Why I Feel Wronged By The Whole Luis Suarez Saga

 This last week since Luis Suarez bit Branislav Ivanovic has been difficult for rationally minded people, it's been hard, it's been tiring, it's been frustrating and most of all it's been exasperating. The whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth (excuse the pun) that I'm not convinced I'll ever fully get rid of.

 Let's start at the beginning.

 I feel cheated by Luis Suarez. Our talented Uruguayan is probably the most exciting player that someone of my generation has seen in a Liverpool shirt. His skill, work rate, love of the game and desire to win is unbelievable, he's almost like Fowler, McManaman, Barnes, Owen, Torres and Kuyt all rolled into one. When he was banned for racially abusing Patrice Evra I continued to support him. I'm not going to go over old ground but the evidence was never 100% substantial, and as long as there was even a tiny bit of doubt I wasn't willing to give up on him and hang him out to dry. On the occasion of his most recent indiscretion I felt let down by one of my favourite Liverpool players. Yes, I feel angry about the inconsistencies in the FA disciplinary procedures that mean he will miss ten games, but what is in no doubt at all is his guilt. Only he and Evra really know exactly what was or wasn't said when they squared up in the six yard box in front of the Kop, but when he inexplicably chose to bite Ivanovic on almost the exact same blade of grass the whole world saw him do it. I can have my opinions on the severity of his punishment, but I can do nothing at all to defend his behaviour. I hope he stays at Liverpool and I will continue to give him my full support, but my trust in probably the most dynamic player I've ever seen play for us isn't completely there anymore and for that I feel cheated.

 I feel cheated by the general public. For all it's problems I'm proud to be English and live in England. I love English food, the English sense of humour, English beer and certainly English football. The reaction of the English public to Suarez' bite left me in despair. Yes, he bit him. But it wasn't exactly a full blooded assault, my eight month old son regularly causes me more physical pain than Suarez caused Ivanovic. The reaction of the public was as if they'd seen a different incident. All of a sudden biting became the worst sin a person could commit. Had Suarez grabbed Ivanovic by the throat with one hand and punched him unconscious with the other he couldn't possibly have been more strongly condemned than he was for what was actually, in terms of how painful it was, a very minor scrape on a football pitch. The public reaction was nothing short of hysteria, there was nothing even remotely approaching a measured verdict, just a demand for the death penalty. People actually telephoned the police to complain about the 'assault'. Talk about wasting police time. It's just people wanting to see someone else get in trouble because they obviously haven't got enough excitement in their own lives and I pity them. And as for the lady who called radio 5 to blame Suarez for her son being bitten in school, don't even get me started on that one! I want to live in a society where at least the majority of people are right minded, even handed and not bitter about others making a success of themselves but it seems I don't, and for that I feel cheated.

 I feel cheated by the media. Seriously, some of these football journalists have been reporting on the game for decades and have seen things happen on a pitch that you wouldn't believe. They've seen all sorts of manner of violent conduct, all kinds of injuries and more dramatic confrontations than you can count. They're bound to put what was a very minor (but still very wrong) act of physical violence into perspective aren't they? They know what they're talking about. But I forgot, controversy sells papers. Nobody wants to read that what Suarez did was naughty but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't that bad, so nobody wrote that. People wanted a public execution so that's what the papers gave them. Jamie Redknapp and Graeme Souness, two former Liverpool captains who have seen a lot in the game and, one much more than the other, been involved in violent altercations, often of their own making. Claiming to have never seen anything like it on a football pitch when a high profile Premier League star had done the same thing only a few years previous smacked of hyping things up to get themselves noticed. It comes to something when you eventually find the voice of reason in Gary Neville. I respect the written word and the tradition of impartially reporting the facts, but now there's no way I can form an opinion of something I haven't seen with my own eyes by reading the trusty old back pages, and for that I feel cheated.

