Carlos Tevez transfer request rocks high-flying Manchester City

WHAT a time for Carlos Tevez to declare he’s homesick and wants out of Manchester City. Just as Roberto Mancini’s overpaid mercenaries are making real impact on the Premier League at last, their top scorer slaps in a written transfer request.

City, who moved into second place above neighbours United with a 3-1 win over West Ham on Saturday, have rejected the notion of a move for their 10-goal Argentinian. The fans will be reeling. But then City supporters generally are these days.

For months they’ve had to put up with all the problems associated with going from struggling also-rans to Sheikh Mansoor’s well-oiled play-thing.

Getting rid of the popular Mark Hughes last season was just the beginning. Craig Bellamy and Steven Ireland felt they could stay no longer when Mansoor’s billions began to attract players from around the globe. Shaun Wright-Phillips and his dad Ian Wright constantly peck away at the club while talented winger Adam Johnson rarely gets a start. But the big name buys chosen by the Abu Dhabi sugardaddy continued to misbehave.

Former Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure, the best-paid player in the Premier on £220,000-a-week, stormed off at half time during a torrid home defeat to Arsenal. Then there was Emmanuel Adebayore having an ugly spat with Vincent Kompany. Two weeks ago, we had pictures of a training ground bust-up between two not-quite Ghanaians, German international Jerome Boateng and Italy’s Mario Balotelli.

No explanations, nothing to settle the fans. All they got was Mancini, struggling to do better than Hughes, claiming all was well. Things would be fine he said. In the middle of it all, Sky’s Soccer AM programme were asked to travel up to the club’s training ground and film an episode of “cross bar challenge” where the entire squad attempts to hit the bar from the halfway line. Generally such challenges are jocular, with everyone having a good laugh and showing their so-called team spirit. That’s why City invited Soccer AM’s crew to their Platt Lane base.

When they got there, David Platt attempted to assemble the players. But the highly-paid foreign stars just wandered away, ignoring the assistant managers pleas to stay. Apparently they just ignored the former England star and drove off. In the end just seven of the 25-man squad did the Challenge. It was a shambles. Soccer AM never aired the footage.

But then came the long-overdue current run of success culminating in a crushing win over the doomed Hammers on Saturday. Suddenly, things were turning up roses for City. And so much of it revolves around Tevez, the man who opted to leave big brothers United with “welcome to Manchester” posters controversially greeting his move.

Tevez has always been a fascinating study in modern football. Brought up in Fuerte Apache, the toughest slum in Buenos Aires, he first came to European attention when he arrived at West Ham “on loan” with Javier Mascherano in 2006. The pair of them were apparently “owned” by Kia Joorabchian, and English-based Iranian and part of the Media Sports Investments portfolio of sporting stars. Apparently neither player owned their own names when they left Corinthians in Brazil.

Though he was never properly registered, Tevez scored the goals which kept the Hammers up, including the vital last-day winner against Manchester United in May 2007 – and promptly decamped to Old Trafford that summer. I’ve always wondered... who pocketed that £25m transfer fee? West Ham or MSI? Nobody seems to know.

Tevez scored 19 goals in 63 games and earned SirAlex Ferguson’s grudging admiration. Then it was off to City, where the money was even better. There he has scored a phenomenal 39 in 60 games, despite having to compete with a galaxy of expensive strikers who have come and gone. Robinho, Jo, Bellamy, Balotelli, Adebayor and the rest all failed to match the sharpness of the hard-working little Argentinian, who bears the scars of a childhood accident but refuses to have them surgically removed.

He’s no ordinary football mercenary. When the Terry Bridge handshake with John Terry never happened last season, it was Tevez of all people who squared up to the towering Terry, snarling and offering to take things outside. At 5ft 8in, he was going head-to-chest rather than head-to-head but the passion of the man is unquestioned.

Now, despite all the badge kissing and those vital goals for the Eastland’s light blues, the man slaps in a transfer request just as things were looking good for Mancini’s expensively assembled Blues.

