I'd have Tevez back in a shot, says Pardew

Alan Pardew, the manager who introduced Carlos Tevez to the Premier League, said yesterday that he would have no qualms about working with Manchester City's Argentinian refusenik.

While stressing that he "did not condone" Tevez's refusal to play as a substitute for City in Munich on Tuesday, the Newcastle United manager – who was in charge at West Ham when Tevez arrived in 2006 – said: "He is absolutely a footballer I would be happy to manage. He is a top, top player.

"Those situations happen more often than the media realise," Pardew added. "I can think of a manager in another division who has had a bit of that going on this year. It happens. When it happens in the full glare of the media spotlight, then it becomes amplified.

"We are only a reflection of society and there is a lack of respect everywhere, whether it is to teachers, doctors or police officers, and we are no different. I can recall a player saying to me: 'I am not playing for you', and then the next day he did play for me and all was forgiven. Carlos is a maverick player... but I am not trying to defend what he did."