On Mansfield Park

The controversy over Liverpool’s narrow win over non-league Mansfield Town continues to swirl because of the figure of Luis Suarez and his handball into The Stags’ net. If that had been Jamie Carragher who had done that, it would be virtually be forgotten by now – one of those things – but because Suarez has done it, another chapter to his litany of onfield crimes is added. This is the viewpoint of Alan Hansen and even Mansfield’s manager Paul Cox was more concerned about the penalty appeals not given in their favour rather than the act of cheating on Suarez’s part.


Having said that, Cox showed far more class – even saying the referee and linesmen’s jobs were the hardest in the world – than Brendan Rogers who has become decidedly prickly since landing the Anfield hotseat and it would have got a lot hotter had he not beaten Mansfield. The most graceful thing would have been to offer Mansfield a replay at Anfield that they deserved. Arsene Wenger did that when he gave Sheffield Utd a replay after far less bad behaviour by his players in 1999 FA Cup (Marc Overmars scored when Arsenal should have handed possession back to The Blades, who had kicked the ball out of play so one of their players could be treated for injury). When Sunderland under Peter Reid were beaten in the FA Cup by a tiny side, it later emerged that, for the last few minutes of the match, this small club had fielded an ineligible player by mistake – something that would have seen them thrown out of the competition but Sunderland magnanimously allowed their defeat to stand as it did not materially affect the result and the lower league club needed the cup run for the money. I doubt Rogers would have felt the same way.

And let us not forget Paulo di Canio plucking the ball out of the air when the opposition goalkeeper lay in a crumpled injured heap on the floor, when the goal was at di Canio’s mercy. There was Andrei Arshavin who protested when awarded a penalty that it really wasn’t one. Finally, who could forget Reds legend Robbie Fowler arguing that he hadn’t been fouled and the referee was wrong to issue a penalty. As with Arshavin, the ref was inflexible and stood by their erroneous decision but the memory of the Corinthian spirit endures.

The alternative nickname for Mansfield is The Yellows but really that is the colour of the Reds, a club who threaten to turn mob rule on to an irritating blogger and post faeces through that blogger’s letterbox. The club that defended the racist remarks of Suarez so foolishly (and then Suarez’s non-handshake with Evra), something that was critical in Kenny Dalglish getting the sack. The club that has been decidedly mediocre for the last three and a half seasons yet still has delusions of grandeur (or at least finishing in the top four). The credibility of Liverpool has gone. And now, by not offering a replay or admitting any wrong had been done, so has the class. Once the neutral’s favourite club – that is long in the past.