Sir Alex Ferguson has praised Roberto Mancini for his "strong management" in dealing with the Carlos Tevez row.
United chief offers support for City counterpart
Sir Alex Ferguson has praised Roberto Mancini for his "strong management" in dealing with Carlos Tevez's apparent refusal to play in midweek.
Tevez has been suspended by Manchester City as they investigate the rumpus which overshadowed their 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League.
Mancini revealed following the game that the Argentina international had refused to come off the bench during the second half.
The Italian claimed Tevez was 'finished' at City with the player then denying that he had snubbed the instruction to leave his place on the bench.
Strength of character
The future of Tevez has been the subject of intense speculation in the wake of the incident and although Ferguson would not speak directly about Tevez, a former player at Old Trafford, he praised Mancini at how he had handled the situation.
"I think that Roberto Mancini has come out and shown his strength of character, his strength of management and I think that is important," said Ferguson.
"We have all experienced our own difficulties in management and you cope with it as best as you can.
"In my own experience strong management is important and there is nobody more important than the manager at a football club."
Not the same
Intriguingly, former United midfielder Paul Scholes revealed this week that he also once staged a similar "strike," refusing to play for United in a League Cup tie in 2001.
Ferguson, however, remembers that incident differently and believes the circumstances were not the same as the Tevez situation.
"I don't think it's as strong as that," said Ferguson of the Scholes incident a decade ago. "I remember we had a really weakened team going down to Arsenal and I was looking around for one or two first team regulars to balance out.
"I can't even remember all the players but we had a really disjointed team and a few injuries. I asked Paul and he said he didn't really fancy it at all.
"I don't think it was exactly a refusal to play. He felt I was picking him as a guinea pig to go down there simply because he was a local boy, maybe.
"He felt guilt with that maybe now and it's written that way. But it was not at the level that it was a refusal."
