There are a couple of things i cannot get my head around regarding this situation. Firstly what happened to innocent until proven guilty. For me Suarez has already been hung drawn and quartered in a pretty despicable example of trial by media. Shouldn't we be waiting and finding out what the actual evidence is before we prejudge the issue. What I have seen upto now is pretty inconclusive.
Secondly what happened to our ethos of us being a family. If and for me it still an if Luis has done something wrong then what happened to rallying around and supporting each other through the hard times. We are all human and we all mistakes and if Luis has made one then for me we should be rallying around him and supporting him. That doesn't mean trying to be tribalistic and looking to defend the indefensible but acknowledging that we all make mistakes from time to time but you have to recover from those mistakes.
In my twenties I frequently did things that were wrong and things that I am not proud of and would hazard a guess that the people who are so quick to condemn Luis probably did the same. It's not about the mistakes you make in life but how you react to them that counts.
Why not stick to together ride out the storm and lets see how it pans out.
Al, I don't disagree with you.
I supported Luis through every previous conviction, and I still stand by him. I also know that no one is hurting more right now than Luis himself. In a way he is caught between a vicious circle now of having to come out and apologize or play it down as not to detract from the rest of Uruguay's campaign. If Lugano or whoever maintains that nothing happened, then fair enough. However, FIFA know it happened and they will most likely come out with a statement soon (this evening or tomorrow). From then on it's very important how this situation is handled. If Luis and Uruguay continue to downplay it and maintain their stance it could be extremely damaging for Luis, even more so than right now. It could also have a bearing on Liverpool, because they could disagree with Luis's version of events and force a public apology. Not only that, it could be damaging for Liverpool because Standard Chartered or any one of our commercial partners could turn around next week and say 'fuck this, I don't want to be associated with this shit because it is damaging our brand'. I could be wrong, but the last time this happened didn't they make it clear that this type of behavior has to stop if players are wearing their name on their chest?
I'm far away from England right now, but I have had countless people come up to me asking me why he's done it, and what an idiot he is. They're asking me because I'm a Liverpool fan. They don't even see it from the perspective of Uruguay. I try to explain that he just loses it for a few minutes and he can't control it, but they don't' understand how a grown man can have continuous moments of madness, and attribute that to anything but a deep rooted problem. I don't even care about that, but I care about my club being mocked to the rafters. The most important thing is to change the perspective immediately. Stop trying to beat around the bush and acknowledge the incident, and admit there is a problem. Otherwise he'll continue to be the villian and public enemy #1.
It's a real shame this has happened, and it's a long way back from here. The club will support him, I am sure of that, but we'd be lying if we said they won't talk about it for a great length of time and discuss what potential impact it could have on them as a brand.
