To Sell or Not To Sell: Is any player bigger than club and country?

Suarez, Suarez, Suarez: Everybody involved in football is talking about it. Some are verbally spitting at Suarez and calling him insane, stupid, childish and even racist (Evra's incident 2011- 2012 season).

A few Liverpool fans have called me and Facebook me expressing their anger and disbelief. Some say that Liverpool can't afford to sell Suarez because of the club's dismal standings in the league. Some say no one is bigger than the club and he should be replaced.

Ted, Cardiff City fan, called me while I was overseas and lamented his anger over Suarez and called a him a thug and the ref a blind "so and so" for not showing him the red card for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.

I too have my opinion on this issue whether a player is " bigger than club and country"!

It is not easy to make a decision to get rid of a player like Suarez. I wouldn't like to be in the manager or club chairman's position to make a decision of such nature. 

Even as a team mate....you will face a dilemma. Imagine players like Gerrard and Garragher who hold the reputation of the club in every aspect of their lives. 

What about a younger player like Sturridge.... does he look up to someone who is a goal scoring genius but has character flaws or does he smirk at Suarez and tells himself  "I rather not score if I am going to be anything like Suarez as person."

Before I express my views on this.... I recommend you read the below article by Lee Wellings (is the Sports Correspondent for Al Jazeera English based in London.)

24 April 2013 GMT: 1:22

Lee Wellings: Biting the hand that feeds you. Are fans cheering the indefensible?

 Published on Tuesday, 23 April 2013 12:12

The chances are that at least one of those eleven footballers you are cheering is what English people might call a wrong'un. A ne'er do well. A nasty piece of work. Increasingly you suspect it's far more than the odd bad apple, but half the team.

I raise this of course because of Luis Suarez, arguably the third best player in the world and with a charge sheet longer than the bite marks in Branislav Ivanovic's arm.

Rarely has a player troubled the moral compass of a clubs fan's than this curious little Uruguayan.

The Liverpool fans adore him, to use the theme of their favourite Suarez chant 'they just can't get enough'. This is perhaps unsurprising in an age where fans are desperate to see winning means something to the highly paid payers. THAT work rate, the unique ability to pickpocket defenders, those quick feet, is all that has kept Liverpool from the kind of mid-table mediocrity the rest of the team sadly amount to. Suarez has been Liverpool's entire attack since arriving from Ajax. But at what price the club's reputation?

To produce that vile, odd, heinous act would be barely forgivable on any day. To do it after such moving tributes to the Hillsborough victims, to the wonderful campaigning mum Anne Williams, and to the victims in Boston, brought closer to this city by the owners, is unforgivable.

In other walks of life it would of course be a straight sacking. In this case it ought to be. Unprovoked madness.

Suarez has been fined by the club (with the money going towards Hillsborough families), but that won't stop the English Football Association going much further, with referee Kevin Friend having not seen and acted on the bizarrer incident during the 2-2 draw between Liverpool and Chelsea, with Suarez equalising in the last minute of injury time.

Maybe Ajax got it right - yes he has 'previous' of course. The bite in 2010 on Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal (the same year as his cheating at the World Cup when he smirkingly robbed Ghana of a semi-final place with a handball).

Ajax decided to ban him for seven games. He never played for the club again and was sold to Liverpool for under £23m, an absolute bargain it has to be said, even more so alongside the £35m Liverpool paid for Andy Carroll.

If they'd sacked Suarez Ajax stood to lose out completely so one has a sympathy with their predicament. Perhaps the sensible course for Liverpool is, like Ajax, to get the sale, because in football the morals are loose, there will be no shortage of suitors willing to give that second, third chance.

But where does this leave the adoring Liverpool fans, shorn of their only real hope?

I put this to them. Would you rather miss out on European football or go into Europe with Suarez representing the club? The second one I'm sure. But now think again. Pulling on that shirt? Really? It's easy to want to take him warts and all. But somehow, some time, you've got to draw the line. Even in football.

He's brought great shame on a proud club that has known more than it's fair share of real pain. There's no place for it.

You may have noted I haven't yet raised the infamous racism case. While it was awful, there are elements that had to considered. However damning the case looked, it wasn't an open and closed case of racism. It was 'guilty after forensic analysis'.

