**Tevez refused to learn English because he blamed British for uncle’s alcoholism**
Former Manchester City and Manchester United star says he was ‘marked’ by uncle’s experience fighting for Argentina in the Falklands War
Carlos Tevez has revealed he refused to learn English during his seven years in the Premier League because of his “cultural problem” with the nation.
The former Manchester United and Manchester City striker said he decided early on that if anyone wanted to speak to him, they should learn Spanish.
The Argentinian, who also played for West Ham United and earned 76 caps for his country, said a reason for his unwillingness to adapt to English culture was that a call-up to fight against Britain in the Falklands War had triggered his uncle’s descent into alcoholism.
Tevez, who famously complained on Argentinian TV when he was still Manchester City captain that everything about Manchester was bad, told a radio interviewer in his homeland over the weekend: “I had a cultural problem with the English. I didn’t want to learn English, I wanted them to learn Spanish.
“I have an uncle who played in River Plate. He’s the only River supporter in my family. He played in the reserve team and when he was going to make his debut with the first team, he got called up to fight in the Falklands War.
“He suffered after that and became an alcoholic. That marked me a lot because he was very close to me.”
Opening up on his feelings about England on DSportsRadio, the 39-year-old summed up the seven years he spent in England as: “Okay, I’m here for work but I’m not getting used to English culture. You want to speak to me, then you learn Spanish because I’m not going to learn English.”
He added: “Very few people know this story but today I can tell it.”
Fellow Argentinian Pablo Zabaleta, then a full back at Manchester City, urged Tevez to improve his English for the good of the team after the striker moved from their city rivals United in July 2009. The Buenos Aires-born defender said in October that year: “Carlos tries sometimes to speak English. I said to him he needs to come to me for lessons. It’s important because we need to speak with team-mates and managers.”
Tevez’s reluctance to learn the language was one of the criticisms levelled at him when he was at Old Trafford. He escaped punishment for a serious motoring offence in September 2011 because his English was so poor he could not read the penalty notice sent to him.
Tevez, who was manager of top flight Argentine side Rosario Central until late last year, made his feelings about Manchester abundantly clear when he was interviewed on one of his country’s leading TV shows in June 2011. He said he could not wait to leave the city for good and claimed that the area had “nothing”.
Susana Giménez, a popular Argentine talk-show host, had pointed out another South American celebrity — model Evangelina Anderson, the wife of former Argentina centre back Martín Demichelis — had bought a house in the sunkissed Spanish resort of Marbella.
Tevez laughed as he replied: “Yes but Marbella is different from Manchester. You can buy a holiday house in Marbella. But I’m never going back to Manchester, not even on holiday, not for anything.”
Always thought he was a twat, this seems to confirm it. If he had such a chip on his shoulder about his fascist country failing to capture a depressing little sheep farm, why on earth did he come here?
Meh, he should be blaming the Argentine government of the time for his uncle being called up, not the UK for fighting a defensive war.
Not principled enough to not take obscene money from English clubs though… interesting
To use a technical term, this guy sounds like a fucking twat.
I dunno you cant get more british than moving to another country, refusing to learn the language and expecting people to speak to you in the language you speak. Pure ‘Expat’ energy really.
Interestingly he calls the Falkland Islands “The Falkland Islands” and not the Argentine version “Islas Malvinas.”
Unless that has been changed in translation of course.
He needs to think his logic through, the fat, thick prick
I think their invasion and subsequent humiliation is what caused his alcoholism
Has to be said this guy is crazy by Argentinian standards too. I spent about five months in Argentina travelling all over the country, never hid the fact I’m a Brit, and never encountered any viewpoints like this. Plenty of Argentinians do feel strongly about the Falklands but they don’t really turn it into a “Fuck you for being British” thing (and they literally will not bring it up unless you do in 99% of cases). This dude is the equivalent of a Brit who hates German people for WW2.
Why are you here then? Go home you little fascist cunt
Nothing to do with a dying Fascist Junta desperately trying to deflect?
Shouldn’t he have rejected Argentinian then since they started it…..
The absolute embarrassing defeat led to the downfall of their fascist government.
If anything he should have learned English so he could thank us in our native language.
Oh no, did a crumbling fascist state use imperialist foreign policy to distract from their crumbling economy, corruption and ineptitude? Fuck off.
