Carlos T?vez reignited his feud with Gary Neville last night by accusing his former Manchester United team-mate of being “disrespectful”.
The Manchester City forward was angered by comments made by Neville over his departure from Old Trafford in the build-up to Tuesday night’s Carling Cup semi-final, first leg. The row descended into tit-for-tat gesturing between the players during the game and the Argentinian feels aggrieved by Neville’s public criticisms.
“Gary was very disrespectful, which is out of character, but he didn’t know the whole story of why I left Manchester United and I believe I deserved his respect,” T?vez said.
Neville — in writing a column for The Times, the Maltese newspaper — had said of Sir Alex Ferguson that “he knows exactly what he’s doing and understands when a player’s time is up”. He added that he could not “disagree with the United manager’s decision”.
T?vez was “hurt” by the comments but defended his goal celebrations in City’s 2-1 victory at Old Trafford on Tuesday, in which the striker scored twice. “Football is a form of theatre and it was just a form of banter,” he said. “There was nothing malicious intended. I was not trying to incite anyone but I was entitled to say to Neville that he should have been more respectful.
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“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.
“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.”
Neville is unlikely to face disciplinary action from the FA over his alleged abusive gesture at T?vez. The governing body was reviewing footage yesterday of the apparent confrontation.
T?vez appeared to confront the right back, who was warming up as a substitute, after scoring his first goal by using his hand in such a manner as to suggest that his former team-mate had been talking too much.
Neville’s apparent response was to make a one-fingered gesture at T?vez, but while the alleged incident was caught on camera, the United captain is expected to escape a misconduct charge.
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If Neville escapes disciplinary action, the FA may still remind United and City of their responsibilities before a potentially charged second leg at Old Trafford on Wednesday. It has also asked the clubs for their observations after Patrice Evra, the United left back, was struck by a lighter thrown from the crowd during the game.
The Barclays Premier League champions had more pressing matters to concern themselves with yesterday after the latest accounts revealed that total debts at United’s parent company had swelled to £716.5 million.
Accounts filed by Red Football Joint Venture, the company owned by the Glazer family, the United owners, for the year ended June 2009 showed that overall debt had soared past the £700 million mark for the first time, increasing by £17.5 million.
The rise was mainly the result of the 14.25 per cent interest being paid annually on the payment-in-kind loans, for which the Glazers are responsible. That debt had increased by £27 million to £202 million, even though bank loans secured against the club had dropped by £9 million to £509 million.
The debt helped to illustrate why the Glazers are attempting to raise £500 million through bonds to reduce the interest on their debt, although the latest figures were not contained in the prospectus issued to would-be investors that was leaked last week.
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The accounts also revealed that Red Football Joint Venture paid out £68.5 million in interest on its debts up to June 2009 but reported an overall profit of £6.4 million, compared with the £47 million loss returned the previous year, even if the profit was almost entirely explained by the £80 million received from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid last summer.