Carlos Tevez may be able to work out his differences with Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini - but then his biggest task begins, in calming the angry Blue masses.
The Argentine striker believes he could be back in action within a fortnight, which - if true - could mean a sensational comeback against Blackburn or Bolton, the Blues’ next two Premier League games.
He has promised to put himself through a gruelling schedule of double training sessions to regain the lost fitness from the three months he has spent absent without leave in Argentina, and the five months since his last match, the Carling Cup tie against Birmingham in September.
Tevez also gave his version of events on what happened at Bayern Munich, and was critical of Mancini's handling of the situation.
In an interview with Argentina's Fox Sports channel he said: “If I was wrong, I say sorry.”
Tevez has ended a self-imposed exile which has cost him around £9.5million in fines, and lost wages and image rights, after three months of playing golf and relaxing in Argentina.
“I want to go back to Manchester and win the City fans back,” said Tevez.
“People turned their back on me since what happened against Bayern, but I believe they were misinformed.
“They weren’t told the facts and when told that I didn’t want to play, they naturally turned against me.
“If a player doesn’t want to play for the club that pays his wages, it’s only natural for them to turn against that player.
“I've decided to return to City. I know I have what it takes to revert the situation. I know it'll be hard, but it's a nice challenge.”
Challenge
But many City fans remain opposed to the player ever pulling on the shirt again after he publicly ridiculed Manchester and left on November 7, vowing never to return.
Other, more pragmatic, supporters feel that if he gets fit and is willing to play, the Blues should use him.
Tevez added in the extensive interview: “I have been training on my own. I know I can be back on the pitch in two weeks. I'm willing to play.
“There's no need for City to make me have two training sessions a day. I'll do it myself. I picture myself going back on the pitch and I know I have to play better than I ever did.
“I know I have a huge challenge ahead. I'm full of energy.
“I have discovered the love for the game again. I want to play again. I want to train - things I lost four months ago.”
Tevez added that Mancini’s conciliatory words at the weekend had been welcome, but he also doubted their sincerity.
“If it's true that Mancini said he will welcome me back if I'm fit, then I like those quotes, but if he only said it for the media...” said Tevez.
He then suggested that Mancini had turned against him after signing Sergio Aguero in the summer, although they almost came to blows during s row following City’s win over Newcastle last season.
“Mancini's position got stronger when Kun Aguero arrived,” said Tevez. “I don't know if he would have done the things he did if this was last season.
“Last season we almost exchanged punches! But he never said anything. He got a better team this season and felt like making the decision.”
Tevez admitted he was 'hurt' by the reaction of City fans, but claims they had judged him without knowing the full facts of what happened on the substitutes’ bench in Munich.
“Now that I have a cooler head, I understand City fans,” he said. “Back in the heat of the moment I didn't, but I have done a lot for City.
“To be insulted by fans after what happened in Munich was something I didn't deserve.”
He also felt Mancini had handled the situation badly, saying: “They could have kicked me out of the club without saying all the things they said, deal with the situation in a different way.
“I think that's where Mancini got things wrong. If we had a problem, we could have sorted it out in a different way.
“Last season, after a home game against Newcastle, we almost hit each other in the dressing room, but we spoke the following day.
“Mancini is a winner and I'm a winner too. Neither of us like to lose.”
Explanation
Tevez then, for the first time, gave his version of events in Munich, which led Mancini to initially claim he had refused to go on as a substitute and landed him with a fine of two weeks’ wages after the club could only establish that he had refused to warm up.
Said Tevez: “I decided not to talk to the media for the last four months – the last time I spoke was right after the Bayern Munich game.
“It was a delicate situation. I decided to say nothing about it during all this time.
“I had warmed up during the first half, then I went to the dressing room and for the second half I was ready.
“I was kind of in a bad mood and when Mancini decided to replace Edin Dzeko with Nigel de Jong when we were losing 2-0. I thought it was a defensive substitution and started to sit back on the bench.
“I had already warmed up for ten minutes and he had this attitude that he wants to lose 2-0 instead of 4-0.
“So I sat down and at the same time Dzeko came off, really angry, and had a go at Mancini. He sat down next to him and they started to have an argument.
“Dzeko was speaking Bosnian and Mancini would swear at him in Italian – it was a real mess.
“So I went to sit down and he didn’t see me because he was having this discussion. But then he turned around and saw me, and you can imagine what happened.
“He’s in the middle of an argument, told me to keep on warming up, and treated me like a dog.
“When he spoke to me in that tone of voice I said ’No, I’m not going out’. I was willing to play, but the coach was in such a foul mood because he had that argument with Dzeko, he started on me as well, and started swearing at me.
