The Return of Tevez

The Return of Tevez

Since his unlikely return to Manchester, Carlos Tevez has been a huge influence on the fatigued and down beat side we saw less than two months ago; however is it too late for City to claw back the five point gap? And would it all have been different if Tevez had been treated less antagonistically by the manager and the club?

After Tevez was essentially told to leave Manchester by the club many City fans must have wondered where the goals would be coming from in what many hoped could prove to be a key season in City’s rise to becoming a European force. Mancini insisted he was the victim and I am sure he knew it extremely foolish to tell a player who has scored a prolific forty seven goals in seventy two games for the club to just leave. Despite the Argentineans outlandish behaviour which faced heavy scrutiny from pundits and fans, I believe a heavy fine and two week ban would have sufficed. It also led me to think whether Mancini, an experienced manager who is well aware of Tevez’s ability, would have been so naive to sacrifice twenty odd goals in vital games and putting his own job at risk over a “misunderstanding”. This begs the question, where does the real power lie at City; with the manager, or with the money?

After his recent antics Tevez has proven to be a liability despite his amazing knack for scoring goals. This led me to believe selling Tevez was another savvy move from Alex Ferguson, who over the years has earned the reputation of being the shrewdest Premier League manager in the transfer market. In addition during the Tevez and Mancini feud Ferguson came out saying he could have signed Tevez if he had acted more quickly. This is yet another acute move by Ferguson declaring he could have had him if he wanted suggesting he still has a huge amount of influence over City players. I have always thought highly of Tevez as he not only has a superb work ethic (subsequently earning him the “Bulldog” nickname) but has shown he battles for his team. He certainly this showed when he first moved to England as he singlehandedly kept West Ham in the Premier League immediately proving he could cut it at the highest level.

I think Mancini has received significant pressure from the City owners to get Tevez back as they have slumped since Christmas. This makes me think maybe Mancini is the victim in this whole situation as he was bullied to get rid of Tevez in the first place after it was the owners who ultimately told him to leave. In addition key players such as Yaya Toure (who is reportedly on over £200,000 a week) have underperformed and club captain Vincent Kompany and big money forward Sergio Aguero have both had long term injuries. These players’ replacements have just not been at a title winning standard with centre-half Stefan Savic and winger Adam Johnson having poor seasons. With Tevez now seemingly firing on all cylinders after his recent hatrick against Norwich, Mancini is surely set for more criticism as many fans and pundits will begin to wonder whether if Tevez would have made a significant difference to City’s season.

I am sure that he would have made a difference to City’s season and that the Argentinean partnership of him and Aguero would have more prolific than Balotelli and Dzecko have been this season however I am in full defence of Mancini. He has been insulted by Tevez and has had his authority undermined by the owners and players yet he has still kept City in the fight for the title. My view is that City’s problems this season go much deeper than Tevez’s prolonged absence and these problems must be addressed by the club and the manager before next season. If they finish the season strongly, keep Tevez on side, replace the “deadwood” (Dzecko), address their lack of squad depth and the owners come out giving Mancini full backing then I am sure they are in for a revolutionary 2012/2013 season. After it taking nearly 6 months for Tevez and Mancini to make up, the City fans have every right to think “what was it all for?”

 If you have any views on this subject and agree or disagree with any of my opinions please let me know in the comments

Capello resignation and who will be next?

