Carlos Tevez faces record fine after Manchester City find him guilty
• Club says player has a breach-of-contract case to answer
• Argentinian indicates he will challenge the allegations
Daniel Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 12 October 2011 23.01 BST
Article history
Manchester City's dispute with Carlos Tevez is threatening to run until Christmas after the club's initial findings found him guilty of refusing to play against Bayern Munich, only for the player to indicate he would fight the allegation as far as possible and demand an apology from Roberto Mancini.
Tevez has told City he is sticking to his story that it was a "misunderstanding" and that he wants Mancini to retract his allegations and apologise for the damage to his reputation. City have refused point blank and are trying to convene a disciplinary hearing before the weekend on the grounds that Tevez has "a case to answer of alleged breaches of contract".
The striker will be informed at that meeting that not one of the players or coaches who have been interviewed as part of City's internal investigation has substantiated his claims about what happened in the Allianz Arena two weeks ago. On the contrary, every single statement has supported Mancini's case that the striker refused to go on as a second-half substitute, with City losing 2-0.
The club have already contacted the players' union, the Professional Footballers Association, to give it advance notice they want to invoke a punishment of a scale that, under guidelines introduced in 2005, will need the organisation's approval. This is likely to take the form of an additional four-week suspension to add to the fortnight Tevez has already served, plus a fine of six weeks' wages. Tevez's weekly salary of £250,000 would make it the largest a footballer in Britain has ever received. The striker intends to lodge an immediate appeal, to be held internally, and, if the case against him is upheld, he will take the matter to a second appeal via a specially convened panel organised by the Premier League. The potential delays, with legal representatives on both sides, mean it may not be until the end of the year before the process is finished.
In the meantime Tevez has been freed to resume training and will report for duty on Thursday in the belief that he will be allowed to rejoin Mancini's first-team squad. Instead Mancini plans to isolate the Argentinian who lifted the FA Cup in May. Tevez will have to train alone or with the youth-team players. This could potentially create problems should he decide to pursue a case of constructive dismissal but the animosity between player and manager has been exacerbated by Tevez's insistence on his return from Buenos Aires that Mancini owes him an apology. In return Tevez was willing to accept he had refused at one point to warm up and to issue an apology of his own. Mancini refused and will not budge.
The club believe there is irrefutable evidence against Tevez from not just the witness statements but also his TV interview directly after the match, when he admitted not being in the right frame of mind to play.
The disciplinary hearing will be chaired by a senior club official, possibly the football administrator, Brian Marwood, or the acting chief executive, John MacBeath, and will go ahead next week if it cannot be arranged in the next 48 hours.
Tevez will be informed the initial review, conducted by City's HR and legal departments, did not accept his explanation and that it constituted gross misconduct. City have decided cancelling Tevez's contract would be excessive – a ruling the PFA agrees with - but the latest events indicate he has no chance of playing for the club before being made available in the January transfer window.
The Tevez saga comes at a bad time for Mancini, however, with Sergio Agüero almost certainly out of Saturday's game at home to Aston Villa. Agüero is hoping to return from a groin injury against Villarreal on Tuesday, though the diagnosis on Mario Balotelli is better and the back issues that forced him to withdraw from international duty with Italy will not keep him out against Villa.