But is it a shock? Hardly. Tevez and the cocksure Mancini were never a match made in heaven. They had a go at eachother when he was pulled off after scoring the only goal in City’s vital win over Bolton.

As a result, Tevez snubbed the club Christmas party. Suspended for the Hammers win on Saturday, he wants to go home for Christmas to see his two daughters, back home in Argentina after trouble with their mother, Vanessa. She left Britain after lurid reports involving Tevez and a woman called Marina Paesani (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1256132/Carlos-Tevez-shares-hotel-room-model-wife-nurses-premature-baby--days-accused-John-Terry-having-moral-code.html).

Tevez, currently on an estimated £100,000-a-week at City, will be hard-pressed to find another club willing to match his earnings. Certainly, if he’s homesick, he’ll have to take a major pay cut if he returns to Argentine domestic football. But the question is, does Tevez make his own decisions or is he still a slave to his agency? Time will tell.

Who the hell is Neal Collins (nealcol on twitter)? See www.nealcollins.co.uk. And watch SuperSport in South Africa on Monday night, where he'll be doing the build up to the Manchester United v Arsenal showdown.

Official statement from City: It is with disappointment that we confirm to our supporters that Carlos Tevez has submitted a written transfer request. The Club can also confirm that the request has been rejected.

The Club remains disappointed by this situation and particularly with the actions of Carlos' representative.

Roberto Mancini and all at the Club have shown, and will continue to show, sensitivity to Carlos' personal circumstances including the issue of his family being based overseas. Indeed following his suspension as a result of the game against Bolton, Carlos requested, and was given, special dispensation by the Manager to take leave overseas.

The written transfer request is in stark contrast to Carlos' stated position in both public and club contexts. Significantly, over recent months, the Club has also received numerous requests from Carlos’ representative to renegotiate and improve his playing contract as well as more recently a request to extend that contract by another year.

However, in line with the Club's policy of not negotiating playing contracts mid-season this has not been granted. Carlos' current five-year contract has three-and-a-half years to run and he is the highest paid player at the Manchester City Football Club.

This is both an unfortunate and unwelcome distraction and the Club will remain focused on the games ahead in what is turning out to be a very promising season. The door remains open for Carlos to be selected to play.

Nicolas Anelka blasts "racist" France and insists: I never sang the national anthem

Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka this week launched an extraordinary blast at his “racist” countrymen insisting: “I never wanted to sing the French national anthem”.

Anelka, born in Versaille but of Guadaloupe origins, is currently serving an 18-month international suspension after his infamous “son of a whore” fall-out with Raymond Domenech during their disastrous World Cup safari to South Africa.

Before Saturday’s clash with Tottenham and tomorrow's Champions League showdown at Marseille, the 31-year-old, formerly of Paris St Germain, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Fenerbahce, Liverpool and Bolton, said: "When France doesn’t win, people start talking straight away about skin colour and religion. When times get tough we find out what people really think.

"They said there was a gang of black players in the French squad at the World Cup, and we then saw the true face of France. They said Franck Ribery had hit Yoann Gourcuff. Ribery was the Muslim, and Gourcuff was the good French boy.”

Anelka won 69 French caps and scored 14 goals for his nation. But with his international career over, he raged: "I have never wanted to sing the national anthem with France. Had they insisted I'd have refused, and quit playing for them.

"The fact I grew up on a high-rise estate counted against me. I was the first player from this background to own a Ferrari, and it did people's heads in.

"People in France have a false picture of me. Everything I have achieved has been abroad. I am not 'made in France' – at home, I have had nothing but trouble."

Anelka’s comments are sure to raise a storm in France – and are unlikely to help his Chelsea team-mates, currently suffering a serious slump in form which has seen them take just five points from their last six games and drop off the top of the Premier League.

It's Make Or Break For Arsenal As Partizan Belgrade and Man United Loom

Suddenly, it all comes down to this. One fateful week which could well decide Arsenal’s fate after six barren trophy-free years.

