The loyalty card has expired

The old loyalty card has been much in play in the Luis Suarez saga, with Liverpool’s owner, manager and supporters all keen to slam it on the table.

If it’s a ploy born more of desperation than calculation, then that only tallies with the consensus view that loyalty is a devalued commodity in the modern game whereas, in truth, it would probably be more accurate to say that it has become almost an irrelevance.

For the football romantic, this is, of course, a regrettable state of affairs, even more so for the little ’uns who are still innocent in the face of the modern game’s brute practicalities.