Blood Red: Luis Suarez must now repay Liverpool FC’s support

Feb 4 2012 by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo

LUIS SUAREZ is guaranteed a rapturous reception when he walks out at Anfield on Monday night. Six weeks to the day since he last pulled on a Liverpool shirt, the Uruguayan will make his return to action against Tottenham.

Throughout the darkest period of his career, Suarez has been able to count on the backing of his manager, his team-mates and the club’s supporters.

Outside of Anfield, it’s been a very different story. In the mad rush to take the moral high ground, Suarez has taken a sustained battering.

Those who dared to question the process by which the FA’s independent regulatory commission found him guilty stood accused of condoning racism, which is quite frankly ridiculous.

Of course Liverpool made mistakes in the way they handled the race row and Suarez wasn’t blameless. Regardless of his intention when using the word ‘negro’ to Patrice Evra, offence was taken and he has paid a huge penalty.

But what his army of critics conveniently forget is that with Suarez’s admission straight after the game he provided the commission with their only shred of evidence to back up Evra’s claims. His honesty (and naivety) gave the FA something to cling on to as they built a case.

There’s no doubt that if a complaint had been made to Merseyside Police the case would never have reached court.

Yet with the FA acting as police, judge and jury all rolled into one when it comes to football disciplinary matters, Suarez found himself hit with an eight-match ban on ‘the balance of probabilities’.

The authorities made an example out of him and the 115-page report’s damning description of his “unreliable” evidence was an unbalanced attempt to justify the outcome.

Reluctantly, Liverpool and Suarez accepted the punishment in the knowledge an appeal would only prolong the saga and increase the damage to the club’s image.

Under intense pressure, Liverpool stood by their man. Now it’s down to Suarez to repay that support by making headlines for all the right reasons.