But why did he blame UK for the war and not the dictator in Argentina? Odd
When you think about it, Argentina really got the better outcome from the Falklands War. They lost the islands but got rid of their brutal military government as a result. Britain meanwhile got stuck with Thatcher for the rest of the decade and her ideological heirs have run the government ever since.
Not upset enough to take the money from three English clubs though 🤷♂️ funny how far his dislike went considering it’s not like Spain or Italian or German clubs couldn’t pay a man huge money
I always thought about hearing the Beatles early days was spent in Hamburg if there was any lingering ww2 tensions considering everything including us bombing them and it wasn’t that far removed from it.
Should have blamed the fascist government his father lived under tbh
So, does he blame the Argentinians for starting the war? Or what? I am not really sure I can get my head around this.
“It all started when he hit me back!”
He doesn’t strike me as someone who has the ability to learn another language, but if that’s the narrative he chooses to go with.
Secondly, if he hates the English tha much. He literally could have played anywhere else in Europe.
What a complete knobhead that bloke was, and still is.
Mr. Tevez must have spent lots of money paying a collection of bilingual lawyers and professional advisors to plug the gap. Hopefully most of them were uk citizen resident taxpayers.
Just as many monolingual english speaking expats and highly waged working brits do when based in an overseas nation where english is not one of the official languages or widely understood by the locals.
No problem taking an Englander’s money, I note.
Aside from that, why should anyone care what this foreigner does?
He should blane the Argentinan Junta for believing that wet behind the ear conscripts had a hope in hell of fighting the Royal Marines, Paras and Gurkhas.
He shouldn’t have played in the English Premier League then
I refused to learn Chinese because I got delivered a faulty controller from there.
Those 15 pounds still burn…..
I also refused to learn Portuguese, because of that Euro match in the early 2000s.
We shoulda won it.
England fan who booes other anthems, chants “two world wars and one World Cup” and “ten German bombers in the air” at every game, and orders “One large bearo por favor” at the red lion while living his Benidorm second home is furious
Tevez is a well-balanced individual; he has a chip on both shoulders. No point getting angry with him, he had made his life miserable enough himself.
In a similar fashion, I haven’t learned Japanese, not because it’s really difficult, but because I’m really annoyed at their WW2 war crimes.
Who does he blame for the fall of general Galtieri and the brutal military junta?
32 comments
**Tevez refused to learn English because he blamed British for uncle’s alcoholism**
Former Manchester City and Manchester United star says he was ‘marked’ by uncle’s experience fighting for Argentina in the Falklands War
Carlos Tevez has revealed he refused to learn English during his seven years in the Premier League because of his “cultural problem” with the nation.
The former Manchester United and Manchester City striker said he decided early on that if anyone wanted to speak to him, they should learn Spanish.
The Argentinian, who also played for West Ham United and earned 76 caps for his country, said a reason for his unwillingness to adapt to English culture was that a call-up to fight against Britain in the Falklands War had triggered his uncle’s descent into alcoholism.
Tevez, who famously complained on Argentinian TV when he was still Manchester City captain that everything about Manchester was bad, told a radio interviewer in his homeland over the weekend: “I had a cultural problem with the English. I didn’t want to learn English, I wanted them to learn Spanish.
“I have an uncle who played in River Plate. He’s the only River supporter in my family. He played in the reserve team and when he was going to make his debut with the first team, he got called up to fight in the Falklands War.
“He suffered after that and became an alcoholic. That marked me a lot because he was very close to me.”
Opening up on his feelings about England on DSportsRadio, the 39-year-old summed up the seven years he spent in England as: “Okay, I’m here for work but I’m not getting used to English culture. You want to speak to me, then you learn Spanish because I’m not going to learn English.”
He added: “Very few people know this story but today I can tell it.”
Fellow Argentinian Pablo Zabaleta, then a full back at Manchester City, urged Tevez to improve his English for the good of the team after the striker moved from their city rivals United in July 2009. The Buenos Aires-born defender said in October that year: “Carlos tries sometimes to speak English. I said to him he needs to come to me for lessons. It’s important because we need to speak with team-mates and managers.”
Tevez’s reluctance to learn the language was one of the criticisms levelled at him when he was at Old Trafford. He escaped punishment for a serious motoring offence in September 2011 because his English was so poor he could not read the penalty notice sent to him.
Tevez, who was manager of top flight Argentine side Rosario Central until late last year, made his feelings about Manchester abundantly clear when he was interviewed on one of his country’s leading TV shows in June 2011. He said he could not wait to leave the city for good and claimed that the area had “nothing”.
