There have been a lot of nagging issues surrounding Tévez since he arrived on the English football scene in 2006. At the time he was playing for the Brazilian team, Corinthians, but was looking to transfer, since he apparently refused to play for the club. Sound familiar?
Himself and Javier Mascherano were signed by West Ham United for undisclosed fees. However, this transfer dogged the player for years afterwards, since it was judged that the illegal nature of their contracts was hidden up. Media Sports Investments owned the rights to the pair, and they were not consulted correctly. West Ham were fined a record-breaking £5.5m for Tévez alone, and counted themselves lucky not to be deducted points.
There were an array of misconducts since arriving at Manchester City in 2009. He threw aside the City scarf at the FA Cup Final in favour of the Argentinean flag (a sure sign that he was trying leave the club), hustling to get away last Christmas which disrupted the team and then attempting to manufacture a move last Summer.
There are too many to mention.
Throwing tantrums has become closer and closer to common practice these days for the spoilt wonder kids of today, from Cristiano Ronaldo to Edin Džeko, and it needn’t be tolerated. Another aspect of this childish behaviour is demanding a move from your club, until they offer to pay you more money, at which time you recommit. These false loyalties only get between players and performance. If they treated the situation like some other sports (American football comes to mind) and just let your performance do the talking, there would be no hesitation from the club to pay you what you deserve.
As a lifetime Manchester United fan it pains me to say that I like the way Man City are playing. Mancini fits in nicely at the club and has instilled a nice work ethic in his players. And his response to the incident only solidifies this opinion. “If I have my way he will be out of the club,” is the best response in the situation. And so my instinctive hatred for the Blues ebbs a little… But not for Tévez.
Just think of the huge contradiction lying in the fact that Mancini named Tévez as the captain of the squad in August 2010. Especially if it is proven that he did refuse to play. It hardly exudes confidence in the club when your captain doesn’t want to play and Mancini is right to get rid of the notion immediately. He tried to clear the air with Tévez, offering him an opportunity to apologize, which Tévez refused. The Guardian writes: “The meeting ended with the two men shaking hands but, crucially, Tevez did not accept Mancini’s request for him to apologise…”
‘Rowley Birkin QC’ on the City fan site CityMancs.com sums the situation up nicely; “If Tevez pushes the ‘self destruct’ button any harder - he’s going to break it.”
Sam Allardyce, manager of Tévez’s old club, West Ham United, has expressed a lot of interest in signing the player, saying that “his only option might be in our favour, in an emergency loan down to the Championship, it might work in our favour.” This won’t be what Tévez wants, of course, but as things stand he’s not playing for City for the rest of the season. He may not have a choice.
Only time, and punishment, will tell if Tévez is very clever or very stupid. But I don’t figure there’s an in between. And if he continues throwing shapes or enacting these ploys, I think it’ll be to the detriment of his professional career.
You are reading a guest post written by Connor O’Hagan. Connor writes for Liberty Games, who amoungst other things sell football tables and other sports related products.