Barry Horne: Carlos Tevez contract row could prove costly to the ordinary player

Oct 29 2011 by Barry Horne, Liverpool Echo

AS predicted some time ago, the Carlos Tevez affair is far from resolved weeks after the event in Munich.

And, as even more confidently predicted, the player and his agent move slowly and surely towards getting exactly what they want.

And by that I don’t mean that he will necessarily get to play football again, which is what his recently appointed PR representative, Paul McCarthy, suggested this week.

The recent intervention of Gordon Taylor at the PFA, whilst saving the player two weeks wages, will have hardened the club’s attitude towards the player and now the PFA.

They have refused permission for Manchester City to fine him more than two weeks’ wages, despite apparently the two parties having been in constant contact throughout.

With more and more sports arguments potentially being taken out of the football arena, if the PFA are seen as unreasonable in this case there is a danger that Manchester City themselves could go to law. And if they were to win in an argument of contract law the status of the PFA could be crucially undermined. A free for all for clubs may then ensue.

In trying to protect one very wealthy player the outcome could possibly make things worse for the general population of players who probably can’t afford to lose that level of wages.