Ayre: Dalglish not hung out to dry

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has insisted manager Kenny Dalglish was not "hung out to dry" over the Luis Suarez racism saga, despite admitting mistakes were made.

Dalglish found himself facing a tide of criticism as the Uruguayan striker attempted in vain to fight allegations that he had abused Manchester United defender Patrice Evra in October, and was ultimately hit with an eight-game ban. However, Ayre was adamant that the management team had dealt with the issue as a whole.

Speaking on Sky Sports News, he said: "The great thing about Liverpool Football Club, and particularly the great thing about the team we have running that football club together day to day, is we are all in it together."

He continued: "We have a little word that we started using about a year ago, which is 'Unity'. We were unified during that process, we are unified as a management team, we are unified as an ownership and management team.

"Kenny wasn't hung out to dry and never would be. He's a very important part of our team. We were all involved in all of the process and we all move on from the process for the same reasons. He is a good man and we all support him."

Ayre acknowledged that the row could have been handled better, but added that Suarez - who reignited the tension when he did not shake hands with Evra when the sides met once again in February - and the club have moved on.

He said: "Look, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Did we get anything wrong? Yes, I am sure we did, but we move on.

"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."

Meanwhile, Ayre confirmed that plans to either build a new stadium or redevelop Anfield remain on course, although he admitted they will not come to fruition over the next two years.

But asked if groundsharing with neighbours Everton was a possibility, he replied: "It's a question I have been asked many times and I always default to this; in any business, you should always ask your customers what they think, and if we ask the majority of our customers, they say no."