Susana Giménez, a popular Argentine talk-show host, had pointed out another South American celebrity — model Evangelina Anderson, the wife of former Argentina centre back Martín Demichelis — had bought a house in the sunkissed Spanish resort of Marbella.
Tevez laughed as he replied: “Yes but Marbella is different from Manchester. You can buy a holiday house in Marbella. But I’m never going back to Manchester, not even on holiday, not for anything.”
Always thought he was a twat, this seems to confirm it. If he had such a chip on his shoulder about his fascist country failing to capture a depressing little sheep farm, why on earth did he come here?
Meh, he should be blaming the Argentine government of the time for his uncle being called up, not the UK for fighting a defensive war.
Not principled enough to not take obscene money from English clubs though… interesting
To use a technical term, this guy sounds like a fucking twat.
I dunno you cant get more british than moving to another country, refusing to learn the language and expecting people to speak to you in the language you speak. Pure ‘Expat’ energy really.
Interestingly he calls the Falkland Islands “The Falkland Islands” and not the Argentine version “Islas Malvinas.”
Unless that has been changed in translation of course.
He needs to think his logic through, the fat, thick prick
I think their invasion and subsequent humiliation is what caused his alcoholism
Has to be said this guy is crazy by Argentinian standards too. I spent about five months in Argentina travelling all over the country, never hid the fact I’m a Brit, and never encountered any viewpoints like this. Plenty of Argentinians do feel strongly about the Falklands but they don’t really turn it into a “Fuck you for being British” thing (and they literally will not bring it up unless you do in 99% of cases). This dude is the equivalent of a Brit who hates German people for WW2.
Why are you here then? Go home you little fascist cunt
Nothing to do with a dying Fascist Junta desperately trying to deflect?
Shouldn’t he have rejected Argentinian then since they started it…..
The absolute embarrassing defeat led to the downfall of their fascist government.
If anything he should have learned English so he could thank us in our native language.
Oh no, did a crumbling fascist state use imperialist foreign policy to distract from their crumbling economy, corruption and ineptitude? Fuck off.
But why did he blame UK for the war and not the dictator in Argentina? Odd
When you think about it, Argentina really got the better outcome from the Falklands War. They lost the islands but got rid of their brutal military government as a result. Britain meanwhile got stuck with Thatcher for the rest of the decade and her ideological heirs have run the government ever since.
Not upset enough to take the money from three English clubs though 🤷♂️ funny how far his dislike went considering it’s not like Spain or Italian or German clubs couldn’t pay a man huge money
I always thought about hearing the Beatles early days was spent in Hamburg if there was any lingering ww2 tensions considering everything including us bombing them and it wasn’t that far removed from it.
Should have blamed the fascist government his father lived under tbh
So, does he blame the Argentinians for starting the war? Or what? I am not really sure I can get my head around this.
“It all started when he hit me back!”
He doesn’t strike me as someone who has the ability to learn another language, but if that’s the narrative he chooses to go with.
Secondly, if he hates the English tha much. He literally could have played anywhere else in Europe.
What a complete knobhead that bloke was, and still is.
Mr. Tevez must have spent lots of money paying a collection of bilingual lawyers and professional advisors to plug the gap. Hopefully most of them were uk citizen resident taxpayers.
Just as many monolingual english speaking expats and highly waged working brits do when based in an overseas nation where english is not one of the official languages or widely understood by the locals.
No problem taking an Englander’s money, I note.
Aside from that, why should anyone care what this foreigner does?
He should blane the Argentinan Junta for believing that wet behind the ear conscripts had a hope in hell of fighting the Royal Marines, Paras and Gurkhas.
He shouldn’t have played in the English Premier League then
I refused to learn Chinese because I got delivered a faulty controller from there.
Those 15 pounds still burn…..
I also refused to learn Portuguese, because of that Euro match in the early 2000s.
We shoulda won it.
England fan who booes other anthems, chants “two world wars and one World Cup” and “ten German bombers in the air” at every game, and orders “One large bearo por favor” at the red lion while living his Benidorm second home is furious
Tevez is a well-balanced individual; he has a chip on both shoulders. No point getting angry with him, he had made his life miserable enough himself.
In a similar fashion, I haven’t learned Japanese, not because it’s really difficult, but because I’m really annoyed at their WW2 war crimes.
Who does he blame for the fall of general Galtieri and the brutal military junta?