“That was him, because I was very calm, just sitting on the bench. You can see from the footage that I was calm, just talking with Pablo Zabaleta, and Mancini was saying some horrible things to me.
“I never refused to play. I refused to keep warming up. The club investigated and then they fined me.
“I was worried about my future after that two-week fine. That fine was OK. But I want people to know the truth - they didn't want to.”
Pressure
Tevez was left to train alone, or with the elite development squad, with Mancini wanting an apology before he would be reintroduced to the first-team squad.
Instead, Tevez left for Argentina on November 7, and remained there, resulting in a gross misconduct charge which cost him a record fine of six weeks wages – around £1.2million – plus stopped wages of nearly £3million and withdrawn image rights of £6million.
But Tevez said he left as he felt under intolerable pressure: “The club statement protected the manager. I got a lot of heat from the media in England, Argentina, everywhere.
“Every time I wanted to take my daughter to school I had five journalists on my back. I trained with the reserves. It was uncomfortable.
“I was affected because of this situation. I wanted to find shelter with my family.”
Tevez, in words which will not thaw his relations with City fans, also named United manager Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the two best managers he has worked for and singled out United stars Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs for praise.
“I know Ferguson didn't have the best relationship with me but together with (former Argentina coach Marcelo) Bielsa, those two are the best managers I had.
“Paul Scholes is the best professional, him Rooney and Giggs ... I have no words, they were excellent to me,” he said.
What do you think of the comments? Have your say.
Carlos Tevez: I want to win the Manchester City fans back
February 13, 2012
Comments
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Dont bother mate.
This stinks... don't buy in to it... He just wants to be in the shop window for summer (look at me.. I'm fit and playing)...
Will you consider paying me a proportion of my costs that I laid out going to Munich to have you refuse to play in a game disrespecting myself and the thousands of other City fans Carlos?...That'd be a start to winning some of us back over.
Some of the opening comments could stir things up again !.....This is getting even more Confusing.Not done to bad without him have we ?.
This prepared rhetoric is ok, but how long will this last
Too late..we dont want you back.
Still top of the league without you Carlos. Stay away!
Well this kitty thinks come back win us the premiership and go in the summer we might forgive you O and score a hatrick against the reds at ours , however as we are top of the league without you I dont think we will loose much sleep whatever happens Watch this space O that Kitty..
Give your earnings to the Manchester Childrens hospice might be a start..........
Business is business. If you have a car which is unused and rusting away you get it repaired, cleaned up, serviced, and MOT'd. Then you sell it because in it's current state the value is dropping like a stone. Let's face it, we are all somewhat fickle. If he appears in ten games, scores six or seven goals especially during a certain match in April, who cares.
Hope he plays again. I'd love to see him back. The club should accept this olive branch and get on with winning the league. The longer this silly dispute drags on the more unsettled the club will be. CTID.
Get him fit and playing, we will certainly win it with Tevez and Aguerro!
It's probably within the best interest of the owners to play him, work him hard and build up his value again.
That said, I for one will not be cheering his name if he plays again.
I have always had affection for Carlito. But Like any human when things go wrong we splutter and some can froth. We don't all just see a footballer, we also see the human side as well.
This situation reminds me of the fixture at Bolton I think it was Boxing Day, we were top of the league with five games to play,we signed and played Rodney Marsh and blew the title.
J.S. VANCOUVER.
As good as he is (or was) we are a better TEAM without him.
When he did play there was a tendency to play everything through him-how many times did we see a different City when he had an off day.
We are much more of a team now and we cannot afford anything to upset the balance.
Someone said on a previous post that they genuinely would not know how to celebrate, well I’m the same-it would have to be for the team and not him.
Then again if we need to beat united at home at the end April and he scores the winner………
You'll never win me back
Whether we like it or not won't matter a jot, he will be back, decision already been made.
MCFC is a business, say what you like.
As disappointed as i was with the whole Carlos circus over the last four months i would have been happy to see the back of him. However, one thing has never been in doubt and that is his commitment when out on the pitch, plus his part in moving this club forward over the last couple of years, for which i will always be grateful for.
Now is the time to look at the bigger picture and if Carlos can apologies and then help us win the league, and probably increase his transfer fee for a summer exit, then surely that is a win win for City.
It’s the year 2041 and Carlos Tevez and Christiano Ronaldo are reminiscing about the old days........
Christiano - Ey up Carlos, who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd both be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?
Tevez - Ay Christiano....But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
Christiano - Because we were poor!! My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son".
Tevez - Aye, 'e was right.
Christiano - Aye, 'e was.
