Luis Suarez shirt protest was ‘misguided,' admits Kenny Dalglish

Players from the Anfield club donned the garments before a match at Wigan in a show of solidarity with the Uruguayan striker, who was banned for eight matches by the FA for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.

The club came in for heavy criticism from anti-racism campaigners, both for that incident and for their general handling of the affair. Dalglish, who was Liverpool manager at the time, conceded that the club could have done things differently, though he said he was not solely to blame.

“I think (it was) the club as a whole. It wasn’t just me,” he said. “The T-shirts were the players wanting to show their support for a team-mate.

“It might have been misguided and not have been right but it was not me who decided it.”

Dalglish added on talkSPORT: “A lot of things were misguided, misinterpreted and misrepresented. I was always brought up to tell the truth and what I believed to be the truth I said.

“If it ever came up again I would do it differently. I would be less helpful and less forthcoming and I think that is sad.”

The Scot believes there is a grey area over what kind of language is acceptable on a football pitch. “Also, what is the correct terminology, what is the wrong thing to say?” he said. “There are obvious ones out there you wouldn’t dream of saying, but they need to educate us and give us a guideline.”