Sunday, July 7, 2013

TEVEZ: WARMING UP. COOLING DOWN.

By John Williams 
At it again
 
Following the infamous incident during the Champions league fixture v Bayern Munich in Sept 2011  it was widely reported that Carlos Tevez had refused to appear as a second half substitute, Tevez himself stated that this was not the case and he was under the impression that the instruction was for him to continue warming up, something he felt was unnecessary as he felt he was ready to participate in the game. The aftermath of the incident in the following days/weeks/months saw Tevez become an outcast at the club many citing that he was the one and only instigator of this situation, I for one never took this view and I shall try to outline my reason for this.

Carlos Tevez was the signing that had excited me more than any other for over 30 years and from game one he fulfilled, even exceeded, my expectations. Tremendous work rate and technically blessed, his never say die attitude soon endeared him to the Etihad faithful,  Roberto Mancini arrived at the club a few months later and all seemed well within the camp with Mancini  making Carlos club captain the following season.

Then the cracks started to appear, I was at the time in Colin Bell lower and soon noticed that whenever Tevez was not in the starting 11 he seemed to be continually pounding the touchline far more than any of the other substitutes, this was a pattern that was continually repeated and I could not help but think at the time that all was no longer well within the camp, shortly after Carlos handed in a transfer request and although the situation was resolved it became clear to many that the relationship between him and Mancini was by now very strained, it became a familiar conversation between the people in our section when Tevez was on the bench that should he be sent on to play he would be too worn out to perform. In my opinion that night in Munich was the tipping point, the catalyst for a situation that had developed over a long period of time.

I don't claim to know the full story and can only make assumptions on events I witnessed and the opinion I subsequently formed by observing from the sidelines. This is a golden age in the history of our great club and I feel a deep sadness that the career of one of the most gifted players I have had the pleasure of seeing perform in sky blue will be forever tarnished by events that night in Munich. No doubt in time when the plethora of Autobiographies are published much will be revealed about the Tevez incident and the Mancini era in general. 
 
Until then we can only speculate and debate the different perspectives and opinions which are so widely diverse within the faithful.
 
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1 comment:

  1. What about Kompany and Mancini? Kompany strikes me as an intelligent, ambitious player, a young man with tremendous leadership potential. By many accounts, Mancini went out of his way to alienate Kompany.

    There are a lot of stories that will come out in the autobiographies, I think...

    ReplyDelete

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