MANCHESTER UNITED have accepted an apology from Manchester City over a controversial placard held up by Carlos Tevez during their title celebrations.
City striker Tevez, formerly of United, was filmed on TV with a sign which read “RIP Fergie” during his club’s open-top bus tour of Manchester city centre with the Premier League trophy.
The banner, thought to have been passed onto the bus by a fan, may have referred to a remark by United manager Alex Ferguson three years ago when asked if his side would ever be underdogs against City. “Not in my lifetime,” the Scot said.
City reacted quickly last night to express “sincerest apologies”, while Tevez also spoke of his regret.
United chief executive David Gill said: “I think it’s right. The club acted pretty quickly. I think it was rather silly, frankly, in terms of what it said, but City acted with commendable speed. We move on and concentrate on other issues.”
Tevez, who joined City from United in 2009, said he “got carried away in the excitement of the moment”.
The English Football Association are looking into the matter after chairman David Bernstein also described the Argentinian’s actions as “silly”.
Bernstein was asked about the incident by MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
Bernstein said yesterday: “It looked to me rather silly, more than anything else – an impetuous, silly thing to do. It certainly wasn’t very sensible.
“I think it was a very excitable moment, emotions were running very high. As I understand it, and I stand to be corrected, I think someone passed this thing to Tevez who just sort of put it in the air, so I don’t think it’s the most serious thing I’ve ever come across. But I don’t know all the facts and I would leave it to the people (at the FA) who will look at it professionally.”
Tevez returned to play a key role in City’s title run-in after an extraordinary dispute which saw him spend more than three months in Argentina without permission.
The 28-year-old failed in attempts to engineer a transfer in January but has recently said he wants to stay at the Etihad Stadium.
