SOCCER ANGLES:Dispensing with the striker's services would help the club send out a strong message, writes MICHAEL WALKER

ALL WE require now is Joey Barton’s take on it all, and by the time this goes into print it may have arrived. Every season there are one or two weeks when the head shakes at the sheer relentlessness of football and this was one of them.

One story, that of Carlos Tevez and his alleged refusal to play in Munich for Manchester City, has dominated and provoked non-stop chatter. But City have not been alone in the mixture of excitement and anxiety that has chased them around this week, it’s just theirs has camouflaged a lot more.

To some extent the behaviour of Tevez at Bayern Munich even distracted attention from the dismal show from Edin Dzeko the same night.

If, as reported, manager Roberto Mancini resorted to telling Tevez and Dzeko to eff off back to Argentina and Bosnia respectively, then at least Mancini recognised the petulance in Dzeko’s demeanour as he was substituted on Tuesday night. Dzeko has had the grace to apologise to Mancini directly.

Tevez hasn’t.

He has apologised to others, team-mates and fans, but his relationship with Mancini looks irreparable at this point. Tevez entered English football followed by a (sponsored, no doubt) swoosh of controversy and he seems set to leave with that in his wake.

Players are actually entitled to feel aggrieved about their place in a football club at any given time, to feel they are sacrificing themselves for the team when others are not, or when not receiving due credit for it. That is part of the professional’s rough deal.

Tevez is entitled to feel unwanted by Mancini. He has some evidence that the Italian prefers others, notably Sergio Aguero. However, feeling aggrieved, even bitter, is different from staging a one-man public mutiny, then shrugging your shoulders about it. Arrogance alters the tone considerably.

So, too, of course does money. There is a general acceptance that Tevez is still in a position of power at City despite his two-week suspension by the club because of his market worth and his knowledge of that.

In the summer Tevez’s valuation was €46 million. It has probably slumped 25-50 per cent in the past few days but even for a club with the sovereign wealth of Manchester City, simply writing off €23 million is no small affair.

However, and it is a big however, doing so would be to send out a message of rigid moral authority. City’s owners are determined that the club pursue a parallel path of community service as they grow as a football team, and telling Tevez his behaviour was unacceptable and that he can leave without a messy legal case over his contract would be the most powerful demonstration that they are sincerely interested in more than 90 minutes.

In one swoop, albeit an enormously expensive one, City would have increased gravitas.

They would also be rid of a problem. Tevez could go where he was wanted but as he is a squad player now at Eastlands, that should not affect City too much.

Mancini’s superiors might not see the overall appeal in that, though.

They might think Mancini’s phrase yesterday that Tevez is “not my problem” sidesteps the fact that he is. They have already had to rejig a squad that lost value on Craig Bellamy, Shay Given and the like.

Rarely can Roberto Mancini have wanted to see Ewood Park so much. Win there this afternoon and he will be one relieved man.

Because what Tevez and Dzeko overshadowed was that City are now third in their Champions League group. They may need to win three of their four remaining matches to finish above Bayern or Napoli – beginning at home to Villarreal.

Imagine the squall if they don’t.

What the noisy neighbours also drowned out was United’s 3-3 home draw with Basle that leaves United third in their group.

A combination of Tevez and Ashley Young’s last-minute equaliser disguised a slack display, one that begged questions of the headstrong comparisons Phil Jones has been evoking with Duncan Edwards.

What Tevez also muffled was the sound of anxiety squeaking out of Arsenal once again.

They were the only one of England’s four Champions League contenders to win this week but fans are hardly rocking with conviction after Olympiakos were beaten 2-1.

An optimist could say victory over the Greeks made it three in a row for Arsenal, Shrewsbury Town and Bolton having been ‘put to the sword’. As Arsenal prepare for White Hart Lane tomorrow a realist could counter with the statistics of Arsenal’s last two away days in the Premier League: 8-2 at Manchester United, 4-3 at Blackburn.

There is, moreover, an unavoidable sense of dread, that Emmanuel Adebayor will score for Tottenham, who will then win this game and go on to usurp Arsenal’s place in the Champions League.

Adebayor is on loan at Spurs. Arsene Wenger could note aloud that Adebayor remains a Manchester City employee and that there is something very wrong with such a system.

Wenger could say a number of things, as could Steve Bruce, Steve Kean or Steve McClaren, but they’d all be secondary to Tevez.

You suspect that’s how Carlos likes it.

Feruz’s exit leaves Celtic feeling sore

CELTIC made their share of noise this week. On Thursday night they were, understandably, upset by the award of a soft late penalty to Udinese that meant the game ended 1-1.

That was preceded a few days ago by annoyance from Neil Lennon over the imminent departure from the Celtic youth ranks of a boy called Islam Feruz, 16.

Feruz's story is of a family escaping civil war in Somalia by fleeing by boat to Yemen around a decade ago. From there they found asylum in Britain, in Glasgow, but only after Feruz lost two grandparents in Somalia's conflict.

In Glasgow the family Feruz were housed in a Castlemilk high-rise until Islam was spotted by Celtic. Then things changed, Celtic moved the family. It quickly became apparent Feruz was a talent. He played for Celtic's under-19s at 14 and for Scotland's under-17s at the same age. Agents moved in, as they do.

Feruz seemed happy, as were Celtic, who need to generate their own players as they have limited SPL income compared to, say, Premier League Chelsea.

But guess what? Feruz appears to be on his way to Stamford Bridge. Although Chelsea have not confirmed that officially, a compensation fee of around £300,000 has been mentioned.

Some clubs in Scotland might have things to say about Celtic and the recruitment of boys, but the Feruz tale has hurt Parkhead.