How to win and then lose public favour

It was an interesting couple of weeks in the EPL with Luis Suarez returning to the field for the first time since his 8-match ban. The controversy began with the (lack of) pre-match handshake. Regardless of what one may have felt before the game, it would be fair to say that at this point public opinion clearly shifted in favour of Evra.

However this was not the end. After the final whistle Patrick Evra decided to settled the score by hovering around Suarez, celebrating the win and wildly gesturing for support from the crowd. Suarez didn't take the bait but the referee thought it this was a bit too much and moved Evra away.

Now at the end of the game one could take the view that 2 relatively equal wrongs occurred  - unsporting behaviour and enticing the crows - and so neither player left the field looking particularly honourable. However, the key message is that the following day one of these parties apologised for their actions, and that was Suarez.

Regardless of who was right or wrong on match day, or even in the previous incident, it was a smart move by Liverpool to publicly apologise afterwards. A good PR team realises that a strong and prompt apology can go a long way to taking the heat out of even the most difficult situation, potentially even shifting the balance of power. Too many organisations fail in their crisis management strategy.

In most cases prompt and direct response is the best course of action, even so far as to say that it's better to act quickly and make a mistake than to fail to act until it's too late (or, the delay makes your ultimate response meaningless). The risk from delaying a response, even if it is in the interests of seeking clarity on the issue, is that in the absence of information the public will make their own conclusions. In this void fear and doubt can swiftly shift the public's opinion in a very negative direction. At the same time it would be naive to hope that your issue will be passed by. There are very few secrets in public life. Take the approach from the start that it will 'come out in the wash' some time in the future. Not even a super injunction is secure.

The ability to come out on top in a PR crisis situations is therefore a function of speed - speed of decision making and action.  Far better to be on the front page for a day than part of a week-long scoop.

(In the end the Football Association took no action against either player)