Reaction to Carlos Tevez's dispute with Manchester City

Former team captain Carlos Tevez has denied Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini's claims that he refused to come on from the substitutes' bench in the team's 2-0 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Premier League managers, former players and City fans have been giving their opinion on the dispute and how it affects Tevez's future.

What other managers say:

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp: "I felt sorry for Roberto Mancini. To be put in that situation was not right. It wasn't fair. You wonder what the likes of [former Manchester City managers] Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison would have made of it.

"I don't know what you can do. He [Tevez] holds all the aces. If you want to give him away someone will come forward and give him a fortune.

"He is a great player but I can't condone what happened. It is unbelievable, what kind of a message does that send? I thought Roberto Mancini was magnificent after the game. He doesn't deserve that."

Stoke manager Tony Pulis: "Players get disappointed and players have egos but you deal with it.

"I'm sure they will deal with it in the right and proper manner."

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez told Sky Sports News: "These things happen continuously. Football is a game of emotions and behind each player there is a person and sometime they react and make mistakes.

"Those sort of situations happen very often and sometimes they come out in the press."

Former Northern Ireland and current Barnet manager Lawrie Sanchez told BBC Radio 5 live: "Manchester City fans will be looking for a statement from the manager explaining what they have decided to do.

"There are massive egos involved in football when you get to that level of competence and ability - and an ego comes with it.

"It is part of what got you there but sometimes you have to realise it is not tennis or golf but a team sport. You have to give 100% for the team."

Former Nottingham Forest manager Dave Bassett told BBC Radio 5 live:

"It's not a surprise. It has been coming. In this day and age players are aware of their power and if they want to sulk they are well capable of it.

"I'm inclined to believe Roberto Mancini's version of events. Now Tevez is doing a damage limitation exercise because of the backlash he has received and all he is worried about is his image.

"It would be fantastic if the club owners told Tevez he had to see out the rest of his contract in the reserves but it will be interesting to see if they have the bottle to do it."

What former players say:

Former Manchester City player Francis Lee told BBC Radio 5 live: "It is a severe breach of your contract and what you are supposed to do for the football club, I just can't believe it.

"The world of football is full of big stars but, to my knowledge, none of them have ever done something like this before.

"This was done with some reason relating to his wanting to get away for the club because if you refuse to play you are well on your way to going.

"You have done it to your team-mates. You work with them every day.

"They are your best friends, you go through everything together, and then you go and do something like this and you have basically kicked them in the unmentionables."

Former Blackburn, Sunderland and England full-back Michael Gray told BBC Radio 5 live: "I have never known anything like that in my career. There have been players who have told the manager they have not wanted to play but nobody selected on the substitutes' bench who then refused to come on.

"Last season he was the talisman for City but things change and Sergio Aguero has come in and [Edin] Dzeko has worked hard in pre-season and now Carlos Tevez has to wait his turn. It is unprofessional.

"If you are on the bench you have to be ready to come on and do a turn for the team."

Former Manchester United, Birmingham and Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage told BBC Sport: "As a footballer, if you are paid £1 or £200,000-a-week, if your manager asks you to go on and do a job for your team, your team-mates and the fans and you refuse to, that is a disgrace.

"If I was a manager that guy would never kick a ball for me again.

"It is a complete disrespect to your manager and, more importantly, your team-mates.

"Carlos Tevez could have altered that game last night because he is a top-class player."

What the fans say:

Editor of King of the Kippax fanzine and spectator at the Allianz Arena Dave Wallace tells BBC Sport: "With today's technology, tablet computers and mobile phones, people at the match were getting messages from home saying he had refused to come on.

"A lot of City fans paid a lot of money to get over there and every reaction I have had from them is that he is totally out of order.

"Most fans think that is the end of Carlos Tevez at City and that is a great shame.

"It is not just a one-off, this has been going on for a while. The club has bent over backwards for him, going back to the beginning of 2010 when we gave him compassionate leave and lost vital games at that time.

"I think he has to go where we can get the money for him, I don't think we should do a cut-price deal or a loan deal."

toffeedaz on Phil McNulty's blog: "Millions of professional people have to deal with personal issues away from work, but they put them to one side when the boss asks them to put in their shift.

