From hero to zero.....again!

In the light of my blog regarding my opinion of Capello, another Italian manager has been the centre of attention this week. The reason for this was a scene of unprofessionalism and confirmation of the self absorbed nature of Carlos Tevez. Obviously, I couldn’t leave this and not have my say on the matter.

As far as players go, Tevez is not shy of attracting attention and making a nuisance of himself. On his arrival to the premier league due to the transfer not being a conventional transfer, he had already upset the suits because they didn’t seem to be able to understand who actually owned Tevez. It predictably ended in tears with Tevez leaving West Ham.

Tevez chose Manchester United to ply his trade for a fee of around £20 million. With his all-action style and natural goal scoring ability, he soon became an Old Trafford favourite. With the United fans keen to sign Tevez up, the Argentine was hankering for a permanent deal at United. This was not forthcoming. He ruled out a move to Manchester United’s rivals Liverpool, due to the implications of signing for such a big rival. His next move was to then agree a deal with Manchester City. Seems inter club rivalry wasn’t that much of a problem after all. In hindsight perhaps this should have rung alarm bells for Manchester City.

This was a transfer that was well received by Manchester City fans. The club didn’t miss their chance to rub their rival’s nose in it; hugebill boards were erected with an image of Tevez emblazoned with ‘Welcome to Manchester’.

As usual, things got off to a good start; he scored important goals, annoyed Gary Neville and was named captain by Roberto Mancini. You’d think that along withthe amount of money he is being paid Tevez wouldn’t have much to moan about. Think again. I’m sure anyone reading this blog is aware of the continued requests to leave from Tevez, citing family reasons for wanting out.

So on September 27^th Roberto Mancini approached Tevez and requested him to prepare to enter the field of play. Tevez seemingly refused, sparking outrage from the manager. After the game, Mancini stated that Tevez’s career at Man City has finished.

In light of his apparent refusal to play, I believe now is the time for Manchester City to back Mancini and try to help put this player power culture to bed. In my opinion, Mancini has dealt with this situation very well.The focus that has been placed on this incident has been intense and it would be quite easy for him to continue with statements suggesting the end of his career in an attempt to bolster his position, or even worse to back track and accept the player’s behaviour.

So far the player has been suspended by the club and since then very little has been said publicly -the way it should be - albeit with an apparent ban on even mentioning the Argentines name in press conferences. Mancini is strengthened by the support of the fans that spent a large portion of the Blackburn game chanting Mancini’s name.

So where does this leave Mancini? A striker down, made all the more interesting after Aguero had to be replaced in the first half against Blackburn. I believe that he needs to stay firm. Of course, easier said than done as the owners could quite easily undermine his position and force Mancini into playing Tevez, or at least have him in the first team squad. It’s a crucial time for the owners to back Mancini, if they don’t they might as well handover control to Tevez.

As a Liverpool fan I was naive in thinking that Torres was loyal and that if he was to leave, it wouldn’t be to a league rival. I was proved wrong. I was gutted but after the dust settled it didn’t take long to realise that this was one of the best transfers Liverpool FC had ever been involved in. A cloud was lifted and with the help of a couple of new signings there was a return of form but most importantly harmony within the squad.

Mancini’s reaction after the game may have been knee jerk, however as with the Torres scenario, Manchester City in my opinion would be better off without Tevez. Even if it turns out he didn’t refuse to play and it was a miscommunication he will still bring endless issues and transfer requests. If there is one thing Sheikh Mansour will need to learn is that you cannot buy love for a club. A player’s character is equally as important as their talent these days and that’s not something you can trust with all players.

How this plays out will be very interesting. I am very much on Team Mancini, but there will be a lot of factors involved. On a side note, this could be Mario Balotelli’s chance to realise that being the bad boy does not pay and to put his obvious talent in to action to help Manchester City realise they don’t need Tevez.