The language barriers definitely exist. His upbringing playing street football in south America really is a different world to England and it happened to be Patrice Evra who he clashed with. Evra was an uncomfortable man to be cast as the victim. He is old enough to know how to behave himself and I'm not sure he ever will. When his own manager (Sir Alex) criticised his behaviour after a United/Liverpool match you know he is no angel.

But ultimately the language used by Suarez was inexcusable. It was racism, pure and simple.

So there we have it. Luis Suarez the biting, snarling, cheating, culturally and racially unaware street fighter. With his little twitter apology for biting ending in an exclamation mark, reaching out on the idiots medium to the haters and pun-lovers, and with the club's media aware representatives trying to avoid a repeat of their Evra case shambles.

The issue of who you are cheering from the terraces is almost taboo. While opposition fans target everything from alleged racists to alleged rapists, the underlying pressure is to get behind your entire team, unless they are poor players. Talk about a moral crisis.

I was once approached by a female colleague to ask why an alleged domestic abuser was selected for a World Cup squad.

Football coaches have to go by the law was my uncomfortable answer - if he picked a squad on morals the would be no squad. But - I pleaded with the colleague - my own view is the law should be tougher and the perpetrator (England's best player at the time) should be behind bars.

Is it just me who is queasy when those who commit serial crimes return to action as if nothing has happened? Yes they have a living to earn, yes they have served their time, but a childish, stupid dance from someone whose actions resulted in a death is just wrong. Show some respect, goal or no goal.

I'm not saying Luis Suarez is in the criminal category but those around him should warn him he doesn't have far to go. I'm serious. Biting is not handball.

And this really has got me thinking about who fans should look up to.

One of the least heralded of Liverpool's former players is the Australian Craig Johnston. He was the 11th man on the team sheet, playing in a team that was regarded the best in Europe. He felt the need to practise harder than anyone else, try harder on the pitch, and was almost apologetic about being there. His crucial goal in the 1986 FA Cup Final was his gift to the fans, but personal tragedy ended his career while in his 20s shortly afterwards.

I watched him interviewed recently, barely able to speak through the emotion of his journey to the studio of the club's channel in Liverpool. The people of the city, from cab drivers to doormen had thanked him for his efforts for the club and shown their love for him. A love that's reciprocated. That's his legacy, though the man known for developing the predator boot would be humble enough to wonder whether he's fit enough to lace Suarez' boots in terms of ability.

When Rafa Benitez returned to Anfield before the match he laid flowers and a single red rose for Anne Williams. No wonder his name is still chanted at Anfield.

But if Suarez returns to Liverpool in 20 years time it's not now certain he'll be welcomes as one of the club's greatest ever players.

(Lee Wellings is the Sports Correspondent for Al Jazeera English based in London. Al Jazeera broadcasts into 300 million homes across the globe, in 130 countries and millions more online at www.aljazeera.com. Contact him at lee.wellings@aljazeera.net. Follow Lee on twitter: LeeW_Sport).

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Now that you have read the above article and have revised or formed your own opinion.... below is mine.

When I saw what Suarez did... I was shocked then I started laughing. Here we go again. The whole world will be up in arms accusing Suarez of everything. It would be " Me against the world" again for the Uruguayan.

Whether a player bites a another player or sleeps with another player's wife, it is a question of morality. Even if there were no criminal charges against Suarez, it is immoral what he did. 

Even though adultery is not a criminal charge, it is still immoral.

Based on that, Ryan Giggs should have been banned from playing for Man Utd for sleeping with his sister in law. Patrice Evra should have never played for France after initiating a strike in the  2010 World Cup.

Wayne Rooney should have been sold by Man Utd for screwing a granny. John Terry should have never captained England after the self righteous English media found out that he slept with his friend's (Wayne Bridge) girlfriend.

Frank Rijkaard should have never been the manager of Barcelona based on the fact that he spat at Germany's Rudi Voller during the 1990 World Cup clash between Germany and Holland.

Maradona should have never been crowned as Player of the Year or as many claim the Player of the Century based on his immoral "Hand of God" goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. He even went on to win the World Cup and became the Player of the Tournament.

So....stupid behaviors by players on or off the field is nothing new and has historically repeated itself.

But fans and the football world quickly forgets all this and only bitches about what is fresh in their minds.

I am not condoning what Suarez did and tarnishing Liverpool FC's name by his actions but he is not the first or going to be the last one to be stupid on or off the field.

To me he is not bigger than the club or his country but I don't want him to leave Liverpool when not many world class players rushing to join LFC.