The Carlos Tevez-Gary Neville feud had something for everybody when they suited up in the Manchester derby following the Argentine’s switch across the city
Signing for your crosstown rivals in the Premier League is something not many people do. Switching between Manchester United and going straight to Manchester City is almost unheard of.
But then scoring the winner against the Red Devils, taunting their bench and calling an Old Trafford legend an “idiot”? It could only be one man, Carlos Tevez.
Tevez’s switch to City still irks United fans and former players to this day – and none more so than Gary Neville.
The former United right-back recently said the Argentine’s move to the Etihad “got him the most” when talking about player transfers which hurt, while in 2020 he told Sky Sports that Tevez had “downed tools” and was “playing the club” before leaving.
Years earlier, the pair had a very public falling out which resulted in both of them being cautioned by the Football Association over their actions.
Tevez had already moved to the blue half of Manchester by this point, caused in part by the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov at Old Trafford and the resulting lack of playing time for Tevez.
That came on the back of a stunning season where the Premier League and Champions League were both won by Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, with a huge part of that success down to the attacking trio of Tevez, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Given, though, that Tevez was only on loan at United given the complications around his ownership after a move from West Ham, his path cleared to join City.
Neville, writing for the Times of Malta, laid bare his thoughts on the situation, backing United’s legendary manager by saying that Fergie ‘knows exactly what he’s doing and understands when a player’s time is up’ while also suggesting United were right not to match the player’s demands.
After Tevez’s memorable return to Old Trafford which resulted in Michael Owen’s last-minute winner in a 4-3 classic, the two sides met again in the League Cup, where Tevez netted twice in a 2-1 win. His first of those, a penalty before half-time, saw his issue with Neville take centre stage.
“My celebration was directed at Gary Neville,” Tevez admitted in an interview with ESPN Argentina.
“He acted like a complete bootlicker when he said I wasn’t worth £25m, just to suck up to the manager. I don’t know what the hell that idiot is talking about me for. I never said anything about him.
“I will never show a lack of respect towards anyone. Just as I was running off to celebrate the penalty I had scored, I came across Gary and I said to myself, ‘Shut your trap, keep quiet.’ I didn’t go overboard in my celebration and it was directed at Gary, not at Ferguson and not at the fans.
“I think he did the wrong thing because I was his team-mate and I never said anything bad about him. He was saying that Ferguson was right when he said that I wasn’t worth £25m, when he was saying this and that… I always respected Neville.”
After Tevez celebrated at Neville, the former England defender stuck up his middle finger to Tevez in response, with both eventually being reprimanded by the FA for their actions.
In the same game, however, Tevez wasn’t content with that celebration after his first – and after his second was only too happy to make his point again.
“For the second goal I ran to the touchline and cupped my ears and looked up to the part of the ground where the United directors were sitting, and also to Ferguson in the dugout, because I wanted them to know this was my response to them saying I was not worth the money,” he added.
“People from United have been speaking about me publicly and criticising me but I wanted to do my talking on the pitch because that was the best way of responding to all these people, such as Neville, who were saying United were right to let me go.”
Whether United and Ferguson were right is a matter of opinion, but Tevez certainly made them pay for letting him leave.