Drama inevitable at City, says club favourite

Club legend Dennis Tueart believes the Carlos Tevez fall-out at Manchester City was inevitable given the egos and huge salaries.

The former City striker spent 10 years at the club as a director up until 2007 and had dressing-room troubles of his own during his tenure, with the likes of Joey Barton, George Weah, Paulo Wanchope and Eyal Berkovic on the books.

Tueart said that, with the modern set-up at clubs as well as the exorbitant fees being paid for players, the tension in the dressing room at transformed clubs like City can create a ticking time bomb.

Tevez will miss Sunday’s English Premier League derby against his former club Manchester United, after allegedly refusing to come off the bench against Bayern Munich in the Champions League in September led manager Roberto Mancini to banish him from the club indefinitely.

“Something like that was always going to happen sooner rather than later. I didn’t expect the challenge to Mancini but I knew something like that would happen,” Tueart said.

“In an organisation like ours (Man City) at the moment, there are so many egos in the dressing room on huge salaries that there is a lot of potential for problems. It is a product of the modern game. Football is global and there are so many different cultures, languages, personalities and financial levels in the dressing room.”

“It is always about managing the larger-than-life personalities. As long as you’re winning and the main egos are in the team, there won’t be a problem.”

Despite the friction, Tueart praised Mancini for his handling of the much-changed squad.

“He has handled it well considering the circumstances. It was certainly not an easy position to be in. He has not been hysterical. As a club, they have stepped back, but the quicker it is sorted out the better,” he said.

“Should Tevez play for City again? It’s a difficult one. It depends whether the manager feels that Tevez can make a contribution in a positive sense.”

“He has obviously pre-empted Tevez leaving because he bought Sergio Aguero, so he is well covered.”