Is Carlos Tevez the Face of a New World Order in the Premier League?

Quick stat to start the day: In between Manchester City reaching their last major semi-final - in the 1981 FA Cup - and Tuesday's Carling Cup semi, a total of 54 different League clubs have been to the last four of the two major cup competitions.

The list includes 10 clubs currently in League One, one now in League Two (Chesterfield), a couple not in the League (Oxford, Luton) and one club that doesn't even exist any more (Wimbledon).

What does that tell us? That getting to a semi-final is actually not that hard, or meaningful. (Apologies here to the long-suffering fans of Stoke and Hull, the only Premier League teams now with a longer semi-final drought than City).

All of which made City's over-the-top build-up to Tuesday's 2-1 first leg win over neighbours United both understandable and, given that getting to semis didn't seem to work wonders for the long-term future or stability of the likes of Stockport, Wycombe and Walsall, a little bit desperate and sad.

The world's self-styled wealthiest club dragged out survivors from their 1970 League Cup semi win over United, played grainy footage from that game on the big scoreboard and even had a special "Commemorative Programme" on sale.

The fans seemed to lap it up - or some of it, at least - which is the most important thing and it did no harm in building an atmosphere that was already going to be incendiary.

But the marketing genius behind that move had missed the point. This semi-final - which will be completed at Old Trafford on Wednesday - was not about the past. It was about the present or, more specifically, the future and City's place in it.

The past does not count for anything in football. Just ask Stockport, Wycombe or Walsall. More relevantly, ask Portsmouth who won the FA Cup less than two years ago and now, according to some estimates, will be lucky to be in existence by the end of the season.

All that matters in football is the here and now and the promise of tomorrow and, in Carlos Tevez and his match-winning performance on Tuesday, City had the personification of that promise and the potential for a changing of the guard in the English game.

City have enjoyed some dumb luck in their current rise up the football ranks. Billionaire Arabs, with no connection to the club or the region, buying City was, obviously, a large slice of luck. So, too, was a global recession and the bad financial management that has hamstrung key rivals such as Liverpool and Manchester United.

There was also a large element of luck in landing Tevez in the first place. Only City would match the outlandish demands of the player and his owners and that was largely because the club's chief exec Garry Cook was desperate to land a "big name" star having missed out on the likes of Kaka, John Terry and Fernando Torres over the previous six months.

Yet City's managers - Mark Hughes and now Roberto Mancini - have succeeded where Sir Alex Ferguson failed - in getting the best out of the Argentinian forward who has now scored 13 goals in his last 11 games, a phenomenal statistic that fails to take into account the other influences Tevez has on his team.

"Carlos was the difference between the two teams," said team mate Gareth Barry after Tevez's two goals beat United. "All talk before the game was about him and he has done his talking on the pitch with a great performance. That's the way it's written. He deserved his goals because of the way he worked."

What has become clear now is that Ferguson failed to handle Tevez properly, as he has a number of South Americans to pass through Old Trafford. It was not a mistake for United to let Tevez leave, because he was not performing at the level his exorbitant demands merited and, in any case, United did not have the financial muscle to compete with City even if they wanted to.

The mistake lay in Ferguson not getting that sort of form out of Tevez last season. It is far too simplistic to say that Ferguson failed to give Tevez enough playing time, the issues presumably ran far deeper and into the realms of man-management and we are unlikely to ever know precisely how the veteran United manager failed to handle Tevez properly. But fail he undoubtedly did.

Mancini's basic English is convenient in that it allows him to dodge questions he may not wish to answer. So, the City manager declined to answer fully whether he thought United regretted their decision not to keep Tevez and whether anyone in Europe is playing better than him in goalscoring terms at present.

The honest answers would, surely, be yes and no .... especially if Tevez inspires City to their first major Final in 29 years next Wednesday.

Various reports have put Tevez's transfer fee as high as £47 million and even City sources privately admit the figure might be into the "high 30's." Other reports claim Tevez was looking for a salary of £9 million net a year - around £18 million before tax. Given that Tevez has a five year contract, that would put his salary at £90 million - a total package, therefore, in the ball park of £130 million.

Even at a club where money has no meaning, that represents some investment.

But if Tevez takes City through to the Carling Cup Final next week, it will start looking like money well spent ... and perhaps the City regime that talks about a bright new future can finally stop living 40 years in the past and get on with the real business of catching United.