After over four years in charge the sixty-five year old Italian resigned from his role as England manager after an argument with the FA over the removal of John Terry’s captaincy. Capello began his England career in 2007 nine months before the 2010 world cup qualifying campaign began and gained early success winning the group with ease and only loosing one match. Through his disciplinarian like approach he had already managed to stamp his authority on a squad which had struggled to gel under Capello’s predecessor Steve McLaren, and England looked set to challenge for a spot in at least the semi-finals in South Africa. However before even arriving in at their training camp for the upcoming tournament Capello had to deal with heavy media attention due to controversy surrounding a number of England squad members. England struggled to score throughout the tournament with Rooney failing to get on the score sheet and Terry spoke out criticizing the atmosphere in the England camp. After scraping through the group stages England got knocked out in the first knockout round to a far superior German outfit, who quite frankly embarrassed England in a 4-1 thrashing in Bloemfontein. This appeared to be a turning point in Capello’s reign as the media were already, after only his first major tournament in charge, on his back. He didn’t help himself by publishing the “Capello Index” where the Italian and his coaching staff rated each squad member on their performance during the Finals in South Africa however this backfired as the Media got hold of the document and published it on a website publicly humiliating all the players. Despite this act of carelessness the Italian was offered a contract that would see him through until after Euro 2012 when the FA would then make an informed decision on his role as manager based on the teams performance at that summers tournament. Suddenly things were looking up for England as they recorded wins against Sweden as well as world and European champions Spain. However after an incident between Chelsea captain John Terry and QPR’s Anton Ferdinand a court case was due to start on the 1st February 2012 after Terry allegedly made racist remarks towards his compatriot. However the case was adjourned until July 9^th 2012 which was seen by fans as an odd decision considering that it had been rescheduled after this summer’s tournament. This was a major set back for the Italian manger as it was sure to create tension in the England camp leading up to the Euros and with no decision being made Capello would have to decide whether to keep Terry as captain or strip him of the armband. Despite many calling for Terry to be dropped from the squad all together, Capello came out supporting him saying “innocent until proven guilty.” Although Capello had supported the Chelsea Captain in the past this was a shock to fans and the FA alike and flared up much media speculation over the Italians role as manager. With the controversy potentially jeopardising England’s chances at this Summers Tournament the FA decided to strip Terry of the armband despite the court case not taking place until after the tournament, undermining Capello’s decision to keep him as captain for the Euros. It did not take long for Capello to voice his opinion on the FA’s decision and was clearly outraged that he his had been overruled and that his role as manager had been severely undermined. I believe it fair to say that not many expected the Italian to resign after what just seemed to be a disagreement that would blow over before the tournament however after four years and 42 games in charge the Capello resigned as England manager.

In my opinion the cause of this was the ridiculous adjuror of the court case which would have bought an end to the situation involving Terry and if he were to be found guilty Capello would have been left with the easy decision to remove Terry’s captaincy. In addition I believe the lack of communication between the FA and Capello was a prime factor in his resignation and something that the FA have admitted needs to be addressed in future appointments. It goes with out saying that the FA should have discussed their thoughts surrounding the issue with Capello before making the decision as this clearly undermines his role as manager. However if there is a positive to get out of this situation it is that with Terry no longer captain and maybe even out of the squad altogether, there should be no controversy looming over England building up to the Euro’s. This year there is no excuse to not reach at least the quarters and although we may not have a squad of young talents like Spain or Germany we know that when each of the players in the England squad play well we are more than capable of beating those sides. Oh and then there is the small problem of finding a manager.

Who’s next

Media speculation points towards Harry Redknapp as being the next England boss and if the FA have any sense they would waste no time in trying to get him on board. Harry is not only the fan favourite but is also being favoured by the players to be the next national boss with Rooney and Ferdinand both tweeting about how he would be their choice for the job. Not only would Harry’s communication with the players be far superior to his predecessor but I believe the FA would find him far more approachable which is obviously vital when dealing with such a prestigious national side. In addition his straight talking approach towards the media would go down much better with the fans and players compared to Capello’s mind games that used to put across mixed messages. On a negative note Harry has no experience in International football and his love of “wheelin deals” in the transfer market may be a deciding factor on whether he leaves the Tottenham. Unlike Capello, Redknapp has little experience of winning trophies with Harry only winning one trophy (FA Cup with Portsmouth) in his 30 odd year career. However this may not matter because as Capello proved just because you have won trophies in the past doesn’t necessarily mean you can repeat that. I hope you have enjoyed this article and please let me know your views on Capello and who you think should be the next England manager.