Last Friday morning, when news reports began to circulate that Carlos Tevez was considering legal action against Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness, my immediate thought was ‘how has it come to this?’
The incident in question followed the now infamous turn of events that took place when Manchester City travelled to Bayern Munich in September. After the game Roberto Mancini accused Tevez of refusing to come on as a substitute, an accusation the Argentinian striker strongly refutes.
City suspended the player for failing to warm up and failing to follow instructions and fined him four weeks wages over the incident, a fine since reduced to two weeks when the PFA (Professional Footballers Association) stepped in.
After the game, Souness echoed the thoughts of many viewers in his tirade against the former City captain. The clips remain on YouTube, with Graeme Souness stating “I’m in disbelief. How selfish can you get? Tevez is one bad apple. He can undo all the good work that has been done at City. He’s a disgrace to football. He epitomises what the man in the street thinks is wrong with modern football. It is totally unacceptable. He’s a football player and he is paid to play.”
Now, Souness could find himself subject to libel action with Tevez recently having consulted two media specialist QCs who believe Tevez has a strong case for defamation.
Sky and Souness have thus far refused to comment.
The real issue to many onlookers will be how has this situation come about? Carlos Tevez is a world class footballer. A player who at differing points in his career has been idolised in Argentina, East London and most recently in both the red and blue halves of Manchester. Carlos Tevez is a player appreciated for his never say die attitude and commitment to the cause each and every game. Last season Carlos Tevez was the captain of Manchester City, Roberto Mancini’s leader on the pitch. You get the point; Carlos Tevez was not a player one would have expected to become embroiled in such a debacle.
Tevez being fined £400,000 by the club, a mere two weeks wages, and hiring lawyers for an impending legal battle is so far from the reality that most football supporters live in, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Gathering opinions from friends and fellow football fans, most hope that no such legal battle against Graeme Souness is launched, if it is it will mark a worrying precedent for when footballers are criticised.
After all, if fans lose that slight sense of empathy that still remains with their heroes, it will be a sad day for football.
Tevez was expected to return to Manchester City training on Wednesday, he did not, instead he went AWOL and flew back to Argentina. The striker now faces another potential suspension and fine, surely signalling the end of his Manchester City career. The club’s lawyers will undoubtedly now be considering their next step, in what is a disappointing tale for all fans of football.
Written by Cameron Humphries for FootballFancast.com. Follow me on Twitter @CamHumphries for discussion regarding all things football.
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This issue came about out of City’s own selfishness. Other players who hadn’t given as much to the City cause were allowed to leave in the summer for lesser reasons than Tevez stated and some to rival teams. City believed they could deny Tevez a transfer and being the model professional he has always presented, he would carry on playing even though unhappy. Then once they refused him his move and he was playing he is left on the bench in a game City wouldn’t have featured in had it not been for Tevez. It is wrong to label Tevez as a bad apple as there are no complaints from West Ham or Man United whatsoever. City’s greed and belief money can solve every problem have caused this.
Have to disagree with Wes. City were prepared to let him go, but nobody would pay them their valuation.
At the end of the day, he is one of the highest paid footballers in the world, and what he earns in a month is the equivalent of a staff nurse salary career earnings. His contract and remuneration hardly smacks of slavery.
For me, his greatest sin was not that he refused to come off the bench, but that he agreed to go on the bench at all. His place could have been taken by someone who wanted to play. Then again, he was probably hoping that he would not asked to play, and this would still allow him to collect his undeserved wages.
Yes there is a case to be made that City have more money than sense, but if there were a thousand other players in his position, yhou would be hard pressed to find another who would have acted the same way as he did. Personally, I think they should sack him and sue him for the losses. At his age, I think he will be lucky at his age to be able to repay £40 mill from his after tax wages.
If he does a moonlight to S.America and refuses to pay, it is within FIFA’s power to cancel his registration
we are talking about a man,his career and his family.Which should come first?Everybody knows the answer,Tevez has done so much 4 City to be allowed to go for the sake of his family.They must stop overpricing,overpaying and overbuying players to avoid this problem in the future.They should begin to count their losses as in the case of Adebayor,Bellamy,Santa Cruz,Wright-Phillips,etc.It’s City’s fault.
Please guys dont pity him…he is planning to go to inter not his family….this guy is just a bad apple like sounness said….