“Robbie will have to face some disciplinary measures”

By: j | January 27th, 2009

In a very curious statement Mark Hughes noted on the team web-site that Robinho would not be receiving preferential treatment as it relates to his recent absence:

“The disciplinary procedure has to be gone through and once that’s run its course then Robbie will have to face some disciplinary measures. The level of those measures will be kept private as you would expect.

“It was a private meeting and the details of that don’t need to be given in the public domain.

“Let’s make this clear. Robinho will be treated in exactly the same manner, given the circumstances, as any other player at Manchester City. Everybody knows that – there’s no special case here.

“Given a similar circumstance with any other player here they would expect to be treated in a similar manner. That needs to be made clear and that’s the top and bottom of it.

“I’ve touched on what I expect to happen and it really is at the point where we’ve moved on and drawn the line under it and we’re looking forward to preparing for the game against Newcastle.”

Referring a tabloid that noted he would receive special privileges, the manager said:

“Well, I think if you read some of the tabloids this morning, nothing could be further from the truth with their depiction of what went on.

“One certain newspaper I’ve come to expect it from and it doesn’t really bother me. Some of the reporting on the situation was incorrect and that’s been the norm for a number of months in that certain paper.

“It’s been addressed, dealt with and we’ve got a game against Newcastle to play, that’s what we’re looking ahead to.”

There are many angles to consider this statement and although I have enormous respect for Mark Hughes, anyone who thinks Robinho won’t receive preferential treatment does not understand the issues dealing with star players of today. This is not something I enjoy saying but discipline of another era or lower levels are far removed from today’s game, particularly as City attempts to bring in the upper echelon of sport. This is a slippery slope because while it is entirely possible that Mark Hughes will try to assert power in this situation it will only raise further questions of his ability to manage the upper tier of the game.