Steven Gerrard and Kenny Dalglish condemn riots

10 August 2011 17:18
Both Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard have called for calm following the unrest throughout the country during the week with the manager and his captain imploring for the trouble in the city to subside as England braced itself for a fifth night of rioting.[LNB]The new Barclays Premier League season is due to start on Saturday but after England's friendly with Holland was called off and the midweek Carling Cup programme was disrupted it remains to be seen if all 20 teams will play their opening fixtures.[LNB]Dalglish, who leads Liverpool into a league campaign for the first time since 1990, used the club's official website to ask for Liverpudlians to 'pull together'.[LNB] Cool it: Liverpool's manager Kenny Dalglish has called for calm[LNB]'The city has made incredible progress over the past few years and no-one wants to see our restored reputation damaged by what we have witnessed over the last couple of days. For everyone's sake let's stop this now and pull together for the benefit of the whole community,' he said.[LNB]Captain Gerrard, who will miss the start of the season following an ongoing groin problem, echoed his manager's sentiments.[LNB]He said: 'This is a city which has always stuck together in difficult times and supported each other. If there are people thinking of going out and causing problems, then please think again.[LNB] Plea: Steven Gerrard has called for the people of Liverpool to stick together[LNB]'The community doesn't want you behaving like this. We're proud of how Liverpool has been transformed and we shouldn't let the actions of a few have such an impact on the rest of the people who live here and care about the city.'[LNB]Their words were echoed by Everton manager David Moyes, who said: 'There can be no justification for the shocking display of behaviour that has been witnessed throughout the city of Liverpool and the rest of the country over the past few days.[LNB]'Themindless actions by small groups of individuals cannot be condoned and along with the rest of the Merseyside community, everyone at Everton Football Club gives its full support to the police and local authoritiesin bringing an end to the troubles.'[LNB]Moyesadded: 'As a result of recent events, football has already suffered andwe need to ensure that this stops immediately so thousands of people upand down the country can enjoy one of the most anticipated weekends of the year - the start of the Premier League season.'[LNB]GregClarke, the chairman of the Football League, warned that policing the streets would take priority and that matches will be postponed if policeofficers are required elsewhere.[LNB] 'The police have to make these calls.If they feel they have more important things to do than send officers to football grounds, we will support that decision,' he told Sky Sports News.[LNB] Admission: David Moyes accepts football matches may need to be called off[LNB]'Our priority is to make sure the police are out there dealing with unrest on the streets. We want to keep our games going ahead but that is a secondary priority.'[LNB]'We have to support the police and the government in making the streets safe, then after that we can think about 'let's get our football games going ahead.[LNB]'Ifthey need to move police away from football games, we will cancel thosefootball games. We don't believe the situation will go on much longer, history tells us these things tend to peter out and we will make sure football games can go ahead as and when.'[LNB]  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE FANTASY FOOTBALL GAMEEcclestone: Calling off Premier League matches would send out 'a terrible message to the world'Call it off! Spurs stars want Premier League opener scrapped amid fears of ongoing riotsAll the latest Liverpool news, features and opinion [LNB]

Source: Daily_Mail