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Police warning for stars
A TOP police chief has demanded Manchester’s football stars do nothing to incite the crowd ahead of a potentially explosive Carling Cup derby on Wednesday.
But the plea for players and managers to keep a lid on inflammatory behaviour and remarks was ignored by Carlos Tevez’s agent Kia Joorabchian, who yesterday accused Gary Neville of “lacking class” while defending Tevez’s taunts that Neville was a “moron” and a “bootlicker”.
Sir Alex Ferguson cranked up the tension further when an off-the-record remark that Tevez should have been sent off in the first leg of their semi-final for a bad tackle on Wes Brown ended up in the public domain.
And United defender Rio Ferdinand will go into Wednesday’s second leg facing a possible FA rap after TV cameras caught him swinging his arm into Hull striker Craig Fagan’s face in an ugly off-the-ball incident missed by referee Steve Bennett. Asst chief constable Ian Hopkins of Greater Manchester Police will meet United and City officials today.
He said: “I will make the point very strongly that players are professionals and they need to recognise the impact they can have on the crowd.”