Carlos Tevez's apology to Manchester City and Roberto Mancini is an empty and cynical gesture

These hardly sounded like the conciliatory words of a remorseful player ready to give his heart again to City in the title run-in. One suspects he was rather hoping he would now be in Milan, far away from all the cynicism and even contempt that his name has tended to engender this past few months.

Football being football and Mancini being a pragmatist, doubtless all will be forgiven, even by those who were burning Tévez shirts before Christmas, as soon as does his bit as a game changer in a crucial match.

Yet you would like to think there are many among City’s faithful who would actually hope Mancini will keep him at arm’s length and leave the job to be finished by those who, while Tévez was back home in Argentina without the club’s permission for three months, covered so expertly for his absence.

As one of City’s old heroes Joe Corrigan said the other day, it would be good to see them push for the title without him now. After all, it should be remembered that Mancini never did actually treat him like a dog; it was the player who treated his club that way.