On Wednesday night, with their English rivals Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs already qualified, Arsene Wenger’s men must end a run of two successive Champions League defeats by beating Partizan Belgrade at the Emirates to assure their progress to the knock-out stages.

Then it’s off to Manchester United as the Premier League’s top two battle it out for supremacy on Monday night.a

Two defeats, and Wenger will be tearing what’s left of his hair out with impatient fans calling for the German-speaking Frenchman to go. Two wins and all will be rosy for the scarlet-clad Gunners, Wenger will be safe and the bottle-throwing tantrums will subside.

Amid the gloom of Thomas Vermaelen announcing he was out until the end of the year, Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna, he of the beaded hair, volunteered as the Gooner spokesman in this, the week of all weeks for his team.

One of the safest full-backs in the Premier League, Sagna – capped 29 times by France but of Senegalese descent – argues quite rightly: "We do not want the season to be over at the end of December. Win these two games and we will give even more power to the team.

"It’s about time we won these big games. Against Chelsea, we dropped points, at home we have dropped so many points. At United, we want to play our game and win.

"Going top of the League was great on Saturday. But we need to be more focussed. We have to win at home. We have to keep looking forward."

Fellow Frenchman Samir Nasri has emerged as Arsenal’s unlikely hero with the pivotal Spaniard Cesc Fabregas injured. His two goals put paid to Fulham’s challenge on Saturday and Sagna, 27, recognises his importance: “Sami is now showing his best and has more to show,. We only beat Fulham because of him, He is a really good guy and fits in well with everyone on the pitch. He gives us a good balance.”

Balance is all very well. Sagna arrived in North London in 2007 and hasn’t had a sniff of a trophy since he arrived. Memories of Arsene Wenger’s three early title triumphs have faded. It’s time the Gunners stopped firing blanks.

Nasri, 23, says: “Before I felt too much pressure to score, I wanted it too much maybe. Now I don't worry as much. I'm more at ease in the game and I'm not just looking for goals, I'm looking to work for the team. I think I'm more mature in my football game. I think more with my head.”

“When I'm in front of a goalkeeper I am more relaxed now.”

He’ll need to be relaxed in front of goal at Old Trafford on Monday. A lot depends on it.

Who the hell is Neal Collins? See nealcollins.co.uk or nealcol on twitter. Currently in Ngwenya, overlooking the Crocodile River and Kruger National Park. You should see this place.

Breaking news: Mike Ashley, the Newcastle chairman, sacks manager Chris Hughton. I guess everyone knows Ashley, from Maidenhead in Berkshire, is a Spurs fan? What a fool that man is!

World Cup: Forget Russia and Qatar, It's Brazil 2014 We Should Be Worrying About

AS the dust settles on the bizarre choice of Russia and Qatar as hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, problems are mounting for Brazil, who will host the 2014 tournament... and the 2016 Olympics.

Over the last week, 37 people have been killed, 123 arrested and another 130 detained after police invaded Rio’s Alemao favela – that’s Brazilian for a shanty town - as authorities begin their preparations for the great sporting events to come. Today, Brazil announced they will station troops in the Alemao and Penha districts to ensure hundreds of drug traffickers who had made the areas their stronghold would not return.

Defence Minister Nelson Jobim said the army would be able to draw on its years of experience heading the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

Police spokesman Mario Sergio Duarte, fighting the drug gangs with armoured cars and hundreds of armed police said: "We will not retreat in our decision to bring peace to Rio. We are in our final stages of reaching the traffickers in the Alemao complex."

But the police effort is being hampered by a major crime wave, with armed gangs setting fire to cars and setting up road blocks to rob passing traffic. And South Africa thought they had problems before 2010!

The disturbing news doesn’t stop there. Though the Brazilian economy is technically booming, the gap between haves and have nots is growing. Public fury over the spiralling costs of hosting FIFA’s great showdown is burning – and delays in construction are causing serious headaches.

