I think that a few key points are being missed in this discussion - I'm not knocking the heartfelt input in this thread to date or anything like that but it is all pretty low level simplistic and missing the bigger picture entirely. So I thought I'd throw open the more holistic position to widen the topic.
1. The club will deal with the tevez situation in a manner that best meets the interests of the club and its shareholders. The Directors of Manchester City FC don't have a choice in that because it's an obligation incumbent upon all company Directors and you can lose your Directorship and even go to goal if you're found to fail in that regard.
2. world famous sporting personalities make at least as much in income from sponsorship, publicity activities, brand links, book & film rights, advertising etc. as they do from playing footie and that income exceeds their playing careers. This whole scenario will have cost the tevez brand multi-millions already and will continue to effect future earnings for many years. The most damaging aspect is him being kept out of the team and out of the spotlight so simply being sidelined is financial torture in itself and it will continue to cost him dearly long beyond the immediate situation. The £1m or £2m fine or whatever is peanuts compared to his total losses and he knows it and Mancini knows it so please don't think that he's getting off lightly . . he's being financially strangled and this will encourage him (and especially his agent) to make himself available for transfer by dropping his wage demands so that he can get in the spotlight again for the right reasons and bulk his earnings up in the few years he has left before age forces him out of the game.
