adminSuárez was given an eight-match ban by the Football Association for racially abusing Evra during an earlier match and the situation flared up again when Suárez refused to shake Evra’s hand when the sides met again at Old Trafford. Suárez and the club have since apologised.
But Johnson believes Evra “stayed up all night” coming up with a plan to make sure Suárez did not greet his opponent in the expected manner by holding his hand by his side.
Johnson told the Daily Mail: “Evra was clever at Old Trafford. Luis didn’t shake his hand because Evra’s hand was down there. What else is Luis supposed to do? Would you go to shake someone’s hand if their hand is way down there by their side? Course not.
“But then, because Luis didn’t do it, Evra has pulled him back by his arm as he walked on, as if to say to everybody: ‘Look, I wanted to shake his hand and he didn’t . . .’
“Evra probably stayed up all night thinking about how to do that. The whole thing was ridiculous.”
Johnson also said he was convinced that the original racism charge was incorrect, and that it was the club’s idea that they should wear T-shirts supporting Suárez before their game at Wigan.
“The evidence was Luis’ word against Evra’s. I’m not saying Evra is lying but it’s his word against Luis’, isn’t it? So how did it all turn out to be so strong in Evra’s favour? I work with the lad everyday. There is no way he said that.
“With the media these days and the way it was going to be blown up, maybe the T-shirts thing wasn’t the right thing to do. How should I say this? We wore them to show our support for Luis. It wasn’t to send a message to everyone else. It was just for him.
“It seemed to come across that we were making a point. We weren’t. It was the club’s idea. But obviously we all agreed. We didn’t really think about how people would react.”
Johnson accused former Manchester United defender Paul McGrath of racism after he used Twitter to criticise Johnson for wearing the T-shirt.
Johnson claimed: “The McGrath thing . . . that’s actually racist. Saying what he said is racist. He is only saying that to me because I was the only black lad wearing the T-shirt.
He’s targeting me because of my colour.”
McGrath tweeted on Thursday: “It saddens me that Glen Johnson has called me a racist, but he is entitled to his opinion.”
Johnson also explained why he had been so publicly supportive of Suárez on his own Twitter account. “I wrote what I thought on Twitter. Then when I saw him the next day he came over and said thanks and that it meant a lot to him. I didn’t write that for him to come and say thank you. I just wanted to let people know my point of view. Like it or hate
it, I don’t care.
“It was nice for him to see his team-mates supporting him, I guess. But what people don’t appreciate is that these things stick with people and it can ruin careers. He could get almost forced out of Liverpool. He’s a good lad and a fantastic player and all he wants to do is get on and play football.
“I can’t understand how people don’t get that in his culture the word ‘negro’ or ‘negrito’ is genuinely normal. Just because he’s out of his country he is not going to stop using his mother tongue. If we went to another country, we would use our slang, wouldn’t we? I can’t see why somebody can get in trouble for using his culture in another country.
“I work with him everyday. I know what he is like. Other people don’t. I will not change my view.” — Daily Mail.
Online Reporter