On top of that, Giovanni Bisignani, the CEO of Brazil’s International Air Transport Association says his airports are “a growing disaster” and admits they will be unable to cope during the World Cup. With few long-distance trains and a decrepid motorway system, the huge distances between cities will be a major problem for Brazil.

The International Olympic Committee has also expressed concerns about Brazil’s ability to cope before their 2016 Summer Games.

Brazilian Football Federation President Ricardo Teixeira’s main problem centres on the vast city of Sao Paulo, where the local Morumbi stadium was condemned as inadequate to host games in 2014.

That means a new stadium has to be built in the area of Pirituba, but city officials have informed Teixeira the stadium, which is due to host the opening game of the next World Cup, cannot be started yet. The CBF are now considering the Corinthians stadium in Itaquera as a possibility.

In Rio, the legendary Maracana Stadium is being renovated to host the final and the opening ceremony, at a cost of around £1bn.

South Africa’s Danny Jordaan, who spent 16 years producing a successful 2010 World Cup despite a similar range of problems, said: “The Brazilian economy is doing very well, this county is in the take off face and this World Cup can help them.”

But he adds: “You cannot have a celebratory event without it being safe. All the components of organisation must be under-pinned and wrapped in a security plan.

“The thing I would tell Brazil is to have the legal framework in place - the national laws, city regulations, also sort out roles and responsibilities, who does what. Security is very important, but it is also a complex issue.

"There must be a single security plan and one national command and control. Fans follow their teams from cities to cities, so there must be one single security plan that covers all stadiums.”

Speaking at the Soccerex conference in Rio, Jordaan added: “Brazil will face questions about its stadiums, its hotels, 'will it all be ready on time?', and questions about crime. I faced these questions for 16 years.

“In the end the media accepted, and we insisted, that we would host the best World Cup ever".

"The World Cup must link to an increase in tourism. Before the World Cup, we got 300 Mexican visitors a year - this year there were 50,000.

"We have two or three problems around stadia, but we are not going to demolish them though. All are owned by the cities, but cities are not entities that that I think can run the stadiums properly. So we have to move them on to a sports marketing company or to a [football] club."

"The Maracana [in Rio] must be one of the best football stadiums in the world, but it is a place where you would want to see a museum and restaurants, to spend a day there - maybe have conference facilities too.

"Brazil at the moment must be the envy of the world, hosting both the World Cup and the Olympics.”

Hardly. FIFA president Sepp Blatter knows Russia and Qatar have a lot of work ahead of them if they are to successfully hold their World Cups. They claim to have the time and the money. But for Brazil, time is running out.

FIFA World Cup Storm: FA Chairman Resigns and Thailand Friendly Is Off

Roger Burden, the acting FA chairman, has quit and England have called off their friendly against Thailand as the fall-out from the FIFA World Cup voting scandal continues.

Burden, appointed in May when he replaced Lord Triesman (who, ironically, resigned over comments regarding World Cup collusion between Spain and Russia), said: “I’m not prepared to deal with people I can’t trust. I recognise that an important part of my role would be liaising with FIFA so I’ve withdrawn my candidacy.”

The Thai clash, scheduled for June, has been cancelled as the game was only planned in return for support for England’s World Cup bid. In the end, England only gained two votes – their own and Japan’s – when Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup in Zurich on Thursday.

Burden is as mystified as the rest of the country by England’s first round failure in the ballot. He said: "We were equal top of Fifa's own technical assessment of the four bids. We were top of an independent assessment of the best commercial bids and our final presentation was widely acclaimed as the best of the 2018 and 2022 bids.

" I am struggling to understand how we only achieved two votes. It is difficult to believe that the voting was an objective process. Prince William, the Prime Minister and other members of our delegation were promised votes that did not materialise."

The English tabloids have concentrated on the “betrayal” behind last Thursday’s vote. Prince William was promised “at least six votes” but the 22 members of the FIFA Executive Committee – including the much courted CONCACAF member Jack Warner - went back on their word, leading to allegations of corruption and bribery.

