IT’S been yet another week when football has made the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Carlos Tevez’s petulant actions in Munich earlier this week have been roundly condemned and enhanced the common perception held by the viewing public that these highly-paid footballers are out of touch with reality.

It is, of course, unfair to bracket all of them with the same label, given that for every Tevez there are many others grateful for the chance to be well paid for doing something they love.

Middlesbrough are currently flying high as they sit second in the Championship ahead of today’s trip to Reading, with a good team spirit in the dressing room being a key factor to their good start.

Not to say that manager Tony Mowbray thinks that managing a team is easy, as the need to be seen to be fair is imperative, although the Boro boss has had someone cross the line like Tevez before.

He said: “I’ve had a similar scenario to what Roberto (Manchester City boss Mancini) has experienced this week.

“There was a player – I won’t say who – that I wanted to send on a few minutes before the end of a game.

“He actually took his boots off when I said ‘you’re going on’ and he didn’t play for me again.

“You’ve got to show your squad total fairness.

“The ones who play the best get in the team. You can’t show favourites. If you bring somebody in, you want to give him time on the pitch to see what he can do.

“But if he’s not performing you can’t show loyalty to him. The dressing room knows when you’re being fair and when you’re not so you have to carefully manage it because it is like a living organism.

“You have to make sure you keep it within the palm of your hands and keep it going because dressing rooms – particularly in modern day football – become very fractious.”