Fergie response to Suarez ; You cost Kenny his job!
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Suicidal defending: Dalglish's support for Suarez got him fired - Fergie
United manager says he wasn't surprised to see his fellow Scot get the chop at Liverpool after the way racism saga was mishandled
Sir Alex Ferguson says Kenny Dalglish got himself sacked by Liverpool with his mishandling of the Luis Suarez racism row.
Dalglish was fired at the end of last season and Manchester United opposite number Ferguson said his fellow Scot's unstinting support of Kop star Suarez ultimately cost him his job.
"I wasn't surprised at Kenny leaving," said Ferguson. "I think John Henry [the Liverpool owner] has obviously looked at the Suarez incident and felt it wasn't handled in the right way.
"I think that must have been part of it. It certainly wasn't a nice thing to happen, you know."
Suarez was banned for eight matches by the FA after an independent commission found him guilty of racially abusing United's Patrice Evra during a game last October.
Suarez re-opened the race row this week in an interview in his native Uruguay
T for trouble: Suarez and team-mates sport those now notorious t-shirtsDalglish continued to back his striker, even after Suarez was found guilty, and claimed the player was the victim of a conspiracy.
Among Dalglish's ill-advised actions during the saga was his idea for the Liverpool squad to wear t-shirts in support of Suarez before a Premier League game.
Suarez re-opened the race row this week in an interview in his native Uruguay, during which by claimed Manchester United's 'political power' had got him banned.
He spoke out even though Dalglish's successor Brendan Rodgers has said it is time for Suarez to move on and for the whole issue to be consigned to the past.
"I've seen that Suarez has gone back and talked about it," said Ferguson. "If Suarez keeps on making headlines out of it then it's not going to go away."
Ferguson, speaking in Durban, South Africa on United's pre-season tour, dismissed the idea Suarez was the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by Liverpool's arch-rivals.
"I don't think that was anything to do with Manchester United," said Fergie.
I think that was to do with Patrice Evra. But it wasn’t Evra’s contribution, it wasn’t Suarez’s contribution, it was the expert they called in to explain the cultural differences. He was the guy who killed Suarez.’
Ferguson also refuted Suarez’s claims that Evra was at fault for their failure to shake hands before the two teams met again at Old Trafford in February.
He said: 'The handshake was disappointing. He came out and said Evra’s hand was low. There is no doubt Evra put his hand towards him. I think Evra expected him not to shake hands. Evra actually said that to the lads.
'He just felt that he wasn’t going to shake his hand. He was sort of embarrassed to put his hand there.
'It's Suarez, he’s the one who should be making the effort to do something about it.'
Despite football being shown in a poor light by the Suarez/Evra episode and John Terry's recent trial, Ferguson said he did not envisage a return to the dark days of discrimination.
"I don't think there's cause to worry about racism in England," said Ferguson. "Since I've been down in England we've made great strides forward. I don't see any problem with the game in terms of race.
"Obviously, I don't know what he [Terry] said - there's a lot of speculation about what he said and why he said it - but I don't think it's a problem."
Flashpoints: Suarez and Evra clashed last season with damaging effect
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Off the field there were also problems, with the mishandling of the Luis Suarez racism case at one stage prompting Dalglish to issue an apology for his tone while being interviewed on television. That revealed the first cracks in the relationship between the manager and his bosses.
Those people in Fenway Sports Group are hypocrites, if they really unhappy with the racial / racism issue of Suarez, they should have sacked the player first!
It is all about money and performance, the fans loved Kenny too much.