Joy to the world! Carlos Tevez managed to resolve the very personal and difficult matters that allowed him to hand in a formal transfer request before the holiday season. All those stuck in queues struggling to get home to loved ones will no doubt find the time to enjoy this particular Christmas miracle. Tevez sorted things out prior to the anticipated coronation of Manchester City as Premier League leaders. Thankfully things in Manchester can be resolved so quickly. The Manchester 'can-do' attitude helps push things along. No doubt across offices on Deansgate, around board rooms in Salford Quays - there will be a pause of anticipation after key power point presentations - before the silence is broken with the key phrase - "we need to pull a Rooney on this one!".
Football in Manchester it seems is different to many parts of the world - The Cold War of Premier League proportions. The rich folk inacting a power game on the streets where the cotton mills and Communism found their feet. They come to Manchester for money. Money is what they shall have ... and like night follows day.... money brings greed.
Tevez and his advisors may have a whole list of why the transfer request was withdrawn but the suspicion will always be that money and ego are the root of the problem. Tevez will have watched with interest how Manchester United's leading light was dealt with for his show of petulance and disrespect. Dubai, Oregon and a pay rise - certainly not an extending run in the reserves at Bury to get the player whipped into shape.
Wayne Rooney managed to engineer a pay hike by attaching himself to the growing feeling of resentment to the Glazer family's ownership. Rooney's once cavalier attitude on the pitch may have disappeared but it remains around the negotiating table. No true Manchester United fan fell for Rooney's patter. He was booed and rightly so. He will be cheered as will Tevez when they deliver because Manchester is in the hearts of City and United fans alike. High stakes -big gambles - big investments.
Tevez is undoubtedly a proud man. The passion for West Ham United was seemingly true and undiluted by a big contract. The main man of Upton Park increasingly has become the centre piece of 'The Project'. The humiliating of a coach, the playing with fans' emotions is all part of the ego. No doubt it is felt with satisfaction, that for all the star names that City attract, Tevez is the one that they sing for, the one they put on the posters, the one who wears the armband.
Now Tevez has had his week in the spotlight. Testing Manchester and its fans in the same way that Rooney did a short time before. His week ended with the chance to put his team at the top of the pile. Christmas number one for the man with the X-factor. It all went wrong. The patronising will label as 'the hard working David Moyes team battling to beat City' - but in truth the game was won by the only moment of true quality - the moment that separated the sides at the end of the game - that moment came from Leighton Baines. Baines is a player who was castigated in the summer when his deluded international manager sold him out by claiming he was 'home-sick'. Baines is a player who is guilty only of staying true to his roots, who plays with a swagger that could earn him all the money and star status he is willing to push for. Instead, Baines continues to perform like one of the top-three left-backs in the world at an unfashionable club and is over-looked and underrated.
The sight of Tevez and his strike partner Mario Balotelli sulking their way around Eastlands was tragic viewing. Rewarded beyond their wildest of dreams, they looked like lost souls who believe in their hearts that the fire really burns somewhere else. In Balotelli's case he divided Milan before failing to secure a move to AC Milan from Internazionale only to find Europa League football at City. For Tevez it is difficult. The spare part at the Rooney-Ronaldo roadshow in 2008, perhaps the motivation for the marriage between Tevez and City was all about proving himself to a city where he felt rejected. There is no love to be found in emotions driven by revenge. No amount of money will take that particular pain away. Tevez was pushed out of his 'big season' and Ronaldo and Rooney continue to be heralded as Playstation icons while Tevez, like City, struggle for acceptence at the top table.
For all the pyschology behind the Tevez saga there will alwayz remain one key fact - Tevez failed to deliver when City needed him most. Top of the tree at Christmas may not be cue for a wild-party but it was a statement that both he and the club needed.
In a week that saw Lord Alan Sugar trim down a set of egos and money hungry business people to find the only shining light - maybe Manchester City and Carlos Tevez could learn from one particular piece of advice. To paraphrase Sugar: "It's not the pat on the back you should be worried about - it's the kick up the arse!"
Manchester City currently sit below Manchester United in the league table.
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