I have never made a secret of my opinion of Luis Suarez but just in case you were in any doubt, I will recap: I think he is quite probably the most obnoxious footballer to ever play the game.

I’m not saying he isn’t sublimely talented and delightfully skilful, because he most certainly is. Almost on a par with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in terms of natural ability, in fact.

But as a human being he makes my skin crawl. Not because he makes regular mistakes (racism, cheating, biting to name his favourite three) but because he never has the courage or humility to admit the errors of his ways.

Everything he does wrong, every mistake he makes, every time he shames the name of football on the pitch, he either denies it happened, dismisses it as irrelevant or blames it on someone else.

Unfortunately for him, his latest crime – sinking his teeth into Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini – happened in front of the biggest possible global audience. No matter what happens in the remainder of his career, he will now forever be known to millions around the world as the footballer who bites. A reputation that had been dangling by a thread has finally come crashing down.

Over the past few days, we have heard some pathetic excuses for Suarez’s latest biting incident, many of them from people who should know better – his coach, agent, lawyer and team mates.

But by far my favourite is that this latest scandal is all part of a vendetta by the English media against the Uruguayan (the very same English media that voted Luis their player of the year last season, by the way).

The media, whatever their opinion of the player, cannot be held responsible for his barbaric actions. They merely report and comment on what he does, not influence it.

Suarez himself was once again cocooned in his own little bubble of denial.

“These things happen in the box,” he said after the incident. Erm, no they don’t Luis. Not unless you happen to be in it. Or maybe a rabid dog.

However, despite my opinion of Suarez, I have to say I am the tiniest bit uncomfortable with the way he has been singled out in this case.

Biting is wrong, absolutely. And being a serial biter is that much worse. On that basis, a four-month ban from all football activities is about right.

The bit that makes me uneasy is that he has been tried retrospectively for a crime committed on the pitch when so many others haven’t. Yes, his crime was unique, but should justice only be served on crimes that are out of the norm?

I have counted at least half a dozen incidents during this World Cup that have gone unnoticed by match officials but no punishment has been imposed on those players on the basis of video evidence. Some of them have been relatively minor misdemeanours, but there have also been one or two deliberate elbows in the face.

If Suarez can be tried and found guilty for biting, then surely these other players should have also suffered similar retrospective punishment?

As I said, I am not condoning Suarez in the slightest. This was just the latest in a long series of actions by the player which hint at him having missed a rung or two on the evolutionary ladder.

However, were Suarez to argue that he is being picked on once again he might, just might, have a slight point in the context of the other things that have been going on in this tournament.

Biting is uncivilised, ungentlemanly and has no place on a football pitch. But as a physical action, is it really that much worse than a deliberate elbow in the face or stamping on a player ‘accidentally’ in the aftermath of a tackle?

I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

No joy under Roy

Normally I am all for people being given a second chance. But in Roy Hodgson’s case I am happy to make an exception.

He is a football manager of such spectacularly limited talent that I am not entirely sure I would trust him to support England, let alone coach them.

Despite leading the three lions to their most humiliating World Cup failure in half a century, he doesn’t even know why, how or where it went wrong.

“We tried our best, we left nothing on the field. Two times we came out on the wrong end of the scoreline and that can happen in sporting occasions,” he said after the Uruguay defeat.

So that’s it? That’s the explanation?

Despite having two years to prepare for Brazil, despite having a blossoming young generation of stars to call on, despite having a backroom team large enough to fill an aeroplane, all that the second highest paid manager at the World Cup could come up with to explain the debacle he presided over was a politically correct version of ‘shit happens’.

The mind boggles.

The very least I would expect from Roy and his army of coaches, psychologists and sports scientists is a decent explanation as to why his team, allegedly the best prepared of the 32 in Brazil, were eliminated before Germany had even played their second game. Why a team that many thought might actually be World Cup dark horses instead vanished into a tournament dark hole.

Roy is paid £3.5 million a year to manage England and, despite that he couldn’t see two problems which were glaringly obvious to most of us who watched the Brazilian nightmare unfold – England’s players lack self-belief and no longer enjoy playing for their country.

There was a time when you would look at England preparing to walk out on the pitch and you would see a glint in their eye and spring in their step.

Even though they may not end up winning the match, they at least believed they could. Hodgson’s side go into most games weighed down by an overwhelming fear of failure.

Equally, just as the players no longer believe they can win games, so they are not enjoying the whole process of playing for their country.

Some will suggest this is down to the media hype that follows them around. But I disagree. I think the Football Association and Hodgson are collectively to blame for this aura of doom.

Everything about playing for England is so regimented, controlled and disciplined these days, the players have forgotten that football is supposed to be fun. Yes, you need to be focused but who says you can’t be focused while actually enjoying yourself?

Ghana arrived for matches singing and dancing their way into the stadium. The England players looked like they were arriving for their grandmother’s funeral.

Of course, squad selection, training, motivation and tactics also played a huge part in the failure – all within Hodgson’s remit. But for me, you will never see an England team start winning things until they are a) happy playing for their country and b) allowed to believe in their own ability.

Is Roy the right man to restore those two key elements? Is he capable of moulding this team into one that can win with a smile on its face?

Never in a million years.

Before the tournament even started, he gave a clear insight into his approach when instead of praising Ross Barkley for his sparkling substitute appearance against Ecuador, he focused on the fact the Everton youngster gave the ball away a lot.

What a great way to stifle creativity, destroy self-belief and make young lads scared to play for their country. Managers should be there to protect and nurture their players, not erode their confidence in public.

Do I think England have a bright future? Yes, absolutely. I believe the current crop of players coming through is the best we have seen for decades. But is Roy the man to get the best out of them? Categorically no.

If Hodgson had any pride, he would have mirrored the actions of his Italian counterpart, Cesare Prandelli, who announced his resignation within hours of elimination.

That’s the difference between a man decent enough to realise he had let a nation down and one who is oblivious to the fact that he simply isn’t good enough.

And as the FA seems content these days with the idea of just getting to major finals rather than trying to win an actual trophy, we can’t expect it to show Hodgson the door either.

So we are stuck with him for at least another two years. I don’t think I’ve ever been more fed up with supporting England.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade