Manchester City fans are reknowned for their loyalty and their support for their team and in my view are largely straightforward types with a good sense of right and wrong. They are not glory seekers or ego maniacs that like to associate themselves with success, irrespective of location or real affinity.
Now is the time for these qualities to come to the fore and for them to show their support for the ‘good guys’ in the sad chapter of Tevezgate.
Let us look at the facts. On the one hand we have someone from the slums of Buenos Aires who is a fabulous footballer but perhaps isn’t the sharpest knife in the box either intellectually or emotionally and whose moral compass has proven many times to be called into question. He gets into bed with an Iranian businessman whose moral compass appears to be even more questionable and has little qualms in twisting facts to suit his own purposes and his own bank balance.
The result a career of iffy deals and controversy at West Ham, Man Utd and now at City. The trend and the facts are there for all to see and result in the aforesaid great footballer being paid a kings ransom to lead a pampered life and not being able to focus on anything but his own whims and not being able to contribute to the wider world outside his immediate self focus.
He either can’t or won’t learn English after seven years in the country, he finds it hard to use his fame and fortune to engage in things that would bring help to those less fortunate, even though he clearly get bored with any other pursuit than football and his family, although on that score his moral compass also has a history of wobbles. He is thus never satisfied and is a rather incomplete human being who is paid some £250,000 a week and had not the slighest bit of loyalty to the club and the fans that pay such wages.
On the other hand we have Sheikh Manour and Roberto Mancini who at this time need the resounding backing of all loyal Man City fans and of all fair minded football fans who do not wish to see the great game of football treated with such disrepect by self serving superstars and their infamous agents.
The Sheikh has invested countless millions not only into City as a team on the pitch but into the greater community of Manchester. He has always acted in an exemplary way and has not courted the personal limelight or had the need to get involved in football from a business or personal standpoint. However, he does want his investment to result in success which does involve playing by the current rules of the game. This means paying star footballers over inflated wages, having his people deal with the egos of these over pampered stars and also having to deal with the questionable ethics of many of the people who set themselves up to deal with the superstar contracts and demand over inflated prices from the clubs for ‘milking’ them in the first place.
This regrettably is the reality of top class football and becomes all too apparent when there is no self restraint or moral control exercised by examples such as Tevez and some football agents.
The Sheikh deserves far better than this and we as fans need to be vocal in our unwavering support for him and for his football manager Roberto Mancini.
The latter is an established and successful manager whose job is to use his experience and his instinct to select a team and determine the team’s tactics. Once this authority is either shared with club owners or with club superstars then the job has no authority and no future. Mancini had guided City into the Champions League and to FA Cup success but as last night showed there is still a long way to go before Champions League success is to be earned. City are not yet the finished article but he has got them moving in the right direction and has had the strength to get rid of players who place their own requirements before that of the club, the team and of the manager.
Roberto Mancini also deserves better than the way he has been treated by Tevez and his coterie. We are now told that Tevez did not refuse to play, even though Pablo Zabaleta was next to him to translate if necessary. Could this be another manipulation of the facts engineered by someone other than Tevez whose level of articulate English does not seem to be capable of the erudite statement apparently emenating from him?
It is a time for City fans to unite behind the Sheikh, the manager and the players that do appear to have a far straighter moral compass than Mr Tevez such as Kompany, Hart, Silva, Barry, Milner, Richards and many of the rest. Let Tevezgate be a turning point in ensuring that pampered stars never again are tolerated when they act in the totally unacceptable way shown by Carlos Tevez last night and his agent this morning. Both are leading football in a direction that most fair minded people and most City supporters find unacceptable.
Tevez and his coterie need to be villified by all in football and all that support the ethics of a fair and acceptable society. Equally we need to voice our support for the Sheikh and with Roberto Mancini…for both, like us loyal and fair minded football fans, deserve far better.
The greater tragedy for Man City and for football will be if the bad guys are not sent packing and the good guys are not supported to the hilt.
The ‘Misunderstanding…’
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