In light of the Luis Suarez scandal, Pacheco will perhaps be wishing he chose his words a little more wisely…
Not again. Yes, another Liverpool player has become caught up in a racism storm.
We’ll let you decide if this is right or wrong, of course there was no malice intended here but it certainly is clumsy when you consider the context.
Liverpool’s on loan youngster Dani Pacheco was forced to back track earlier today after wishing Glen Johnson luck for Euro 2012.
Johnson tweeted: “Poland bound…”
Before Pacheco replied “good luck negrito!”
The tweet was described by US news outlet the Huffington Post as a PR gaffe, with tweeters commenting, “After the Suarez storm you’d think Pacheco would have the sense not to say negrito #dumb’
In light of criticism, Pacheco hit back, “I allready (sic) explained in the past what negrito means. good or bad depending on how you say it. I always call @glen_johnson it in terms of love.
“Last tweet about it, @glen_johnson speaks Spanish and knows what mean when I say that to him. He is one of best mates there for me.”
We don’t doubt Pacheco didn’t mean any harm, and he has been playing football in Spain the past year on loan with Rayo Vallecano.
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Had he experienced the racism storm and Suarez backlash first hand he perhaps would not have used the word.
A good idea may be for Brendan Rodgers to get his players in for some PR training as well as training on the pitch, as sending a tweet with this word was always going to create a backlash for the player.
Next time perhaps Pacheco should have better sense. He is within his rights to say and use his terms of endearment as he pleases, but on Twitter in a public forum where he represents a football club in light of all that has gone on, it wasn’t a clever move.
The good news, unlike the Suarez incident, in 24 hours it will all be forgotten.
A PR blunder or harmless tweet?
image: © Alfonso Jimenez
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