicable - as is the fact that the FA didn't address his own insults to Suarez in the first place.  Fergie has no moral authority whatsoever either - so you won't get any righteous traction by echoing his sentiments.  He is perhaps the most hypocritical person in the history of the game after continually defending the awful antics of Cantona, Keane, Rooney and others.  How dare he tell another club to sell their player!  The fact that the FA didn't find this unconscionable just shows how inequitable and uneven they are - and that unfairness was what started and prolonged this whole thing.  As for his comments on racism - he is obviously so detached and hasn't got a clue.  Racism exists in all forms on every ground in the country and the recent self-righteousness of the FA and media does nothing at the root level.  John Barnes is eloquent on this point.  If you put a club under a microscope, as you have done with Liverpool, you will find it everywhere.  But it exists in many forms - not just black and white - many immigrants and minorities suffer too.  The reductive and reactionary actions of players like Rio Ferdinand do not equate to an "anti-racist" effort - they amount to retaliation and counter-racism.

So I ask people to please stop being so reductive and blinkered and consider all the complexities of this issue before making your demands.  Liverpool, whether you accept it or not, have apologised.  Manchester United have not.  Suarez paid for his "probable" crime.  Evra did not.  Dalglish has been vilified.  Ferguson has not.  Please don't repeat the folly of the FA and hand out uneven judgement.  

 Although I do pity your situation, and I feel like the club has been demonized in the media, I think most of the blame needs to go to your manager and to Suarez.

He admits to saying it, but claims that in his homeland that it is not a racist term. Just apologise from the start if it were just a misunderstanding. It is very simple. Any mature adult should be able to understand that if Suarez is telling the truth, then he should have apologized and explained.

Everything you say is true to some extent, especially about Ferdinand, and I think Evra celebrating like he did on the weekend fits into the same category, I think you are being overly dramatic about this.

There isn't a button that describes how much I like this comment...

Noel/Ed: perhaps a word with the Tech Boys and put a Turbo-Like button in somewhere. You never know, it might get used for you some day! ;-)

Thank you for this post.

the f'n FA mistook PROVOCATION for racism.  the row was acknowledged by the monster of a 115 page report THEY issued. for fucks sake on every pitch in every part of the world these exchanges take place with insults spewed which make the overly-hyped, media-fed, manc witch-hunt spawned, suarez evra banter seem like a kindergarten exchange.  just unfortunate the fall-out landed on LFC's head and put a dent in our season but we'll come out allright.  we're in contention for more silverware this season than manure and i'll be surprised if they get anything.  

The media have chosen to forget many things.  A significant one is that Liverpool football club chose to accept the commissions findings very quickly after release in the bigger interest of fighting racism in sport.  The bile being spouted by the media totally ignores this.

Having viciously condemned Sepp Blatter for suggesting things can be settled by a handshake on the pitch, now Luis, the club and the manager apparently can only have gained redemption by Luis shaking hands on a pitch, never mind the 8 game ban suffered by the club and player.

English hypocrisy, it's as old as the Empire.

The problem with Liverpool not contesting all this, is that now Suarez was not found guilty under dubious circumstances, now he IS guilty of racism for the rest of his career.

Well, he was guilty the minute the media and public decided to find him guilty.  And he was definitely guilty the minute the panel decided that he was probably but not definitely guilty - if that even makes sense.

Basically, the actual verdict was not up for appeal.  The club could only appeal the length of the ban.  The FA specifically made it such that no one could contest the findings of the panel.  It's not like Liverpool didn't want to appeal.  Simply put, that option was never available.

Lord Ousely had written that when a player's reputation was at stake, there should be proof beyond reasonable doubt.

The Commission ran rough shod over this principle, trampled into the dirt.  that's what the FA want. 

Quite the little Hitler is this Bernstein.  

Ouseley is also on the board of the Manchester United Foundation, so it's no surprise he changed his standards when a Utd player was doing the accusing -- calling LFC hypocrites, etc.

Funny how every time he was quoted in the news condemning Suarez and Liverpool, they always mentioned how he is the head of Kick It Out, but somehow they never mentioned how he is a trustee for the Utd Foundation.