Explaining Tevez's fallout with Ferguson at Man United
There is no denying that Carlos Tevez's time at Manchester United is a very good representation of how there is a thin line between love and hate. The Argentinian started quite well at Old Trafford, cementing himself as a fan favorite, only to then sign for Manchester City, one of United's biggest rivals, and receive endless scorn from the Red Devils faithful ever since.
The context
Carlos Tevez became a very well-known talent in South America thanks to his exploits with Boca Juniors in Argentina and also had a great spell in Corinthians in the Brazilian league. Furthermore, his six months at West Ham in the 2006/07 season made him quite known in the Premier League and Ferguson decided to bet on him, signing him through a two-year loan deal.His first season was viewed as a success for all parties involved, scoring 19 goals in 48 matches across all competitions and helping United win the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League in the 2007/08 season. It seemed that Tevez signing a permanent contract with the Red Devils was all but a formality, with even Ferguson saying the same thing three months into the Argentinian's time at the club.
Tevez was loved by fans because of his hard-working nature and his character but things started to go south in the 2008/09 season. The former Boca Juniors man still had a decent output but he wasn't as influential as he had been the previous season and Ferguson was having a lot of disagreements with the player's advisor, Kia Joorabchian. Said individual had also been the source of a lot of problems for Tevez at West Ham due to image rights breaches with a third party.
According to Ferguson, Joorabchian wanted 25 million pounds for the Argentinian to make it a permanent deal, which the manager didn't agree with. While that might not seem like a lot in today's football, it was a hefty fee back in 2009. Back in that same transfer window, Ferguson was very adamant that he didn't regret not signing Tevez permanently:
"We made contact with Carlos. We sent him texts and spoke to him when he was in Argentina. Our chief executive, David Gill, made an offer to Kia Joorabchian and we spoke to Tevez before we played Inter Milan (in March) and told him we had spoken to Kia but we never heard back."
"In my opinion, I don't think he was worth £25m. He was popular with the supporters. The fans quite rightly have their heroes and I was happy to go along with the deal as long as it was the right one but, quite simply, he is not worth £25m."
Tevez also went on record saying that United and Ferguson never approached him to sign a permanent deal, which was the source of a lot of frustration for him. This was further emphasized in that summer when he decided to sign for Manchester City as Qatar ownership was just getting started with that club and saw in Tevez a huge opportunity to make a statement signing.
Tevez's City tenure and his clashes with United
It goes without saying that Tevez's signing for Manchester City rubbed United fans the wrong way. Qatar had just gotten started with the Citizens and were splashing a lot of money to strengthen a side that was mid-table at the time, so Tevez was the perfect statement. There was also the now-legendary "Welcome to Manchester" with the Argentinian in sky blue colors, which has become part of that derby's folklore.This level of intensity was so notorious that United left-back Patrice Evra, a very close friend to Tevez during their time together as Red Devils, was threatened to get his contract ripped apart by Ferguson if he saw them together. This is what the Frenchman revealed back in July of 2023:
"Tevez is my brother, so when he joined City, I remember we went to a place called San Carlo and the paparazzi take a picture. So, the next morning Ferguson like called me into his office and he said 'If I see you again outside with Tevez, I'm going to rip your contract.'"
Another notorious example was when Manchester City won the league for the first time in decades during the 2011/12 season, and during the team's parade, Tevez held a banner that said "R.I.P. Fergie", which naturally led to a lot of reactions. However, the Argentinian revealed in 2020 that it wasn't what most people thought:
"I didn't know what was on it at the time. I just saw that he was keen to get hold of it, so I grabbed the sign and shouted out 'Tevez' and he took it off me and smiled. I got carried away in the excitement of the moment and I certainly didn't mean any disrespect to Sir Alex Ferguson, who I admire as a man and a manager."
"It seems like Ferguson is the President of England. Because every time he speaks badly of a player or when he always talked rubbish about me, I never went out to say he had to apologise. When you mess up you should go out and apologise, but I do not apologise."
Even to this day, the relationship between Ferguson and Tevez is fairly sour and nothing seems to suggest that is going to change in the future.