Manchester City legend Dennis Tueart admits he found club icon Georgi Kinkladze a "disgrace" at times.

Kinkladze is regarded by City fans as a club great.

But Tueart says in his autobiography: My Football Journey: "There was a cult that surrounded Georgi at City.

"The fans loved him, because he could produce the unexpected. His close control was superb, and he was probably the one City player at the time who could lift fans off their seats.

"Georgi was being paid three times what his team-mates were getting, and he wasn't producing. He got away with things in the fans' eyes because he was 'Kinki'."

The breaking point for Tueart was a 2-1 defeat at Port Vale as City were fighting for survival.

"That was the day that Joe [Royle] fell out of love with Georgi Kinkladze," he said. "It was a game for players to get stuck in and fight for their lives.

"All season, other clubs had been gunning for City because they were the big-name club to be shot at, and too often our players had been unable to rise to the challenge.

"Georgi was the biggest culprit of all. He was a magnificently talented player but that day he was a disgrace.

"Vale put a man marker on him and Georgi just didn't seem interested in running at him, or trying to muscle him out of it.

"He was on about £12,000 a week, but his contribution that day was nil. Joe came into the boardroom after the game raging. From then on, Kinkladze's days at the club were numbered.

"He never achieved anywhere near what he should have in the game. A dreadful waste of talent."