Utd's wealth was acquired by being part of a dodgy cartel and being part-owned by the company that showed the games. The vast majority of the current fanbase have absolutely no recollection of any team from the 50s or 60s, either.
We didn't even buy him, we just loaned him in for a season! It was pretty blatant (just as The Other Lot were with Inamoto) that he was just there to sell shirts and maybe, if he was lucky, get a substitute appearance in a low-priority match. However, as our manager(s) at the time were Hoddle and Pleat, all games were of a higher priority becuase we couldn't even defend a 3-0 halftime lead against ten men...
Oh don't start. I was there that night and still have nightmares. The strangest thing was that the bloke next to me turned to me at half-time and said 'I've got a horrible feeling we're gonna lose 4-3. And I was like yeah sure! yeah sure...sure...shudder...cold sweat...*sob*
Nostradamus is a Spurs fan? Shouldn't he be on the board? Tevez is threatening to sue Mancini for defamation of character, after it was proven that Mancini's claims that he refused to play were made up, and nobody else on the bench for that game corroborated his story. please log in to view this image
I agree on both points, although Tevez claims that he was sufficiently warmed up already, and he should know his own body. I suspect he has got away with not actually wanting to play but Mancini has clearly lost the players and will struggle to recover from this.
I don't think Fu Mancini has lost the players yet. He could lose them if he is forced by his Arab playboy owner to take Tevez back into the dressing room. I doubt that is likely, as the owner must be delighted at what Fu Mancini has done without Tevez, and he's surely not so stupid as to seek to disrupt a winning formula. The way that the team is playing for their manager and absolutely tonking teams demonstrates that he retains a very good rapport with the players. He even seems to have tamed the petulance of Baliotelli, which is no mean feat.
Most football clubs do give that money to charity and players welcome it (probably for tax reasons). And rhetorical questions normally have question marks at the end, and it's good form to use them <wry_smile_emoticon> <wishing_I_hadnt_typed_that_already_emoticon>
They had to punish him for something after all the brouhaha - even if, as Tevez claims, he was warmed up already. The thing is, doing so is actually helping Tevez's case rather than Mancini's, as it makes the decision look like the result of a witch hunt to back Mancini's unproven accusations, which any lawyer would pick at relentlessly until Man City had to back down. Compare this to the other week where Sandro was on the bench, but didn't come on because he didn't feel up to playing as he was carrying a knock (which is what Tevez claims about the Bayern game) - 'Arry didn't hurl allegations about the player around during a string of press conferences, then hold a kangaroo court after those allegations couldn't be backed up by anyone.
What gets me is the fact that we don't know what happened. Lawyers and spokesmen and publicists and image consultants, etc, have put paid to anyone actually knowing the truth. It 'could' be that an Italian manager via an assistant or two could have been confused by his Argentinian player's response. That's all very possible. What I dislike about it is that it seems that each one of the links in the chain in that ludicrous game of Chinese whispers seems to have enough legal clout for the truth never to surface. Apparently, gone are the days of a manager winking at his sub, telling him he's coming on and giving him a few pointers as to what he should be doing. If there was a breakdown in communication then all that had to happen is Mancini and Tevez TALK to one another. That's it. Due to the fact that they had to go through several intermediaries this has become a situation of immense proportion and speculation. Jesus cock-fighting Christ. I'm sure I'm not the only one who now is utterly sick of this story. If it was a mistake the two people involved shake hands, apologise and look forward to the next game. If Tevez refused to either warm-up or play he should should be fined and then should accept it. I'm not naive. I know the game is full of egos and is more money oriented than we care to believe and its this money that brings in the very highest quality players to our league... but these are men. They are not winged gods. All this situation needed was for two men, who should be talking every day, to have a word with each other.
Some good points, Ruin. The impression I get from most of the lads here on the Spurs board is that we are quite impressed with how Mancini has handled what was always going to be his greatest challenge; controlling the rather large and very expensive pram he's now in charge of. Take Balotelli for instance- complete fruitcake who's days at Citeh looked numbered after his ballet-like pirouette in that pre-sea friendly. Yet, despite publicly losing his temper with the lad, Mancini handled the situation and enormous ego very diplomatically, and we're already seeing the results of that quite early on in the season. As for Tevez, you're right that the fog surrounding this whole affair is ludicrous, but im afraid Tevez has been playing with matches for far too long. Honestly, any player on £250,000 a week playing in the best league in the world, captain of a top team in that top league, has NO right to anounce every fortnight that he hates his home, his team, his manager, his club's board of directors, the weather, the blah blah blah. He threw his toys out once too often, and now the club are trying to sell them to Oxfam. What Tezev doesn't seem to realise is that this 'defamation' incident is utterly IRRELEVANT visa-vis the future of his career, b/c no-one can afford his wages and transfer fee anyway.
The PFA have told City to reduce Tevez's punishment to a fine of two weeks' salary, rather than four - so naturally they kick up a fuss, as Man City should be allowed to form a witch hunt against whichever one of their players they want...
Oh, the fond and happy Champ Manager memories of utilising the maximum 2 weeks' fine on Chris Armstrong every fortnight. I ought to have been brought before the human right's tribunal, the way I persecuted the man. <nostalgic gaze into the distance and eyes mist over smiley>
Are you talking about the Blackburn game, Croydon? If so, then Redknapp said that he wanted to take a fitness test before the game, but the medical staff said that he risked being out for weeks if he aggravated it. The manager decided not to pick him at all because of that, though he still featured on the bench, for some reason.
Maybe Sandro was on the bench, because we didn't have anyone else suitable to replace him at that late stage? In no way was the situation comparable to Tevez, that's for sure.
Not one other person on the bench corroborated Mancini's story, so they PFA won't condone punishing him for refusing to play because they only have Mancini's word on the matter, and given how often Mancini and Tevez have fallen out beforehand ever since Mancini took over (they had a major bust-up at half time during a league match a year ago, and Tevez has been submitting transfer requests ever since), it does look more and more like Mancini persecuting a player who wants to leave.
Either way, at least someone is finally standing up to the over-inflated and disproportionately powerful babies who occupy football clubs these days. Hats off to Mancini and- im afraid to say- Levy, for their tough stances against Tevez and Modric. Enough of the spineless cowards letting men who are paid more in a week than I will earn in a lifetime get away with blue murder. As so many people have said, if I come out publicly and criticise my boss and managing directors, I have precisely 5 minutes to clear my desk and get my rear down to the nearest job centre. Why should footballers be treated any differently?
On the other hand though HP, if you want to quit your job then you just hand in your notice. There are benefits and disadvantages to being a player, though the pros vastly outweigh the cons.
As I keep saying, given Mancini has been butting heads with Tevez for over a year in regards to tactics and Tevez wanting a transfer away from the club, and the fact not one person corroborated Mancini's story about Tevez refusing to play, it looks like a witch hunt between a pair of oversized egos. Also, I have to say, Football Focus are being 'tards every time they mention Tevez's departure from Old Trafford, implying it was his fault. MUPLC didn't want to renew his contract, so you cannot blame Tevez for joining a club that offered him a contract - because that's exactly what MUPLC didn't do at any point.