 I feel cheated by the FA. When the ban came through as ten matches I was shocked. I completely expected it and had predicted ten games, but only because I felt the FA would bow to the mass hysteria rather than actually look at what happened and reach an outcome that reflected what the crime was, not the over-hyped version of the crime doing the rounds on Facebook, Twitter etc... On 'Judgement Day' I'd somehow convinced myself that the ban would be in proportion to the offence so when it came through as more than double what John Terry received for calling Anton Ferdinand a f**king black c*nt I lost all faith in the organisation that presides over the sport I love, and for that I feel cheated.

 I feel cheated by Liverpool Football Club. After the negative press we got for the handling of the last Suarez saga I was very impressed with how we responded on Sunday evening. Lessons had clearly been learned. And then the charge was announced. All sense of a measured approach was lost. We stated that a three game ban was sufficient, why was that allowed to happen, never mind be made public? Yes, a three game ban for violent conduct is the norm, but whether you feel this incident was particularly serious or not it was certainly different and would be treated as such. There are four games to go in a season that is already over for us, keep your mouths shut and the logical four game ban will surely follow. Then the ban length was made public by the FA. It was clear that in attempting to tell the FA not to ban him for more than three matches we'd angered them and it had hurt Suarez' case. So what did we do? Criticised them, publicly. Ruining any chance of an appeal. Seriously, how hard would it have been to say 'I'd rather make no further comment on the matter until it is concluded'? I wanted a sensible response to the matter from LFC and they failed spectacularly and for that I feel cheated.

 I feel cheated by the Prime Minister. This morning David Cameron stepped in to condemn Luis Suarez' behaviour as an appalling example for children. This coming from a man who left his own daughter in a pub. Well firstly Mr Cameron, since you've been in power you've cut funding in several cultural areas and as a consequence my girlfriend lost her job, so Suarez will not be a bad example to my son as I can't afford to take him to football anyway, thank you. And secondly, I know you've been trying to make childcare more affordable, but having Luis Suarez bring up my kid is not a route I'm going to go down. There are two people who will be responsible for teaching my son what is right and what is wrong, HIS PARENTS. A few weeks ago Mr Cameron was asked his opinion on whether or not the Formula 1 Grand Prix should take place in Bahrain despite the country's deplorable human rights record - his response? 'That's for Formula 1 to decide'. So in summary, human rights = not for me to comment on, a little bite = where's the nearest microphone? I haven't voted for you before and I won't be voting for you in future. I believe politicians should run the country and focus on what is important but on this evidence it seems they don't, and for that I feel cheated.

 I feel cheated by the FA again. I'd just got my head around the ten match ban. I'd rationalised it. Suarez accepted a seven game ban for a similar offence a couple of years back, he repeated offended so yes, I can see the logic in giving him the same ban again with a few games added on as he clearly hadn't learned his lesson. But then came the FA report with their reasoning. I'm not going to take it apart in great detail as I'm sure several other websites will be doing that. But in short biting somebody is more serious than tripping over a referee because it got more mentions on Twitter. So it has to be ten matches. The Jermaine Defoe bite cannot be considered a precedent as the referee saw it, and the other biting incident (Chester's Sean Hessey receiving a 5 game ban) won't be looked at in any way, shape or form as part of deciding what punishment is appropriate. I'm convinced Suarez' decision not to appeal was not based on him thinking the punishment was fair but on him expecting his ban to be extended if he did. And this extension would come from the same FA who appealed Wayne Rooney's red card for England when his guilt was as obvious as Suarez' in this case. I can't quite believe how far out the FA have got their priorities and I have no faith at all anybody will be punished fairly by them in future, and for this I feel cheated.

 It can't be all doom and gloom. I don't want to be bitter and angry so I'm looking for good in this whole situation too, and it's not hard to find. For a start the Hillsborough Family Support Group has an extra £200,000 to help it's cause. And surely now the FA (with it's new Man Utd supporting chairman, assisted by his Man Utd supporting vice chairman) will come under intense pressure to reform it's disciplinary procedures which currently seem to follow the 'we make it up as it suits us' rule and not a lot else. And also this week Man Utd won the title for the 20th time and it has slipped totally under the radar so every cloud......

 That's it from me for now, I'm off to watch some rugby.