Two members of the Exec Committee had already been suspended after a Sunday Times investigation two months ago and BBC’s Panorama team put three more members under pressure last Monday. That may have skewed the vote but Burden said: "We have a free press in our country. There is no doubt that English football benefits from the media coverage that it receives and would have been given great coverage if we had brought the World Cup to England.”

Both Russia and Qatar, who won the right to host the 2022 World Cup, have an appalling record when it comes to press freedom. The Press Freedom Index, which lists England at 19 in their carefully compiled rankings, has Russia at 140 and Qatar at 120.

But while the media waxed lyrical over those and other issues – Russia and Qatar have yet to build the vast majority of their stadia - Burden added: "I have no issue with Russia's winning bid. I am sure they will put on a great World Cup and I have congratulated them."

Burden will stay on while the FA search for a successor, which may prove a tough task after the week’s shenanigans.

Russia and Qatar get World Cups, England gets two votes

This is all that matters:

Round 1: England 2 votes, Netherlands/Belgium 4 votes,Spain/Portugal 7 votes and Russia 9 votes.

Round 2: Netherlands/Belgium 2 votes, Spain/Portugal 7 votes and Russia 13votes (Russia obtain absolute majority)

In the end, after all the hype, all the spin, it was Russia by a mile. Their prime minister Vladimir Putin didn’t bother to go to Zurich yesterday, but by then he probably knew his vast nation would be hosting the 2018 World Cup.

England’s slick bid, backed by the Three Lions of David Cameron, David Beckham, Prince William and a 30-strong galaxy of stars, managed just two votes. Out first round. Ouch. Portugal and Spain will feel the same disappointment. They were convinced they had a least eight supporters. Belgium and Holland will be happy to have finished third.

But it was all so predictable. I said so here, a week ago. Russia for 2018 and Qatar for 2022. They have the money, the right profile for FIFA and Sepp Blatter. England and Australia would have been better choices for football, but hey, it’s all about profitability and breaking new ground.

Russia are promising to spend £6bn including ten new stadia. Quite how fans are going to travel around the biggest country in the world, I’m not sure. Crime? Corruption? Plenty of that too in Russia. But hey, if Putin and the Roman Abramovich gang are behind it with the cash, no problem.

Qatar are just the opposite in terms of size. A tiny nation promising to build a series of near-neighbouring stadia to host the 2022 World Cup. But they’ll have to provide air-conditioning too. I worked out there in the summer. It’s like a furnace. And hardly a footballing hot-bed. But hey, all that oil, all that cash... never a chance for the rival bidders, Australia, the USA, South Korea and Japan.

So England and former Arsenal chief executive David Dein are gutted. Just two votes from the 22—strong FIFA executive committee, despite providing the best presentation, the strongest technical bid.

Dein, so important to this bid, was on the verge of tears: “Football politics are difficult. Two votes? That’s where we are. I’m very sad. I hoped for better. We worked extremely hard. I tell you one thing, winning is one thing, losing is another.”

Prince William’s Royal approval was of no consequence. He said: “I’m immensely proud to have been part of it. Congratulations to Russia. It’s very sad, we gave everything we could. I’m sorry for the fans back home.”

Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, said: “You saw that presentation today. I thought it transcended all our expectations. Everybody was on message. It was fantastic. A great technical bid. Here were are empty handed.

“It doesn’t matter about rounds, it’s all about who won it. But clearly, as Mr Blatter said: “We are taking these World Cups to two new countries.” That is a difficult thing to come up against. We have the stadiums and the infrastructure. I sense the British media’s criticism may have had an effect but if it has had a bearing it would be disappointing.”

Like the Eurovision Song Contest, England just aren’t popular on the global stage. That much we know now. All those great Premier League stadia did little to warm our footballing cousins to the home of the game.

And the truth is, Russia and Qatar represent new markets for FIFA. Huge profits. Unlimited spending. How can anybody compete with that?

