Carlos Tevez

Today (21^st October) saw Carlos Tevez attend a club disciplinary hearing amongst claims he refused to play in the Champions league tie against Bayern Munich last year. Despite being suspended for two weeks, and Mancini admitting he doesn’t think Tevez will play for City again, new revelations have surfaced, citing a breakdown in communication as the reason for his failure to take the field. Mancini’s claims now seem to have fallen on deaf ears, with both assistants David Platt and Brian Kidd failing to back the City manager. Tevez has proved a controversial figure in his time at the blue half of Manchester, constantly expressing his desire to move back home to South America, particularly Argentina. His home sickness was thought to be the reason behind his public negotiation with Corinthians this summer, a deal the Brazilian club adamantly deny.
                                                                                                                                                                    

Tevez is now expected to be charged with failure to follow the instructions of boss Mancini and fitness coach Ivan Carminati, rather than the more serious and threatening accusation of refusing to take to the pitch. The lack of backing Mancini has received in the case, has been further compounded today, as City players, who were on the bench alongside Tevez that night, revealing they did not hear Tevez say no, which Mancini claims. Mancini’s version of events states that after warming up at the request of fitness coach Carminati, Tevez felt he was ready to go on, and therefore turned down Carminati’s request for him to warm up a second time. Mancini may have interpreted this as a refusal to comply with orders. However, Tevez swears that he was ready to warm up for a second time, but Mancini turned round and said “I don’t want you to play”. The story takes another complicated twist as Mancini revealed he spoke to the striker in Italian, a language the Argentinian striker doesn’t speak. It is thought Mancini told Tevez to “Go back to Argentina”, a claim which Mancini does not deny. Tevez’s argument is further fuelled, as he admits he had been feeling increasingly sore after he had been forced to warm up for 30 minutes against Everton the weekend before, without making it on to pitch. The final nail in the coffin for Mancini it would seem, is the lack of support from both his assistants and players, as no-one came forward confessing to hearing Tevez explicitly deny going on. Whether a result of the strikers ego, or plain courtesy, Tevez then asked Mancini for an apology, a request that was denied by Mancini, as he admitted their relationship had become irreconcilable.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                         
 Despite the argument seemingly swinging in Tevez’s favour, the apology request seems to stand out as an arrogant gesture by the Argentine that has seen the clubs fans turn on him, and the board take Mancini’s side. With ‘not one individual being bigger than the club’, Tevez has a battle on his hands if he is to reconcile his Manchester City career. The disciplinary hearing which took place this week, has seen Tevez hit with a remarkable five separate charges, not one of which outlines any reluctance to take the field of play, only refusing to warm up. Despite not being as significant, the striker still faces further hearings, and a possible record £1million fine, plus further suspensions.                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                   

In the interest of both Manchester City and Carlos Tevez, the next step would be to part ways and move on from this incident. If only it was that easy… A somewhat controversial and volatile character, who earns more than £200,000 a week isn’t on the shopping list of every major force in football. No doubt teams are interested, but the chances of a compromise being met, between Tevez’s personal demands, and Man City’s recuperation on the £25million they spent on the 27 year old, will be interesting to see develop. Not only are Tevez’s salary demands an issue, but the location of his move also seems to rule out certain options. An open sufferer of home sickness, the striker will be longing for a move back to South America, a nation whose sudden rise in economic prowess, with-in footballing terms, may suit both sides. Either way, a sacrifice is going to have to be made by either parties, if not both. Tevez has ruled out backing down over the saga, but with the major majority of support, the ball definitely seems to be in Mancini’s court.