Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre
has admitted Luis Suarez's racist abuse and biting incidents have
damaged the Premier League club's brand.
Suarez
returned on Wednesday in the 1-0 Capital One Cup defeat at Manchester
United from a 10-game suspension for biting Chelsea defender Branislav
Ivanovic, having previously served an eight-game ban for clashing with
Patrice Evra.
Although happy to have the Uruguay striker back, Ayre said on the
ban: "It was damaging to the brand but this club is bigger than one
player. Luis is a street fighter and we had to deal with it."
"We all move on together. Hard work and lessons have been learnt
post-Evra and we now have a process in place for any crisis. Not a
Suarez crisis, just any one."
Ayre gave Liverpool supporters some further encouragement when he
described plans over the redevelopment of Anfield as having made "huge
strides".
He added: "Our ambition is to stay at Anfield, and we're about 90%
down the road in securing proprieties affected by redevelopment. I'm
reasonably confident, the first phase will be closer to 60,000
capacity."
Ayre was also pleased with the way he and owners Fenway Sports Group
were managing the club's operating debt and insisted that the cost of
Anfield's redevelopment had also been considered.
He said: "You should always be worried but it is important we manage
the debt. The business is headed in a positive direction and we will
announce numbers in January next year.
"The business is in excellent health and moving towards a profitable
position. The stadium's redevelopment is easily manageable."
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