“How stupid” – I was mortified when the manager hooked me at half-time and cost me the Premier League title.
Micah Richards has opened up about an unfortunate clash with former Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
The former defender spent 14 years at Manchester City, winning a Premier League title and an FA Cup.
However, the FA Cup clash against Watford in January 2014 still haunts him to this day.
“Manuel Pellegrini took me out at halftime,” Richards said The rest is football. podcast when asked about the most embarrassing thing that has happened to him on the field.
“It was very embarrassing, we were losing the game and yes, that man Pablo Zabaleta goes on and takes my place, we ended up winning the game.
“I'm fucking and fucking later. I missed my second Premier League title only because I didn't want to apologize to Pellegrini.
“How stubborn was I by the way? How stubborn is that?
As always, your fellow hosts, Alan Shearer and Gary Linekerhe held it steady with his direct response.
Shearer joked that he was more stupid than stubborn, while Lineker noted that it was “the stupidity of youth.”
The trio laughed at the image of a young and headstrong Richards; At least now he can find humor in it.
Despite the anger, Richards later acknowledged that Pellegrini's decision was “worth it” as City bounced back to victory after he left the field.
At half-time City were 2-0 down, with goals from Watford's Fernando Forestieri and a familiar face on talkSPORT. Troy Deeney.
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Zabaleta replaced the disgruntled Richards, soon followed by more substitutions that turned the tide.
Sergio Agüero scored a few minutes later and that was it. City won 4-2, with goals from Agüero and Aleksandar Kolarov.
Richards also spoke about the incident on Match of the Day.
He recalled: “Basically what happened was I wasn't on the next team or the team after that, I thought what's going on here?
“You can express your frustrations in the locker room and he basically said, 'You're not coming back on the team until you apologize.'”
Richards never apologized, a decision that may haunt him as it meant missing out on a second Premier League title.
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He received the Premier League winners' medal the previous year, when City won the 2012/13 title.
But after making just two league appearances during 2013/14, this meant he missed out on a Premier League winners' medal.
His first-team chances remained slim for the rest of the season, leading to reports in March 2014 that Richards turned down a new contract, leaving his future uncertain, a decision he finally confirmed in September 2014.
He was then briefly loaned to Fiorentina for around 12 months.
He later played for Aston Villa before hanging up his boots in 2019 due to nagging injuries.
Manchester City plays this Saturday against Salford in the FA Cup.
