Newsletter #1744

Opinions on Tévez and his behaviour today, with a look too at the new signings and way ahead…

OPINION: TÉVEZ I

A Brief History Of Carlos Tévez

Boca Juniors (2001-2004)
Tévez forces his way out of the club claiming that the press intrusion in Argentina is too much for him and his family and the club aren’t doing enough to support him. Public bust-up with manager also ensues.
Claims he loves the club and supporters, and always will.
Time at club: Two-and-a-half seasons.

Corinthians (2005-2006)
Tévez forces his way out of the club, going on strike, after arguments (some physical) with team-mates, the head coach and the club president.
Claims he loves the club and supporters, and always will.
Time at club: One season.

West Ham (2006-2007)
Tévez almost immediately falls out with the manager and players. Storms off and threatens to go on strike after being substituted. Goes AWOL to Argentina at one point.
Claims he loves the club and supporters, and always will.
Time at club: One season.

Manchester United (2007-2009)
Tévez complains of being fatigued and overplayed in his first season. In his second, he complains of being underplayed, drama queening it every time he’s taken off, managing just five goals, despite playing more minutes than the league’s third top scorer Fernando Torres. Parting shot of “I’ll scream in Ferguson’s face when I score against them”.
Claims he loves the club and supporters, and always will.
Time at club: Two seasons.

Manchester City (2009-????)
Tévez is tired, homesick, wants to retire, takes time off to see his daughter and is caught on camera spending that time allegedly banging his mistress (the actually banging remains unphotographed), feels there’s too much greed in football despite being the highest-paid player in Britain, hates football in general yet throws a wobbly every time he’s taken off, wants his old life back, hates the club executives, claims that he would like to punch his young team-mates and finally hands in a transfer request.
Claims he loves the club and supporters, and always will.
Time at club: two seasons so far, some of it begrudgingly.

Sums it all up really…

OPINION: TÉVEZ II

So, Carlos Tévez finally has deigned to tell us that he wants to leave Manchester. This is not unexpected. He moves around at least every two years and doesn’t put roots down for long. I’m not buying his wanting to leave for ‘family reasons’ line, though, because if he was such a big family man he wouldn’t have gone to Tenerife for a few days last season (after the club had granted him leave) with his then girlfriend rather than back to see his daughters in Buenos Aires. This is all about money.

Tévez has given us 100% on the pitch and a lot of quality not to mention all those goals (53 in 86 appearances) that helped win our first trophy for 35 years and propel us into the Champions’ League. To be fair to him, he is trying to leave with a bit of dignity this time after some pretty appalling, selfish behaviour, but all in all, it will be down to whether we get the right money for him, which should be £60 million minimum (especially if Torres is worth £50 million) and whether he is willing to take a pay cut or Real Madrid/Inter can afford to pay him £230,000 a week (he and Joorabchian will probably want more then that).

It’s good to see City playing hardball with Tévez, and he will only leave if the deal is right for City. Let’s get Aguero in or swap Tévez plus cash for Sneidjer and bring in Cavani or some other suitable striker and get on with it. Just no cast-offs or over-the-hill ‘superstars’ like Eto’o, please.

Whatever, Roberto has to plan for life with or without Tévez, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him still here next season even after this. As brilliant as Tévez is, and it has been a pleasure and a privilege to watch him in a City shirt, his departure would not be the end of the world. We did well without Tévez towards the end of last season including beating United in the semi-final (I’ll never tire of saying that!) and we can get even stronger with the right acquisitions. Onward and upward.

OPINION: WELCOME, BIENVENUE, DOBRODOSAO!

Roberto Mancini could be forgiven for feeling a little frustrated at the lack of transfer activity at City this summer. He wanted it all done and dusted before pre-season training started but it hasn’t quite worked out that with two arrivals only getting in this week. It was never going to be easy to sign players without clubs ripping us off, and it was always going to be difficult to move on high wage earners who will struggle to get a better deal elsewhere.

The other problem we have is if a player doesn’t want to come here. We’ve been pursuing Alexis Sanchez but he wants to go to Barcelona, and good luck to him (except against City of course), so we have moved on to other targets. Mancini likes the look of young left winger Cerci at Fiorentina who may be available for £7 million.

With Tévez finally saying he wants to move this summer we should now tell clubs that the asking price is £60 million minimum (well the village idiot at Chelsea paid £50 million for Torres), or he’s not going anywhere. City hold the cards here as Tévez has three years left on his contract. If Inter are willing we could swap him for Wesley Sneidjer plus cash and use that cash to sign Sergio Aguero from Altetico Madrid. Altletico would be happy to sell him to us as it would save them from the political embarrassment of selling him to Real Madrid. If Real Madrid, Inter or whoever want Tévez then there can be none of their unwanted, sub-standard cast-offs or past-it stars coming here in exchange. City need World Class players with a future now in order to advance.

