What does Rodgers expect from wantaway striker Suarez after his transparent tosh?

By Patrick Collins

PUBLISHED: 18:05 EST, 10 August 2013 | UPDATED: 04:48 EST, 11 August 2013

In the course of the next nine months, the football managers of England will prattle a stream of pretentious platitudes. But as they clear their throats and prepare to break their summer silences, they know Brendan Rodgers has delivered a pre-emptive strike. 

Rummaging through his ragbag of all-purpose cliches, the Liverpool manager produced this selection: ‘There has been total disrespect of a club that has given him everything… We have a standard at Liverpool and I will fight for my life to retain it. The Liverpool Way is all about being committed to the cause and fighting for the shirt. It’s also about dignity and being dignified in how you speak about the club. And it’s about unity.’ 

One by one, the boxes were ticked: respect, dignity, unity and our old friend, The Liverpool Way. The person who provoked the  outburst was, of course, Luis  Suarez. There is something about the little chap that pushes even the sanest of managers to the brink of self-parody. And as Rodgers launched his rant, you could imagine an unrepentant smile spreading across the player’s features as he trotted off to train in solitary confinement.

Frozen out: Wantaway striker Luis Suarez has been training on his own as he demands a move from Liverpool

The manager’s criticisms were clearly justified, since Suarez is a manipulative chancer whose antics over the past couple of years have brought both his club and his sport into deep disrepute. If he were an ordinary footballer, then Liverpool would have marched him off the premises many months ago. But he is not ordinary. He is an original talent; brave, audacious and gloriously inventive. He is capable of transforming a club and shaping a season. Such people are consistently accommodated; their failings dismissed as foibles, their excesses reduced to eccentricities. Which brings us back to Brendan Rodgers. 

When Kenny Dalglish was dismissed as Liverpool manager in May 2012, his treatment of Suarez was widely regarded as a contributory factor. The picture of Dalglish and his squad wearing Suarez  T-shirts after the player had been found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra became the defining image of his brief and unimpressive tenure. When Rodgers succeeded, two weeks later, it seemed inconceivable that he would be guilty of similarly misplaced tolerance.

So let us consider the evidence: In late September 2012, he complained that Suarez was being denied valid penalty appeals. ‘He hasn’t dived, they’ve been legitimate, and he’s actually got booked,’ said Rodgers. ‘It would be a shame if players who respect the rules, and managers who are asking players to stay on their feet and not dive, are not getting the decisions because of it.’

A week on, after winning at Norwich, the theme was the same: ‘He now has a reputation for going down easily… He doesn’t get the rub of the green from officials, there’s absolutely no question.’
A further week, after a match against Stoke, his conviction had hardened: ‘There seems to be one set of rules for Luis and another set for everyone else… the vilification of Luis is both wrong and unfair.’ 

Three months later, the ‘vilified’ Suarez helpfully admitted he had in fact dived ‘because we were drawing at home and we needed anything to win it’.

Say sorry, Luis: Brendan Rodgers has told Suarez he must apologise to his Liverpool team-mates

It was around this time that Suarez scored against Everton and flung himself into a coy, celebratory dive. His manager beamed at the witless prank. In January this year, Suarez clearly handled before scoring in an FA Cup tie at Mansfield. Rodgers watched the damning replay, declined to  criticise the cheating and concluded: ‘It’s not deliberate, as it’s pushed up and hit his hand. It’s up to the officials to decide. That’s why they get paid as officials.’

Then in March, Rodgers announced that Suarez had changed for the better as a player and a person. ‘This is a guy who is trying to turn around his life and adapt to the culture,’ he said. 

A month later, the reformed character sunk his teeth into the Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. Rodgers was ‘bitterly disappointed’, but not by the offence. ‘It’s the severity of the ban that has hurt most,’ he said. And he added: ‘If you look at South American players, they do whatever it takes to win. This is the way they have been brought up. To fight for their lives.’ It was a pathetic performance; a series of managerial humiliations, willingly borne because the player was just too valuable to lose.

And Rodgers knew he had the bulk of the Liverpool following firmly alongside him, because they, too, recognised the striker’s worth.

Cliches: Rodgers has been guilty of trotting out well-worn phrases in relation to why Suarez must stay

But then Suarez went a step too far. Diving, cheating, abusing  referees, racial insults, biting opponents: the fans could swallow hard and overlook these trivial character flaws. But demanding to leave Liverpool was something else, something so heinous that forgiveness was rendered impossible. 

And so the manager launched that outpouring of transparent tosh about The Liverpool Way and fighting for the shirt, while taking care not to cut the ties with his most valuable asset. 

That Suarez has behaved shabbily will surprise nobody, since that is his nature. But his behaviour has been wilfully abetted by the endless indulgence of his manager. We thought Brendan Rodgers was better than that. It seems we were wrong.

Prior’s cynicism just not cricket

Amis all the wonderful froth and nonsense of an Ashes summer, Matt Prior’s remarks received scant attention.

Which was a pity. They were delivered at the close of the fourth day of the Old Trafford Test, when England had bowled at a funereal rate in their shabby efforts to kill time. Prior was in no mood to apologise; indeed, he seemed to believe that 12 overs an hour was just what the occasion demanded.

‘I don’t think we bowled too slowly but we weren’t going to be racing through our overs,’ said England’s wicketkeeper. Then he added: ‘We’d be more than happy if it rained for the whole of the last day.’ 

Win at all costs? Matt Prior claimed he would be happy if the rain washed out the final day of the third Test

Some will consider that an honest reaction; if winning is the only important thing, then anything goes. To hell with the spectacle, the paying public and the sport itself. Let’s stare at the dark clouds and pray for rain.

Others will shudder at the cynicism. If the actual play is unimportant, then why not simply toss up for a result? Alternatively, why not pray for 25 days of rain, a deluge a day to wash out the entire series? It wouldn’t do much for the British tourist industry but it would ensure that the Ashes remained in English hands.

In the world of Matt Prior, that might seem a justifiable outcome. The rest of us will have our own views.

Heat is on FIFA over winter World Cup

The chances of the 2022 World Cup being played in the summer heat of Qatar are virtually non-existent. That is the good news.

But if the new FA chairman Greg Dyke is correct, there is a real prospect of the tournament being moved to winter. As a result, the world football calendar will have to be reconstructed, at enormous expense and inconvenience to countless clubs.

All change: Greg Dyke believes the Qatar World Cup in 2022 will have to be moved to the winter

The Premier League rarely merit kind word in this column but, on this occasion, their fury is completely justified. The summer option was a ludicrous decision, taken for reasons which only FIFA could explain. But, in their wisdom, FIFA took that decision. Now they must confront the calamitous consequences.

P.S.

Wayne Rooney has posted a ‘Thank You’ message to Roy Hodgson. Rooney, it seems, is grateful for the England manager’s ‘faith and support’.

After studying the text of his comments, scholars have concluded that this represents a subtle attack on his club manager, David Moyes, and another attempt to force a move from Manchester United.

Rooney is the man who once paid £200 for a packet of Marlboro cigarettes. The idea that he is capable of anything resembling subtlety has given us the first smile of this turgid transfer saga.

In the driving seat: Striker Wayne Rooney wants to leave Manchester United for Chelsea