BEN Thatcher returns to the football spotlight on Monday night knowing that his every movement and challenge will be scrutinised by television's prying eyes.

The Welsh international's notorious elbow-led charge at the unsuspecting Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes has found a place in the annals of soccer infamy.

For weeks after the event 30-year-old Thatcher was the centre of debate on both news and sports pages, every one of his previous misdemeanours was lavishly dissected and analysed and out of the woodwork came those seeking to have their extra pound of flesh.

Two police forces were simultaneously investigating the player's on-field actions - without charge - the Blues suspended him and fined him a club record amount and the FA hauled him down to London to answer for actions that he probably couldn't explain and looked worse on each viewing.

While all that was going on around him Thatcher, as mild, friendly and engaging a character away from the field as he is a fearsome competitor on it, was attempting to get on with his family life, relieved that Mendes and suffered no ill-effects and clearly sorry for what he had done.

Now Thatcher, who has only been sent off once in his two and bit years at City - and that for nothing more sinister than two bookable offences in a pre-season friendly in China - is likely to return to City's starting side against Middlesbrough on Monday and, according to the man who has worked with him every day since the infamous incident, Stuart Pearce, the left back is something of a changed man.

Apprehension

If he is selected to start against Middlesbrough there will, of course, be some apprehension for Thatcher but far better he makes his comeback at home in front of fans who, while not condoning what he did, will at least be more sympathetic than those of other clubs.

Throughout the whole affair Thatcher, apart from a letter of apology to Mendes, has kept a dignified silence.

That has been in stark contrast to some of the things written and said about him. In some quarters he was almost painted as evil, a far cry from the man that his team-mates have rallied around and who is genuinely popular among his peers.

Since his eight-match ban began, Thatcher has been his manager's dream. He has not missed one single training session, has been the first into work each morning and has been vibrant and supportive on the training ground.

Even so, it is hard to believe that the events of Wednesday, August 23 at the City of Manchester Stadium will not have left some kind of mark.

Boss Pearce believes that the Mendes affair has changed Thatcher but nevertheless is sure that the defender is ready to play.

"Ben has worked very hard in the time that he's been off the field,'' said the manager.

"He's had no time off. I've not said to him, `take a week off here and a week off there'. He's worked as hard as he possibly could on the training pitch and been good around the place.

Difficult

"When you've got nothing to look forward to at the end of the week it's very, very difficult as a player. But credit to him he's grafted away really well and it's pleasing for us to have another player back.''

Pearce, whose pastoral care for his players has a glowing reputation, has not spent hours in deep, analytical conversation with his left-back but the pair have spent enough time together for the manager to know that Thatcher's remorse has been genuine and that he will be able to handle coming back on to centre stage.

"I think Ben is very disappointed, as I've said from the outset," continued Pearce. "Speaking with him the morning after the Mendes incident I knew exactly the remorse that was in his face and in his heart.

"He's got to learn by that and make sure it doesn't happen again, that's for sure. So we'll see how things pan out as time goes by.

"I'm sure the furore surrounding the incident must have got to him. I don't think any individual could have gone under that kind of spotlight and be totally oblivious to it.

"Ben's got a reputation of being a tough-tackling left-back and sometimes people perceive you as what you do on a football pitch as the same as you are off it - and being totally oblivious to any criticism you might get.

"That often isn't the case and certainly isn't the case with Ben. He's been affected by it but he's handled it pretty well, but you know the testing time is how he learns from it."

Thatcher, who played in a private rearranged reserve fixture against Bury yesterday is likely to be preferred to Stephen Jordan, who has felt the ire of his manager for recent under-par performances, at left-back against Middlesbrough on Monday night.

The Blues number three will be warmly welcomed back into the match day dressing room by his manager and team-mates who believe he has served his sentence and paid his penalty in terms of a battered reputation.

Pearce will be hoping, too, that City's fans welcome him back to the fold, for they have plenty of things to occupy their minds other than Thatcher's rehabilitation into first-team football.

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