The singer feels the Argentine deserves to be considered among the club's best and wants him to stay even if he is unhappy, while he has praise for Roberto Mancini and Joey Barton
The former Oasis member said the Argentine compared favourably with the best he had seen play for City over his lifetime due to the amount of goals he has scored for the club since joining from rivals Manchester United.
Asked who the greatest City player he has ever watched was, Gallagher told Absolute Radio: “Well I was lucky enough to see Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Franny Lee and all that, and I’ve seen Kinkladze, Paul Lake and all the greats that maybe you’ve never heard of, but I don’t know, I’ve got to say Colin Bell, but Tevez would take some beating I think for all the goals he’s scored, and Joe [Hart].
“Honestly, and I guess I speak for the majority of City fans here, we’ve always thought he was going to stay, because he’s been for sale since last January, and if he was going to go he’d go now, but as long as they do it on the pitch, he can moan about the weather and his back garden and the rest of it until the cows come home, to be quite honest.”
Gallagher answered a number of questions about City and football in general.
He said that manager Roberto Mancini should be credited for the way he has run the team and added that perceptions of the club had changed since they became the biggest spenders in world football.
“The black cab drivers down here in London used to be all ‘Oh Man City, Man City, we love Man City’, and now it’s like you get shouted at in the street, ‘Hey, can’t buy the league, we can’t buy the league’,” he said.
“I’m not buying anything, you know.”
And on Mancini he added: “There’s a lot of money at Chelsea and they didn’t win anything last season, well they did the season before, but I think he’s spent really, really well, and I think he knows what he wants, and I think to have won the FA Cup last season, they had such a great season with a band of players who were, if you believe the press, at each other’s throats all the time, means he’s got some kind of man management skills, but I like him.”
Gallagher said he would be pleased to see Samir Nasri join from Arsenal and that the Frenchman would know that he is coming to a club where he would not be able to play every game.
He said: “He knows what he’s coming into, right, he knows that we’re going for four trophies, not everybody can play every game. I don’t think, apart from Joe Hart, anybody is the first name on the team sheet.
“It’s a big club now. I can see where they’re coming from because God forbid if Silva ever got injured, we’d be in serious trouble, but I think if we get him he’d be an incredible signing because he gets goals.”
City play Bolton Wanderers at the weekend, but Gallagher is confident that they can match the 4-0 thrashing they handed out to Swansea City on Monday night.
“Honestly I think we’ll demolish them, they’ve got a great manager and Kevin Davies is as good as it gets I suppose as the big front man, but I just think City are going to have too much because Tevez is back, now he’s got [Mario] Balotelli, I just think we’ve got too much in midfield. Where Nasri’s supposed to fit in all this is anybody’s guess,” he said.
Having been a City fan for many years, Gallagher will have heard a number of different footballing chants during his time following the club.
And whilst he admits that he does not like to join in with the chanting during matches, he still finds one about Balotelli particularly funny.
He said: “I’m not a singer at football matches, I don’t get involved in any of that. What’s the famous one?
“Oh, there was one when Balotelli first signed and it was [sings] ‘We don’t know his name but we’ve seen him on the telly, we don’t know his name but we’ve seen him on the telly, we can’t spell his name but we’ve seen him on the telly, hey Balotelli’. I thought that was pretty funny.”
One man who has been in the news a lot recently is Joey Barton for his use of Twitter to attack Newcastle United and his behaviour in the recent game against Arsenal, but Gallagher says he is much different off the pitch.
He added: “Well Roy Keane used to get it as well though, do you know what I mean?
“He doesn’t do himself any favours, but I’ve met him a few times and I’ve got to say he’s a nice lad, but when some players are on the pitch it’s all vastly different isn’t it.”
Noel Gallagher spoke to Absolute Radio extra’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Football in an interview to be broadcast on the station this Saturday 20th August. Click through to www.absoluteradio.co.uk/rocknrollfootball for the full interview
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