Tevez - I was happier then and I had nothin'. I used to live in this tiny old mansion with 17 bedrooms in a rough part of Alderley Edge.
Christiano - Mansion! You were lucky to live in a Mansion! We used to live in a Castle with only 62 rooms, some of them without an en-suite, all of us huddled together in the banqueting hall, wondering where the next sack of money was coming from.
Tevez - Eh, you were lucky to have a castle! I used to have get up at 9 o’clock in the morning, drive to work in a Bentley that no self respecting millionaire would have been seen dead in, train for two hours a day, and then have to drive myself home again
Christiano - Well, of course, I had it tough. I used to have to employ a driver who never once called me “Your Excellence”, never once groveled at my feet and at the end of the day, actually wanted paying for the privilege of driving me to work and back.
Tevez - Right....i used to have to get up 12 hours after I went to bed, get dressed without any help from anyone, walk downstairs to the car myself, get paid millions of pounds for kicking a football about, fight off fans who kept telling me how great I was, spend hours in designer clothes shops spending money, fly back and forth to Argentina on private jets that someone else paid for, warm up more than once whenever I was on the bench and on top of that, every month I had to cut my own toenails. ...who could blame me for going back home for two months...
Christiano - Ay.....and you try and tell the young footballers of today that..... they won't believe you!.......
These quotes, if they are true sound made up, as if someone has manufactured them with built in half witted content in order to make them sound in some way genuine.
No one in their right mind would come out with drivel like this.
Tevez has burnt his bridges, Maybe if he said he would play for City for the next 3 months for free and then sign a new contract in the summer to stay for another 2 years. Then maybe he could change things and opinions around.
We all know thought that he won't agree to that and that most of his waffle is about him finding another suitor.
Maybe we have to make this bargain in order to get shut of him so O.K.
One thing I know is he's not offering anything substantial, just hollow words. Actions are what are required now as the actions he's shown over the last few months only indicate that he is out for himself alone.
I'd just get rid, but if the club can get him to sign another contract that stops his selfish behaviour, disappearing acts every now and then and makes him keep his toys in his pram then maybe he'll play some role for us again. When trust is broken though, it's very had to repair.
If we get a fair price for him out of it and nothing else then well and good, I wish him no harm, I just want the best for the club first and foremost.
win us a title and you can right some wrongs, but we'll never be able to look at you the same way. i won't boo you while you wear the shirt, but don't make me or other city fans regret allowing you back into our hearts
Chip Peas you have hit the nail on the head,he really does not get it does he? "City do not have to make me train twice a day I will do it myself" What part of Manchester City F.C. are my employers does he not understand?Still blames everybody else, feels hard done to?Can't stand the nasty little man, I don''t think his talents on the pitch compensate for the trouble he WILL cause- it seems to me that the team have a good spirit what will Tevez do to that?- this is the first time this season I have been worried about City crashing. I never want to see him wear our shirt again, I think we can win the league without him.We play better as a team without him.
Sorry Carlito, but you have said many things in the past, and then look what you did. Will the majority of fans forgive you? I am not so sure.
Is Roberto going to play him alongside or instead of Aguero? They did not play well together in the Copa America last year, and I watched all those games. He won't play him instead because he knows he can rely on Aguero, so that would only mean CT being a sub for the last half hour.
Is Roberto going to play him alongside or instead of Balotelli? They are both difficult personalities to manage. He won't play him instead because Mario is the favoured son, so that would only mean CT being a sub for the last half hour.
Is Roberto going to play him alongside or instead of Dzeko? They are very different, CT heads down, ED heads up. If he plays him instead he risks Edin losing confidence but he has done that before, so that would only mean CT being a sub for the last half hour.
He will never win me back. He never had me in the first place! But the day he walks onto the pitch wearing a Manchester City shirt is the day I walk out. I am not saying that I won't come back for other matches but that first time he walks on, I walk.
He disrespected the club, the fans, the players and the manager and he is only coming back because it serves HIS purpose not for the fans or Manchester City.
He wanted away and the club bent over backwards to keep him so he thought that he could walk all over them. They proved him wrong.
The team have done better without him. A player who refuses to either warm up or come on the pitch does not deserve to play for our team. He threw a City scarf, given to him by a fan, on the floor at Wembley, he is a spoilt selfish little man but now he has realised that no one else wants him, for the price our club are entitled to ask for him, because he isn't fit, he thinks he can just walk back in and the fans will forgive him.
Not this fan, I was in Munich that night as I have been at every match, home and away, and I never want to see him again!
We are TOP OF THE LEAGUE without you so don't bother expecting to win us back!!