Carlos Tevez will return to Upton Park tomorrow to face his former club. As I have already written about, there is an expectation for Tevez to get a good welcome, after fighting so hard and playing so well to keep West Ham in the Premiership last season. However, Sir Alex Ferguson has today questioned whether the West Ham fans will respond to him as warmly as it is imagined.

“When players leave a club and go back they don’t get the reception you think they should get,” said Fergie. “It will be interesting to see. But they must be thankful to him, deep down they must be thankful because he kept them up last year. His performances were fantastic for them and therefore there will be a grudging admiration for what he has achieved at West Ham even though it was a short period.”

Ferguson believes that it is a certainty, however, that former Hammers, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick, won’t be greeted kindly. “We’ve got Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick who will probably be involved too, so I don’t think they will get a great reception going back there,” Ferguson concluded.