Carlos Tevez.

The refusal of Carlos Tevez to come off the bench for Manchester City as a substitute this week is an absolute disgrace and highlights how spoiled and pampered modern footballers have become. It's the biggest mistake a footballer can ever make... to refuse to play for their club, whether they start the match or are asked to replace a player as a subsitute.

In a regular job, a person would be sacked for refusing to work. Which Tevez did. However, it's a different situation in football because of the worth of the footballer. Tevez is being paid £200,000+ per week and is worth around £40 million to £50 million as a transfer fee. Obscene figures, and why football supporters can no longer relate to the top modern footballers. Financially, we can't begin to imagine what it would be like earning what they do for kicking a football around a pitch.

All of these facts add to the fact that Tevez's behaviour this week was disgraceful. He didn't want to play in a top European match against one of the biggest teams in Europe, and to help his team (who were two goals down at this point) to fight back and get back into the match. Tevez has let himself down, his team mates down, his manager down, and his team's supporters down.

The Manchester City fans paid hard earned money to go to Germany, expecting to watch all of their players give 100% commitment and perform to the best of their capabilities. Carlos Tevez failed to fulfill these obligations, sadly. Apparently, he wasn't mentally and physically able to play for the team when called upon. Why was he sitting on the substitutes bench ready to play? Why didn't he tell his manager he wasn't able to play? Tezez is making excuses for himself because he knows he was badly in the wrong, and will face a lot of abuse and criticism for his actions.

After the match on Sky Sports, Graeme Souness summed it up perfectly when he said, "Tevez is a disgrace to football. The man on the street thinks there's a lot wrong with your modern footballer. Tevez epitomizes what the man on the street thinks is wrong with modern footballers." Souness righty represented the anger of the pundits, media, and fans alike towards Carlos Tevez.

At the moment, Tevez has been suspended for two weeks while his club carry out their investigation into the sorry affair. If he is sacked, Manchester City would lose the 40 to 50 million pounds transfer fee which they won't want to do. A fine won't make any difference because of the obscene amount of money he earns. Hopefully, he will be transfer listed and never play for City again. Potential buyers may be put off by his unwillingness to play this week, but I'm sure a big team will still buy him.

In my opinion, Tevez should receive a 6 months ban by FIFA from playing for any team. After that, Manchester City would receive a transfer fee from any club still willing to buy him. That would be justice, but in football, justice isn't always carried out, sadly.

Back Online.

I have just, somehow, survived a week without access to the internet! I don't know how I did it! You could equate it with living in the jungle for a week without food. Okay, perhaps I am exaggerating, but living without a modern convenience like the internet is strange when you're so used to having it there at your fingertips.

I first went online in 1998, and in the 13 years that have passed, it's very rare I have been without internet access... the very few times when the computer has a fault, and a couple of weekish long courses that I attended out of town. I guess we all take the internet for granted, just sitting there at our service when we need it for all sorts of reasons.

I'm happy to say I comfortably survived without it for a week. I have other things to do in my home, so there was never a time when I was bored and had nothing to do. A couple of times I wished I could have just logged on to find out what people who I follow were saying on Twitter, and what what the trending subjects were. However, I survived, and so here I am back blogging and tweeting. It feels great to be back online!  

Bus Driver.

A month ago, I started training with an employer to be a bus driver, which in the main, I enjoyed. Sadly, it came to an end yesterday when I failed the practical test at the second attempt. Not so much because of driving incompetence, but due to safety and awareness errors.

I have the option of sitting a test privately, with the aim of passing it and being re-employed by the company I was with for my month of training. This all comes at a cost, of course, so I have to think carefully whether I want to pursue a career as a bus driver. At the moment I have mixed feelings. 

I am still waiting for a reply from another job I attended an interview for recently. I certainly hope to find out soon whether I have been successful for that position. Fingers crossed.