Suarez: Evra saga laid to rest?

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Reds deny push to apologise

Liverpool say sponsors Standard Chartered did not pressurise them to apologise for Luis Suarez’s refusal to shake Patrice Evra’s hand.

The bank are nearly halfway through a four-year deal worth £81million and have discussed Saturday’s events with the club after Suarez shunned Manchester United defender Evra, who he was found guilty of racially abusing late last year.

However, the Merseyside club insist the sponsors were not behind their decision to make three apologetic statements coming from the Uruguay international, manager Kenny Dalglish and managing director Ian Ayre.

“Ian Ayre kept Standard Chartered fully informed of developments over the course of the weekend,” said a statement from Liverpool.

“The actions the club decided to take on Sunday were supported by Standard Chartered.”

On Monday the bank confirmed they expressed their concerns with Anfield officials.

“We were very disappointed by Saturday’s incident and have discussed our concerns with the club,” said a statement from Standard Chartered.

Since the club expressed their regret over the situation, Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe, told Sky Sports the move was needed for the healing process to begin.

“The apologies are welcome, it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” he said.

“I would say it probably is time now that we started to heal, we started to look at the issues that have been thrown up and we move forward as people are calling for.

“I think there are still some unresolved questions Liverpool need to look at.

“There’s still some lessons for the rest of us that we need to consider in the coming weeks, but it’s not too late, it’s never too late to say sorry.

“I think it shows British football has a lot to do really. There’s a number of questions that have struck us and one of those is clubs need to stop paying lip service and really take some of these social issues seriously.

“And they (Liverpool) need to think about how they manage star players.

“Clearly Kenny Dalglish’s concern here was to manage Luis Suarez and his protestations of innocence.

“But is it enough to say Luis Suarez is a top player for Liverpool FC, therefore we have to pull out the stops and damage our own reputation?

“I don’t think it is and I think that’s something clubs need to look at very carefully.”