Over the Summer of 2008, Manchester City was bought buy Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (bit of a mouthful, his name, isn't it). Sheikh Mansour is a member of the Ruling Family of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. To put it in layman's terms, HE HAS A S#@! TON OF CASH!!! In fact, the famous Sheikh has spent over £500 Million in wages and transfer fees, money given in exchange for players (like a trade for cash), alone, bringing in the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal, Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, and Robinho from Real Madrid. Long story short, Manchester City has become the New York Yankees of the Premier League, doing their best to buy trophies and their way into the Champions League.
One of their most famous coups was the signing of Manchester United fan favorite, striker Carlos Tevez over last summer. Tevez was upset with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson over playing time. In fact, we all were. Tevez was an amazing player for us. In just under 100 games for the club, he bagged 34 goals. Tevez had a knack for getting stuck-in to challenges, an could stand his ground against anyone, which says a lot as he is only 5'8". And still today, nobody really knows what went wrong, and why he was not given more playing time or offered a new contract. Most say it was the large transfer fee that was going to an agent, not another team. Tevez was on loan to Manchester United through a company run by his agent Kia Joorabchian, called Media Sports Investmant, not from another team. His rights as a player were protected and handled by Joorabchian, and talks between Joorabchian and SAF over Tevez's two years with United were never good. As last season came to a close, and no deal with United had yet surfaced, rumors of Chelsea, Liverpool and Real Madrid began roaring in. Tevez quickly turned down any thought of joining Liverpool, as he did not want to disrespect any of the United faithful (see Johnny Damon going from the Red Sox to the Yankees). Unfortunately, he chose the second worse option.
Fast forward to yesterday, where United and City played the first leg of the home and home semi-final of the English League Cup. Known now as the Carling Cup, (because every stinking thing in sports has to have a sponsor) the ELC is played only by professional teams, unlike the famous F.A. Cup, which includes every level of semi-professional and professional teams in England. These 'Cup' competitions are played aside from normal Premier League play. The semi final in this competition is two-legged, meaning two games, home and away for each side, where aggregate scoring applies.
Now then, I told you ALL of that to rant about this. My boys lost to those money grubbing, player stealing City idiots yesterday 2-1, and I'm miffed. Now I'm not upset about the game. We had plenty of chances to score an equalizer, and all we need to do is win 1-0 at home, next week, to advance to the final and defend the first of the titles we won last year. I'm even saying that after the fact that both City goals were gifts from the referee's (Don't want to believe me, watch the video below. The corner call that set up Tevez's goal was total rubbish). What I am ranting over today is that Carlos Tevez was the scorer of both City goals.
As a United fan, I knew revenge would ultimately come in the form of goals, and that Tevez would get a laugh in at us. He deserves it. He is a great player and our front office brass, David Gill and the Glazers's, should not have let him go the way they did. I never thought of Carlitos as a vengeful man, though. He turned down Liverpool, and he didn't celebrate his assist in the derby game (derby=rivalry) at Old Trafford earlier this year. Surely he still has repesct for our club right?
Guess not.
After scoring his second goal in the 65th minute of Tuesday night's match, my opinion, along with the opinions of all the United fans, were changed. A man we once adored, and still respected, despite his new team, called us out.
This is Tevez in front of our bench celebrating his goal, after running half way across the field just to do so. He had done this once before, last season, just after contract talks stalled. He was given an immediate response as a wave of United players on the bench got up to have a shout at him. Seen below is our captain, Gary Neville, inconspicuously showing Tevez the finger.
Now, I am in no way condoning what Nev's did in response, but c'mon Carlos, you are better than that. We all know you are. The United fans cheered for you earlier in the year when you played at Old Trafford. I'm disappointed that you could be so petty. The public know that United didn't offer you the contract because of money, but I am just wondering if it was really because of antics like this. I can now honestly call you a traitor, especially after your attempts to show that you were trying not to be one. Way to contradict yourself, Carlitos. You cannot throw fuel on the fire and expect not to get burned. I hope that the fans 'boo' him next week. Even more so, I hope that my Red Devils can reverse that scoreline and come out on top.
That's my rant for this week. Next week, you will get to see my Super Bowl pick.
Thanks for reading...
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