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Liverpool made mistakes during Suarez affair - Ayre

Ian Ayre admitted to some recent mistakes from Liverpool's hierarchy © PA Photos

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Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has admitted the club made mistakes during their handling of the Luis Suarez saga.

Suarez was banned for eight matches after being found guilty of using racially-aggravated and insulting language towards Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, during a game between the two sides earlier in the season.

Liverpool always maintained the Uruguayan forward's innocence, however, a public show of support that drew widespread condemnation from the wider footballing public.

Ayre admitted that the whole affair could have been handled better, although he denied that manager Kenny Dalglish had been allowed to become a scapegoat for the groundswell of public opinion that developed against the Merseyside club.

"Look, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Did we get anything wrong? Yes, I am sure we did, but we move on," Ayre told Sky Sports News.

"The most important thing is we have certainly moved on, Luis has moved on and what's important now is everybody from our perspective focusing on Liverpool Football Club.

"Luis has shown he can move forward, he is back scoring goals, he is enjoying it, he made a comment about wanting to be at the club for the longer term."

Liverpool are currently seventh in the league after an inconsistent campaign, five points behind sixth-placed Newcastle with a game in hand. Despite the fact Champions League qualification looks unlikely this season, Ayre insists the club is on course to achieve the goals that have been set by John W Henry and the club's owners - and will sign the sort of players fans expect in the summer.

"We have always said it's about progress. When we brought these owners in and we all sat down, we didn't make the plan based on one year or two years, we made our plan in the long term," he said.

"It's about making progress and we have definitely made progress this season; already won one trophy, the semi-final of another, 10 games to play for 30 points, so it's about that.

"[Director of football] Damien [Comolli], Kenny, everybody involved in looking, assessing and signing players, will make those decisions based on what we need, not on where we finish in the league."

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