Carlos Tevez’s antics in his final season at Manchester United really got up the nose of one of his former team-mates.
Speaking on Sky Sports and cited by the Daily Star, Gary Neville didn’t hold back in his condemnation of the Argentinian’s attitude, believing that he was always led by what his representatives wanted.
“What annoyed me about Tevez was he downed tools in his second season,” Neville said. “Started sitting on the treatment bench, started coming out late for training. Started messing around. He was playing the club, and I couldn’t stand that.
“Particularly as I was at the time, a ferocious Man Utd person on the inside, never thought of anything else in my life, only United every single day.
“I understand he had circumstances but his people were in his ear all the time, he was so led by his people. It was always going to come to an end like it did.”
Moving to arch rivals, Manchester City, directly after leaving Old Trafford is unlikely to have dampened the ire of Neville or anyone else of a Red Devils persuasion either.
However, there’s no denying that for the most part at each of the clubs he was at, Tevez earned his salary. Goals, and a ferocious work ethic were all part of his offering, and perhaps it’s the way in which the player left which is what irks Neville the most.
As a dyed in the wool red, it’s hard to take the blinkers off sometimes and look at things objectively. Recent criticism of United notwithstanding, there’s no doubting Neville’s loyalty to the club, and any player that didn’t share that attitude in the dressing room was always going to get a dressing down at some point.