Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has admitted he was surprised to get a hostile reception from the Manchester United fans on Sunday.


Tevez was a hugely popular figure at Old Trafford during his two successful seasons with the Red Devils, but he was never likely to endear himself to supporters after joining City.

The Argentine was roundly booed throughout City's 4-3 defeat and was thought to be the target for a missle that struck team-mate Javier Garrido as the sides left the field at half-time.

Quoted in the Daily Mail, Tevez said: "I must admit I did believe I would get a different reception from the United supporters.

"Initially everything was positive and I was greeted by my former team-mates and United staff without any problems at all.

"But as soon as I entered the field the atmosphere was very different. It was hard to take because previously I was always wanted by those people."

Michael Owen poised to start against Wolves for Manchester United in the Carling Cup  – helping to trigger a £600,000 win or lose jackpot for the Molineux coffers.

Owen is in line for a start tomorrow night, after coming off the bench to grab the winner in Sunday’s see-saw 4-3 win against rivals City in the Manchester derby.

The presence of the England striker will spark further intrigue to a third round tie the holders are expecting a crowd of 60,000 for at Old Trafford, generating gate receipts of around £1.5million.

Under competition rules, each club banks 45 per cent each after VAT and expenses are taken off, with the other 10 per cent going to the Football League.

With both clubs also receiving a healthy sum from Sky for live screening on TV, Wolves will eclipse their entire budgeted income from cup competitions for the season in 90 minutes.

Chief executive Jez Moxey said: “It’s a really lucrative tie for us. Financially, it’s the draw of the round.

“It’s a really healthy financial boost for the club, but that’s not at the forefront of our minds.

“We want to go to Old Trafford, win the tie and get to the next round. We’d love to win the competition.”

Adult prices of £41 – Albion fans are paying just £10 for their tie against Arsenal at The Emirates tonight – combined with the live screening of the tie have meant Wolves have been slow to sell their larger-than-normal allocation of 5,708 seats.

But as Moxey explains, United feel they can justify the prices because of the huge demand to see even a below-strength Red Devils team play.

He said: “They think they’ll get 60,000 odd to the game at those prices. We plan for one home tie and one away, so it’s fair to say we’ll beat our cup budget this season before we even get to the FA Cup.”

Wolves will ring the changes with goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, Ronald Zubar, Matt Hill, Dave Edwards, Michael Kightly, Stefan Maierhofer, along with former United pair David Jones and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, possibly featuring.