Liverpool have given into reason and decided not to appeal Luis Suarez’s eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
Having assessed the findings, Liverpool notified the FA they will not contest the ban, which takes effect immediately, ruling him out of tonight’s match against Manchester City.
Accepting the decision now makes sense in that he will miss only 5 league games, the FA Cup third round match with Oldham and both legs of the Carling Cup semi-final against Man City.
An FA statement confirmed:
“Suarez will be suspended with immediate effect for a period of eight matches, starting with this evening’s fixture against Manchester City. “
Liverpool said in a long statement they remained unhappy with the decision but thought it in the best interests of the game not to appeal.
“Continuing a fight for justice in this particular case beyond today would only obscure the fact that the club wholeheartedly supports the efforts of the Football Association, the Football League and the Premier League to put an end to any form of racism in English football,” their statement said. “It is time to put the Luis Suarez matter to rest and for all of us, going forward, to work together to stamp out racism in every form both inside and outside the sport. It is for this reason that we will not appeal the eight-game suspension of Luis Suarez.”
Obviously some hard feelings still exist at Anfield about the FA’s decision. But pragmatic in their decision to accept the FA’s ruling and move on.