Sign of cockiness: the Tevez poster that so
angered Sir Alex Ferguson
.
Tevez accused Ferguson of disrespect, while the United boss
continues to claim the South American had decided to leave the Red
Devils long before the campaign reached its conclusion.
Providing he overcomes a knee injury, the former West Ham star
returns to Old Trafford as a City player for the first time this
weekend, hoping to receive a warm reception from the home
supporters.
The mere thought brings a smile to Ferguson's face. "He will get
a surprise," said Ferguson. "It is a different culture nowadays. It
is very emotional."
Any goodwill for Tevez amongst the United faithful has
disappeared after he became the central figure in a poster, erected
at the end of Manchester's busy Deansgate shopping centre that
declared: "Welcome to Manchester."
It played on City's claim to be the city's true club, given
United's precise location is in the neighbouring borough of
Trafford. Ferguson felt it was a deliberate attempt to provoke
United. And it seems to have worked.
"I'm sure of it," he said. "That stupid poster upset us. It
showed an arrogance. It was naughty. It showed a cockiness that
wasn't required at the time because they hadn't done anything. "The
season hadn't even started."
Ferguson is not convinced Mark Hughes even knew of its existence
until the United camp started to make their displeasure known,
which placed the Welshman in a difficult position.
"It probably came to his attention when I mentioned it," said
the United chief. "Some people run away with themselves. That put
Mark in a position where he was being asked about it. "He tried to
brush it off. He said it was just 'a wee bit of devilment'. I think
it was a wee bit of arrogance."
The row could easily have been avoided if only United had been a
bit quicker coughing up the £24million required to turn Tevez's
'lease' arrangement with Kia Joorabchian into a permanent deal.
Quite apart from whether Tevez was worth the money, Ferguson is
convinced there was no chance of such a move being satisfactory to
either the player or Joorabchian.
"We made an offer that was well in the compass of the player's
ability," he said. "When I read now that it is not £24million, it
is £47million, there is no way we could even think about that.
"I thought £24million was the figure. Obviously it wasn't. They
had obviously agreed it long before the end of the season. "That
goes without saying because they never came back to us."