See also www.neal-collins.blogspot.com for earlier analysis of World Cup bids.

The Great World Cup Vote: England Surge Ahead As Russian Premier Stays Home

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's decision NOT to travel to Zurich tomorrow for the 2018 World Cup ballot has seen England rise to favourites in the bookmakers' rankings as the battle to host the greatest football show on earth hots up.

Shock waves travelled around the football-speaking globe yesterday when Putin accused the English of a 'dirty tricks campaign'. And with the ever-popular former Manchester United and Real Madrid starDavid Beckham delivering a composed argument on behalf of his nation, some experts detected a sea-change in the bidding process.

Putin, often highlighted as a former KGB spy in the British tabloids, told his parliament he wouldn’t be travelling to Switzerland to support the £6bn bid – which involves the construction of a record ten stadia across the biggest nation on earth - because of “unfair competition”.

Both the Sunday Times and the BBC Panorama investigative team have left FIFA reeling with allegations against five of their 24 executive committee members who will vote on the bids for 2018 and 2022 today. Two have been suspended since the allegations were published.

Suggestions of FIFA corruption are rife and England hope, with Prince William, Prime Minister David Cameron and former captain Beckham, their squeaky clean approach, already voted the “best technical bid”, will turn the vote around.

While few consider Russia a bastion of incorruptibility, Putin said: “I would like to note that recently we have watched with disappointment as an obvious campaign was being unleashed against members of the FIFA executive committee. They are being compromised and smeared in dirt.

“I consider it as part of unscrupulous bit of competition in preparations for the selection of the host-country for the World Cup.

“I would love to represent our entry in person. However, under these circumstances, I think it would be best not to go out of respect for the members of the FIFA executive committee, so that they could make their decision in peace and without any outside pressure.”

Putin’s surprise decision to stay away may well backfire on Russia’s extravagant bid. With questions over his nation’s organised crime levels, climate and transport infrastructure, England’s bid rocketed to the top of the betting leaderboard with Labrokes and other bookmakers despite the current big freeze in Britain.

Beckham, proving just as valuable here as he was in London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympics, produced a polished, convincing performance in front of the microphones, saying: “'I think that we can trust every one of these FIFA executive committee members. They are football people and they are going to want a World Cup in the best country that they think could host the biggest sporting event in the world.

“Everything has been positive so far. We have obviously listened to the feedback and the ideas we feel we need to be pushing in the next few days and we are working on it.”

England now claim they have six of the 23 votes, Spain and Portugal’s excellent bid has seven or eight, with Russia claiming the same number. The question is, who will get the two or three votes cast for rock-bottom Holland and Belgium, the outsiders, when they are eliminated in the first round of voting?

England’s cause may not be helped by today’s tabloid revelations in freezing England. The Daily Mail has revealed how the FIFA executive committee are housed in the £2,400 (R26,000)-a-night Baur Au Lac hotel in Zurich, where a bottle of wine can cost £8,000 (R90,000).

The 2022 bid, which will also be voted on tomorrow, is veering Australia’s way. Though Qatar has the money and influence, the Socceroos wheeled out actress Cate Blanchett, supermodel Elle McPherson, comedian Paul Hogan, cricketer Steve Waugh and a host of kangaroos yesterday in a bid to outshine the efforts of the USA, with Bill Clinton in attendance, troubled South Korea and rank outsiders Japan.

MacPherson, known as ‘The Body’, is being lined up as the Claudia Schiffer of the ballot. The German beauty certainly attracted votes when her nation won the bid for 2006.

Though MacPherson has never knowingly kicked a football, Aussie FA boss Ben Buckley said: “She’s a fantastic, iconic Australian who’s been very successful on the world stage. Football is the world game, so there’s no better way to express Australia’s personality than through a person like her.”

Though Russia and Qatar offer the cash and kudos FIFA president Sepp Blatter hankers after, England and Australia may be the sensible choices for fans and football. Time will tell.