City should have sacked Tévez

It takes some effort but Carlos Tévez has managed to do more for public feeling towards Manchester City than Garry Cook ever did.  I never thought I’d write this but I hope Manchester City sue the whinging bag of hubris for a jolly lot of money.

City have suspended Tévez for two weeks – wretchedly, on full pay – but even this is a cop out.  By refusing to go on the pitch in Munich, Tévez did significant damage not just to City’s immediate prospects in a UEFA Champions League match but threw the club into a state of disharmony.

At best, he is guilty of breach of contract.  At worst – and this sounds much more like it – his actions, or inactions if you prefer, amount to misconduct.  The suspension was a cop out; City should have fired him on the spot, preferably with an invitation to catch his own flight back to England.

Tévez is a fine player but has done little for the game in England since his bewildering transfer from Corinthians to West Ham Utd in August 2006 along with Javier Mascherano.  That transfer turned out to be irregular, to an extent that should have given the Premier League cause to summarily relegate West Ham and reprieve Sheffield Utd who, as the seventeenth best law-abiding club in the top flight that season, had earned their right to remain in the division.

His relationship with his agent Kia Joorabchian has cast a shadow over his time in England.  Third-party ownership is a blight on football which threatens the competitive integrity of the game and the FA and SFA have quite properly banned it, as must FIFA.  The only way to deal with people like Joorabchian is with the application of a jackboot, preferably from a considerable height.

In 2006, Gabriele Marcotti wrote in the Times that in the register of directorships at Companies House, Joorabchian had two names, two nationalities and even two dates of birth.  The suspicion lingers that he can still smell a quick buck, facilitated by yet another big money move for Tévez.

And yet, deliciously, there is a sense that no club in their right mind will go near the player.  He has whined his way out of a career at Eastlands, usurped by the marvellous Sergio Agüero, a superior player and a better professional.  Argentina’s new coach, the former Sheffield Utd and Leeds midfielder Alejandro Sabella, has recently been seen purchasing a bargepole with the express intent to not touch Tévez with it.

Tévez has been in English football for over five years, yet still requires an interpreter to carry out even the most basic interviews; just as he remained as incomprehensible in Portuguese at the end of his time at Corinthians as on the day he joined from Boca Juniors in 2004.  He has always been in the Manchester City squad but never entirely of it.

City are rich enough not to worry about the loss of a transfer fee; after all, who would pay £40m for the player now, unless they took leave of their senses?  Tévez’s continued presence in the squad would be divisive in the club and an insult to the supporters.  Sacking the player for gross misconduct would rid City of a problem player and help the club’s image; few would have any sympathy for the Argentine.

The notion that reconciliation is possible is hard to believe.  Mancini was clearly enraged by Tévez’s behaviour, as he had every right to be.  The fans would never accept Tévez back.  He ought then to be left to find a club prepared to give him a three year contract on silly money.  Qatar, anybody?