Tévez’s departure would see City needing two top class strikers. Porto’s Hulk is in the frame but I’m not convinced he is the right fit for us, and it could be that we go for one of Napoli’s two forwards, either Edinson Cavani or Ezecueil Lavezzi.

In order to comply with Platini’s Fair Play Regulations, it’s been well documented that we have not only to temper our spending. City are rightly refusing to get ripped off by clubs who put an extra premium on anyone we seek to sign. Clearly we have a huge wage bill that needs to be reduced. High earners such as Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Bridge, and Jo amongst others need to be moved on, but they are proving difficult to shift.

As for Platini, he wasn’t overly concerned with ‘Fair play’ when he was creaming off a nice salary as a player at Juventus was he? Indeed, when Juventus were the biggest spenders he wasn’t bleating about ‘fair play’. What a hypocrite. These ‘fair play’ regulations are a complete sham. How can Manchester United with £800 million+ of deby be allowed to keep on spending like they do? These regulations only serve to protect the traditional power houses of European football, as only the clubs with the biggest revenue streams will be able to spend the most: i.e. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Man. United, AC Milan, Internazionale and Juventus. They make more TV revenue, sell more shirts and merchandise and automatically have an advantage over the rest of us. Yes, Platini’s darlings Juventus and all the other established clubs are being protected in the name of ‘fair play’. We will have even less competitive football, all because Platini is petrified that the G14 clubs will leave UEFA and form their own league. You couldn’t make it up, but Platini has! Fair play, my eye.

Adebayor wants to go to Real Madrid but they only want to pay £6 million, which is an absolute joke. City are only asking £12 million which is not bad money for a player who is still young and who cost twice that fee just two years ago.

Can Blackburn afford Santa Cruz’s wages? Probably, given the bumper transfer fee they have received for Phil Jones who has joined the Rags kicking machine. Question, is, though, how much do they want to splash out in wages for Santa Cruz? Surely it is his interests to sign a longer contract at Rovers, but on reduced wages in order to prolong his career? Santa Cruz and one or two other would do well to take a leaf out of some of their team mates who have a more constructive attitude.

Some players like Craig Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips are prepared to take a pay cut to move on, and fair play to them. Both have served us well at different times. It is a shame that Bellars and Mancini do not get on and it is sad that Shauny’s return has not quite worked out, after a bright re-start to his City career. The turning point for me was when he was kicked 6 times in a home Manchester derby. He never seemed quite the same after Ferguson’s mob deliberately tried to kick him out of the game and if he does go, it will be with some regret. The fact is though, Shaun needs to pay regularly to be on top of his game and a move to Bolton or Wigan should give him a better chance of that.

Boateng says that he has agreed a deal with Bayern Munich and that it is up to City to make it happen. Call me old fashioned but aren’t Bayern supposed to make an acceptable offer to City first and then that needs to be accepted before Boateng can talk to them? Clearly Boateng is tailor made for Bayern. Bayern is the biggest club in Germany and an extremely arrogant club at that, and these tactics to take players from other clubs is nothing new. One of the reasons why they are hated up and down Deutschland is because of their supreme arrogance and glory-hunting supporters. Does that ring any bells? How will this resolve itself? Boateng is a promising defender and a potentially a top centre half. Bayern shouldn’t get him for anything less than the £10.4 million we paid for him.

With the so-called ‘fair Play’ regulations, our spending this summer is much more modest thus far, though there will probably be one big signing.

We’ve signed Gael Clichy from Arsenal and back Stefan Savic from Partizan Belgrade.

It’s good to read about a humble guy who is genuinely happy to come to play for us.

So what that Savic was not wanted by Arsenal? Wenger clearly does not know what a good centre back (or goalkeeper) is, so why should we worry? He’s a centre half by trade, stands at 6 foot 1, and is quick and positionally very good. He has captained Partizan at the age of 20 and has played at right back for his country also. So Dobrodosao, Stefan!

Clichy is a pacey, graceful attacking full back who is better going forward than he is as a defender, but he still represents an improvement on Kolarov, and for £7 million he should represent decent value for money. Hopefully, our Italian coaches can help Clichy improve his defensive game. Pablo Zabaleta did very well when called upon to cover at left back last season, but it is unreasonable to ask a natural right footer to play left back all season, and he is better sharing the right back duties with Micah Richards in what will be a long, arduous, and hopefully exciting season.

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