Turning the air blue: Roberto Mancini is livid at
the breach of discipline by four of his players
Roberto Mancini has issued a final warning to his
partying Manchester City players and vowed to crack down on their
errant behaviour after more embarrassing revelations this
week.
The City boss is ‘unhappy’ with Gareth Barry, Joe Hart, Adam
Johnson and Shay Given for attending a drunken student party in St
Andrews after what should have been a sensible golf trip.
The Italian implied on Thursday he would not tolerate another
such incident and echoed that sentiment yesterday.
And England manager Fabio Capello will not be impressed by the
fact that three of his players were guilty of ‘a serious error of
judgment’.
Hart, his country’s first-choice keeper, received a veiled
warning from Capello after being caught dancing, singing and
drinking on a bar in Spain shortly before the European qualifying
clash against Montenegro.
Costly error? Joe Hart will be reprimanded by
bosses for both club and country
This time the party-goers were caught on camera, with
Barry, 29, declaring to star-struck revellers: ‘We’ve come a long
way, it’s been windy, it’s been raining, we’re in St Andrews, let’s
party!’
Johnson, 23, is clearly developing a track record for such
incidents, having recently been warned about his off-field
behaviour by Mancini, but so too are Barry and Hart.
Capello may question whether 23-year-old Hart is taking his
position seriously, concluding that while he might be talented he
still lacks maturity.
The players were in training on Monday after City’s 3-0 defeat
by Arsenal the day before but were then told that Tuesday would be
a day off, so they flew to Scotland to play golf.
That they then ended up at a student residence, reportedly
staying there until 2.30am,
before playing golf the next morning and flying home in time for
training on Wednesday is not something Mancini is prepared to
accept.
He said he will deal with his players ‘in the dressing room’ but
added: ‘I don’t understand why they have chosen this and I am
unhappy about it. We are playing every three or four days at the
moment and it is difficult enough to recover.’
Double trouble: England and Manchester City
teammates Adam Johnson (left) and Gareth Barry
When asked about Johnson in particular, Mancini said: ‘This
is normal because Johnson is young. But I want to resolve this
problem in the dressing room. Not here. It was a day off and they
can go where they want, but when we are playing every three days
they need to know it’s important they recover well between
games.
‘But this is not a problem only for us at City, it is a problem
for many British players; it’s a cultural thing.’
Mancini has other issues to address, most notably the decision
to let Carlos Tevez fly
to Argentina when some feel he should receive treatment in
Manchester for a thigh injury.
‘He went to Argentina because he must solve some family problems
for three days but he will continue treatment there with the
Argentinian team masseur,’ said Mancini, before insisting he had a
‘good’ relationship with his captain.
‘He can’t play so he asked permission to go to Argentina. It’s
important he can recover and he will be available next weekend
against West Brom.’