Former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish yesterday admitted he made mistakes during the Luis Suarez racism saga last season but washed his hands of the players’ controversial call to wear T-shirts in support of the Uruguayan.
The move by Liverpool’s squad to wear the shirts as they warmed up at Wigan last December was widely condemned as the Anfield club chose to publicly back Suarez even though he had been found guilty by the FA of making racist remarks to Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.
Dalglish now accepts the stunt was wrong but hinted that the matter was cleared by the club’s top brass. ‘There are other people with greater intelligence than me and greater responsibilities than me when it comes to something like this,’ he said.
‘I think it was the club as a whole. It wasn’t just me. The T-shirts were the players wanting to show their support for a team-mate. It might have been misguided and not have been right but it was not me who decided it.’
On the night of the Wigan game, Dalglish was fully supportive of the players wearing the T-shirts, saying they had ‘not caused any trouble’. He even wore one himself for a pre-match television interview.
Dalglish was sacked by Liverpool at the end of last season and his second spell in charge at Anfield will be remembered as much for the Suarez affair as it will for his team winning the Carling Cup and reaching the FA Cup final. Dalglish does not agree with United manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s assessment that the Suarez affair cost him his job but appreciates he could have acted differently.
Asked if his handling of the Suarez issue ultimately led to his dismissal, Dalglish said: ‘I don’t think so. That was up to them (owners Fenway Sports Group).
‘I can sleep at night knowing I did everything to the best of my ability and if that does not come up to their expectations or they want to go in another direction, they own the club.
‘The owners made the decision they thought was best for the club. They don’t want to make a decision which is detrimental to the club because if they did they would hang themselves because they have a huge investment in it.
‘Anything that is not done in a positive manner cannot help you but I was only the manager. A lot of things were misguided, misinterpreted and misrepresented.
‘I was always brought up to tell the truth, and what I believed to be the truth I said. If it ever came up again, I would do it differently — I would be less helpful and less forthcoming and that is sad.’
Dalglish, who was critical of the FA on a number of occasions last season, called on the governing body to revamp their disciplinary process to bring it in line with criminal law.
Suarez was banned for eight matches last season but Chelsea captain John Terry recently received a four-match suspension having been found guilty of using racist language towards QPR’s Anton Ferdinand. Terry had earlier been cleared in a criminal court.
‘There is no room for racism and the FA have a responsibility to clear it up,’ said Dalglish. ‘If they want it cleaned up they need to get closer to the rules and laws of the land.
‘You can’t be going to an FA tribunal and be seen (to be judged) on probability and you go to a court and it is “beyond all reasonable doubt”.
‘Also, what is the correct terminology? What is the wrong thing to say? There are obvious ones out there you wouldn’t dream of saying but they need to educate us and give us a guideline.’ – Daily Mail