Carlos Tevez admits he was surprised to be given the Manchester City captaincy this season.
Tevez's touchline row with his manager Roberto Mancini at the weekend did not paint a picture of unity and neither did the training ground punch-up between Mario Balotelli and Jerome Boateng 24 hours earlier.
And at the start of the season Tevez felt he needed to seek out Kolo Toure for a chat after being surprised to discover he had inherited the captain's armband from the Ivorian without any prior knowledge.
"I went to speak with Kolo to tell him what I was thinking, that I was as surprised as anyone at Roberto's decision and that he could always count on my support," said Tevez.
"Then it was just everything else you would expect two guys to talk about when speaking face-to-face trying to make sure everything had been resolved.
"It is hard to swallow because if I had managed to get the captain's armband and it was taken from me I would be really gutted.
"I would appreciate the new captain coming to speak with me. So I put myself in his position and did what I felt had to be done as a man."
