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Sorry ‘King’ Kenny, it’s too late

February 13 2012 at 12:04pm
By Ian Ladyman

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Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has not acted in a manner becoming of a manager of such a great club.

ONE hundred and twenty days. That was how long it took for Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool to finally get something right.

That’s 120 days to work out how to do the decent thing.

When they came – midway through Sunday afternoon – statements from Dalglish, Luis Suarez and managing director Ian Ayre served their purpose and, for once, delivered a clear message.

Finally, four months after Suarez and Patrice Evra clashed in the penalty box at Anfield on October 15, Liverpool declared themselves ready to move on. Finally, there was some contrition, some responsibility. It was all long overdue.

Forget all the other low days this club have endured since mid-autumn. Forget the days of the silly T-shirts and the rambling, bemusing statements. For none has been lower than Saturday.

A visit of one of England’s flagship clubs to Old Trafford remains one of the stand-out fixtures of the year. Manchester United v Liverpool on a winter’s Saturday. What is there not to like?

Liverpool's Luis Suarez refused to shake the hand of Manchester United defender Evra, their first meeting since the Liverpool forward was banned for eight matches for racially abusing Evra in October 2011.

Here, though, Liverpool – clumsy, arrogant Liverpool – failed by the curled lip of their striker and by a floundering manager buried deep in denial, shoved a great spectacle into the shadows. In its place they revealed their darker side and how ugly it looked. Self-serving, out of touch, paranoid, delusional. Take your pick.

How important is a handshake? Suarez clearly thinks it means little. To him, dignity remains optional. Saturday at Old Trafford presented the Uruguayan and Liverpool with an opportunity. Take a deep breath, put out your hand and put the past to bed.

Just do the right thing.

It was a goal as open as the one Suarez volleyed the ball into late in this undistinguished game. He wasn’t interested, though, and, to make matters worse, his manager didn’t – at that point – really seem to care. On Sunday it emerged that Suarez had been willing to go along with Dalglish’s suggestion last week that he would shake Evra’s hand. He had been instructed to swallow his substantial pride. It seems he changed his mind, ignoring his manager and effectively calling Dalglish’s authority into question. It appears it was this, as much as anything, that prompted Suarez’s apology on Sunday and Ayre’s subsequent criticism.

Still there was no contrition or explanation from Dalglish after the game, though. And no website statement, no Sunday afternoon apology will make us forget that.

Instead of addressing the issue with Sky’s impressively persistent interviewer Geoff Shreeves, Liverpool’s manager once again sought refuge in sneering, condescending aggression. It was as embarrassing as it was offensive.

Liverpool players wore Luis Suarez shirt in support of the player when he was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra.

Sunday, Dalglish apologised, though not to Shreeves. In doing so, he appeared to suggest he wasn’t aware of Suarez’s actions when beginning his interview. That seems extraordinary. As painful as it is to acknowledge, the spirit of Dalglish runs right through the middle of this saga. It has done right from the moment he saw Sir Alex Ferguson accompany Evra to the referee’s room after the 1-1 draw on Merseyside last year.

Suarez is a young man of 25. A South American gun for hire already playing at his fourth professional club. He has no great understanding of the English game or all that Liverpool and United have done over the past 40-odd years to advance its cause.

Dalglish, though, has been in the vanguard of this. His goal brought England only its third European Cup in 1978. He managed Liverpool to a League and FA Cup Double less than 10 years later. He dragged the club through the horrors of Hillsborough.

So what has happened since? How has it taken him so long to understand the damage the past four months have done to his club and its reputation?

Away from the field, Dalglish remains desperately out of his depth. Foolishly, Liverpool have allowed him to drive their defence – if it can be called that – of Suarez and he has let them down. Dalglish has though admitted his conduct on Saturday was not befitting of a Liverpool manager. But the point is that it hasn’t been so for quite some time and nobody inside Anfield has been brave enough to tell him.

On Saturday, Liverpool owner John W Henry seemed more preoccupied with lunch than soccer. “At Boston Bagel Cafe in Ft. Lauderdale,” he tweeted. “Great sandwiches.”

Henry and chairman Tom Werner, his fellow American, rarely go to Anfield. On Sunday the Liverpool FC section of the NESN (New England Sports Network) website part-owned by Henry claimed that Suarez had shown “strength of character to score in the face of adversity”. There was no mention of what had preceded the match.

Elsewhere, though, there are signs that the stench of the Suarez-Evra issue is finally beginning to drift across the Atlantic. Sunday’s edition of the New York Times carried an article under the headline, ‘Another Ugly Incident Mars Liverpool’s Good Name’.

The editorial ended by posing the question: “Is it time for Henry and Werner to state the direction the club will take on this issue?”

Anyone who has watched this saga unfold will know the answer, of course. Who knows how much input Henry and Werner had in Sunday’s statements. It is certainly interesting that they didn’t come until America – five hours behind – had ‘woken up’.

What is indisputable, though, is that their movements came far too late. To repeat, Liverpool have had 120 days to educate Suarez, 120 days to drag Dalglish into line. In that time, the club’s reputation has been allowed to nosedive.

On Saturday night, Match of the Day showed replays of the Suarez-Evra ‘handshake’ three times once their main highlights package of the action was over. They never once referred back to the goals.

Liverpool may ask themselves why that was. – Daily Mail

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Truthprevails, wrote

12:01pm on 15 February 2012

Hey Peter. You did say that all Cantona got for his indiscrection was 120 hours of community work.You were saying something about "the point you made" If you didn't know , Simmons racially abused Cantona.The same Simmons who attacked a Sri Lankan for no apparent reason. Sir Alex's point was that Pool are too great a club to have a nitwit damaging their reputation. How conveniently we avoid 2 important factors ; Your team were played off the park without the 1st team services of Vidic , Smalling , Cleverley , Jones and Nani.You can throw-in Ashley Young and Anderson if you like.Dalglish was convinced that Suarez was going to shake Evra's hand which was my other point.

Sorry ‘King’ Kenny, it’s too late

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