• Ian Ayre claims striker's issues have harmed image • However, he says striker is 'working on his character'

Liverpool's managing director believes Luis Suárez's racial abuse and biting incidents have damaged the club's brand. However, Ian Ayre said the troubled striker "has responded well to … work on his character."

Suárez returned on Wednesday against Manchester United from a 10-game ban for biting the Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic during a Premier League game in April. Liverpool were beaten 1-0 by United in the Capital One Cup although Suárez put in an encouraging performance.

The Uruguay international had previously been banned for eight games for racially abusing United's Patrice Evra in 2011.

Speaking at the Sport Industry breakfast in London, Ayre said: "Any types of incident of that nature are damaging to the brand."

Suárez pushed to leave Liverpool during the summer but was denied a move, with bids from Arsenal rejected. Ayre added Suárez is key to the team and said: "As a footballer, he's a street fighter, he's a larger-than-life character.

"Nobody is condoning any bad behavior but it's just something you have to deal with. He is what he is, he is the character he is, and we have to try and harness that.

"We have worked a lot with Luis since the last incident with Ivanovic and he has responded well to that. He has been prepared to commit to that sort of work on his character."

While Ayre said Suárez's misdemeanours have not hit sponsorship revenue, the club wants to ensure its principles are upheld.

"We are very much an institution and we base ourselves on family values, and when your kids are naughty you tell them off and you try to teach them the error of your ways. It's no different," Ayre said.

"Every time you have a negative issue like that particular one then of course it's damaging, but the important thing is to put it right and restore the integrity of the football club. And I believe that's what we did."

He added: "What's important at those times is to ensure we act respectively and professionally as a football club, and in the past we've got some of that wrong and more recently we got that right.

"We have a process now. It's not a Luis Suárez process, it's a process for any crisis whether it's on the pitch or off the pitch.

"He is a great team member. The players are supportive of him and he is supportive of them. The most important thing is that he is on the football pitch, and most importantly committed to playing for Liverpool."