By Paul Gorst.
‘…it will leave a taste in your mouth, ever so sour, like a bad apple. You’re nothing but a bad apple.’
‘What should have been a special night for Manchester City has become a special night for the all wrong reasons’ mused Jeff Stelling.
To be frank, the long-time presenter of Sky Sports’ famous Soccer Saturday was putting a ludicrously mild spin on events
With his team trailing 2-0 to a dominant Bayern Munich in their first ever Champions League campaign, Carlos Tevez should have had a deep sense of urgency to get on the pitch and try and change his team’s ailing performance.
What transpired was the complete opposite, and it is quite remarkable, that even in this day and age where the public’s general perception of the modern day footballer is disdainful, Tevez plunged his profession into a new low.
You see Tevez was asked, reasonably enough, by his manager Roberto Mancini, to remove his training top and warm up in anticipation of taking to the field to try and rescue the game. To which Tevez replied ‘no.’
This is a player who is paid somewhere in the region of hundreds of thousands of pounds per week to play football. He is a millionaire many times over, and it is all down to his aptitude and talent for playing a sport that has taken him thousands of miles away from humble origins in Argentina, literally and figuratively. The man wants for nothing – thanks to professional football.
Yet, when asked to play, he simply refused.
Tevez’s actions have plummeted to new depths of crass, even for an individual as woefully out of touch with realism and decency as he is. It is an astonishing turn of events.
But let us not forget, the Argentine striker has previous for this sort of scandalous showmanship.
Tevez was rescued from a nightmare spell at West Ham United by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2007. He earned the adulation of the Old Trafford faithful through his all-action style and goals. In two years at United, Tevez won the Champions League in 2008, claimed a runners-up medal in 2009 and took away two Premier League winning medals from Old Trafford. He repaid the Scot by leaving – to none other than fierce local rivals who had begun to make waves with some serious spending, thanks to owner Sheikh Mansour.
Then, after earning the adulation of the Eastlands faithful through his all-action style and goals and winning the 2010/11 FA Cup, he asked, or rather this being Tevez, demanded to leave, citing home sickness, and a desire to return to Argentina to be with his wife and daughter.
Curiously, Tevez still entertained a move to Corinthians in Brazil.
Throughout his time in England, Tevez has steadfastly refused to learn the language of the country he has lived in for five years, and the sight of him meekly and downright arrogantly offering his reasons for not playing to Sky through the use of an interpreter only served to irritate further with his detractors.
‘Last season I was the best scorer and put my opinion through that I wanted to leave because of family reasons.’
It is hardly a staunch defence of his own actions, and least season’s statistics do not guarantee anyone complete immunity from life as a substitute, particularly with the arrival of £38m striker Sergio Aguero.
Mancini has rightfully slammed Tevez’s actions and declared almost with twinge of sorrow that he will never play again for Manchester City. It is the very least the striker deserves.
Graeme Souness summed it up perfectly, working as an analyst for Sky Sports’ coverage of the game.
‘We’ve (Souness and fellow pundit Dwight Yorke) been fortunate enough to get paid for something we love to do for nothing as a kid. He’s let his fans down, his team, his manager and he’s let his family down. He is going to be a real problem for whoever his manager is. I would send him as far away from Manchester tomorrow morning if I was the manager. He is a bad apple.’
Fortunately, Manchester City are a team wealthy enough, and a team who have a strong enough squad to let Tevez rot for his actions. It will be quite a sight for anyone who watches Manchester City reserves regularly to see a genuine world class talent turn out for them with such regularity.
The Premier League will be all the better for his inevitable departure in January.
‘…it will leave a taste in your mouth, ever so sour, like a bad apple. You’re nothing but a bad apple.’
‘What should have been a special night for Manchester City has become a special night for the all wrong reasons’ mused Jeff Stelling.
To be frank, the long-time presenter of Sky Sports’ famous Soccer Saturday was putting a ludicrously mild spin on events
With his team trailing 2-0 to a dominant Bayern Munich in their first ever Champions League campaign, Carlos Tevez should have had a deep sense of urgency to get on the pitch and try and change his team’s ailing performance.
What transpired was the complete opposite, and it is quite remarkable, that even in this day and age where the public’s general perception of the modern day footballer is disdainful, Tevez plunged his profession into a new low.
You see Tevez was asked, reasonably enough, by his manager Roberto Mancini, to remove his training top and warm up in anticipation of taking to the field to try and rescue the game. To which Tevez replied ‘no.’
This is a player who is paid somewhere in the region of hundreds of thousands of pounds per week to play football. He is a millionaire many times over, and it is all down to his aptitude and talent for playing a sport that has taken him thousands of miles away from humble origins in Argentina, literally and figuratively. The man wants for nothing – thanks to professional football.
Yet, when asked to play, he simply refused.
Tevez’s actions have plummeted to new depths of crass, even for an individual as woefully out of touch with realism and decency as he is. It is an astonishing turn of events.
But let us not forget, the Argentine striker has previous for this sort of scandalous showmanship.
Tevez was rescued from a nightmare spell at West Ham United by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2007. He earned the adulation of the Old Trafford faithful through his all-action style and goals. In two years at United, Tevez won the Champions League in 2008, claimed a runners-up medal in 2009 and took away two Premier League winning medals from Old Trafford. He repaid the Scot by leaving – to none other than fierce local rivals who had begun to make waves with some serious spending, thanks to owner Sheikh Mansour.
Then, after earning the adulation of the Eastlands faithful through his all-action style and goals and winning the 2010/11 FA Cup, he asked, or rather this being Tevez, demanded to leave, citing home sickness, and a desire to return to Argentina to be with his wife and daughter.
Curiously, Tevez still entertained a move to Corinthians in Brazil.
Throughout his time in England, Tevez has steadfastly refused to learn the language of the country he has lived in for five years, and the sight of him meekly and downright arrogantly offering his reasons for not playing to Sky through the use of an interpreter only served to irritate further with his detractors.
‘Last season I was the best scorer and put my opinion through that I wanted to leave because of family reasons.’
It is hardly a staunch defence of his own actions, and least season’s statistics do not guarantee anyone complete immunity from life as a substitute, particularly with the arrival of £38m striker Sergio Aguero.
Mancini has rightfully slammed Tevez’s actions and declared almost with twinge of sorrow that he will never play again for Manchester City. It is the very least the striker deserves.
Graeme Souness summed it up perfectly, working as an analyst for Sky Sports’ coverage of the game.
‘We’ve (Souness and fellow pundit Dwight Yorke) been fortunate enough to get paid for something we love to do for nothing as a kid. He’s let his fans down, his team, his manager and he’s let his family down. He is going to be a real problem for whoever his manager is. I would send him as far away from Manchester tomorrow morning if I was the manager. He is a bad apple.’
Fortunately, Manchester City are a team wealthy enough, and a team who have a strong enough squad to let Tevez rot for his actions. It will be quite a sight for anyone who watches Manchester City reserves regularly to see a genuine world class talent turn out for them with such regularity.
The Premier League will be all the better for his inevitable departure in January.