"Professionals aren't paid because they can do a job. They're paid because they actually do the job required from them."

bellsouth on Phil McNulty's blog: "Honestly I don't think he refused to come on, I think he didn't feel he needed to warm up anymore as he had warmed up previously.

"Part of the issue is clearly language, Mancini's English is not great and Tevez hasn't bothered to master the language despite being in England for years now."

mightybluoze on Phil McNulty's blog: "Tevez is a walking symptom of everything that is wrong with modern football.

"An undoubted talent buried beneath petulance, limitless greed, and disrespect for his team mates, his employers, and very much last in his book, his fans."

What the Professional Footballers' Association says:

Chief executive Gordon Taylor: "It is a serious employment issue. All the various options need to be considered because he is a human being and this is his career we are talking about.

"It looks as though he will be coming away from Manchester City unless there is some good mediation because Carlos has upset a lot of people, not least the manager and the fans. It looks a very difficult situation to retrieve if he is going to stay.

"In football you have a contract to go out and do the best you can and that didn't happen so there are going to be serious repercussions."

What the press say:

Daily Mail chief football writer Matt Lawton on Twitter:"Never mind Man City. I doubt we'll ever see Tevez play in England again. Toast. Wondering if Man Utd are working on a 'welcome' poster."

The Times Football correspondent Oliver Kay on Twitter: "Always disliked the off-pitch circus that surrounds Tevez. Always felt he gave his all on the pitch. No sympathy after tonight."

Daily Telegraph football correspondent Henry Winter on Twitter:"However galling for Mcfc (& damaging for Financial Fairplay) club need to bite bullet/pay up Tevez contract. Get rid now. Anything else undermines Mancini."

Daily Mirror football writer Darren Lewis on Twitter: "Tevez has been a sub at West Ham, United and City and he is trying to tell us he misunderstood the signal for "get stripped son, you're on." Have to be honest, I think Tevez will play for City again. Too good a player, too much money involved. Easy to say it won't happen. I don't think it should. Whole thing stinks. But if there are injuries, suspensions, etc...

The Guardian football writer Daniel Taylor: "This is a man who craves recognition as the biggest fish in his pond. And this season, at City, he has merely been part of the shoal."

What the lawyers say:

FrontRow Legal specialist sports lawyer Richard Cramer speaking to BBC Sport: "Mancini has come out and said he will never pay for this club again. That in itself could be regarded as breach of contract on the part of Manchester City.

"It is called a repudiatory breach - to say to a player that you will never play for this club again effectively deprives the player of the opportunity to carry out his work.

"In hindsight Mancini would be better saying absolutely nothing and taking the appropriate disciplinary action against Tevez that would have been a two-week fine and a suspension.

"There is a set procedure within a player's contract, usually consisting of a written warning, then a final written warning and then the last resort of dismissing a player.

"What we don't know is if Tevez is subject to ongoing disciplinary proceedings. But, if it is true that he refused to play yesterday, that borders on gross misconduct which would entitle City to sack him.

"If they find that Tevez's act is beyond the realms of those of a normal player, City may just be able to construct a case against Tevez claiming he is deliberately putting himself in breach of contract, forcing the club to dismiss him for gross misconduct and that entitles them to recover some of the losses.

"But that is unusual. If City want some compensation for him the best way to pursue that would be to sell him in the January window at the market value."

Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP Employment law partner at Peter Holt: "The fundamental issue here is whether Tevez, by refusing to do what he was employed to do and play football - does that constitute a fundamental breach of contract?

"If it is a breach of contract, as an employer City have the option of terminating Tevez's contract with immediate effect.

"One option they may want to consider is to follow the route that Chelsea took when they cancelled Adrian Mutu's contract.

"Mutu made his way to Italy and ended up playing for Fiorentina. Chelsea then sued Mutu for compensation for the loss of the sell-on transfer value i.e. the transfer fee they would have received had it not been for his breach of contract.

"The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Chelsea's claim and Mutu was ultimately ordered to pay Chelsea 17m euros [£11.5m at the time] for breach of contract.

"Whether that caluation would apply to Tevez is another matter."

• For latest reaction on the dispute between Manchester City and Carlos Tevez, check Sportsday Live.