The old knight played his cards carefully, protecting his trump, which he showed when it counted: “for the next four years, laddie, you have no control over this matter”. And, so, the youthful CR7 was made to climb down and eat shit – in Portuguese. It is important to note that Ronaldo has said nothing in English throughout this summer’s kerfuffle.

NOW, we hear that SAF is talking confidently about a new contract – completely contradicting what “his boss”, David Gill, stated so categorically. Of course, we all know who “the boss” really is – and the ownership seems to acknowledge that, too. Fergy is the key player. Period.

SO, what’s next ? I figure that we will hear Ronaldo speak a bit – in English -not only about “his dream” but also “honouring the [UTD] shirt”. And then we will get some leaks about the new contract and, round about Xmas, Ronaldo will stick in his thumb and pull out a plum. The money will boggle our minds – and the length and iron-clad terms of the revised contract will put an end to any rumours that he is an “attainable object” for the fascist dreamers.

In footballing terms, Ronaldo would be a fool to leave UTD – this is a team that is only going to get better and better over the next few years. And, in terms of money/image rights, there is no better place for him than to be the featured super-star of a team that has a very, very good chance of winning consistently for the next few years. In contrast, Madrid have revamped their team but they play in what is the second-tier league in terms of international exposure and their unceremonious exits from the Champions’ League suggests that they are a very long shout from recapturing their glory.

I do not think that SAF has quite finished building the “new UTD”; he still wants to sign a guy like Benzema who can lead-the-line so that both Rooney and Tevez can flourish in a withdrawn role while Ronaldo and Nani can play as wingers with a mandate to cut inside and exchange positions with the withdrawn-strikers. When this “dream team” is finally assembled, I think that Ronaldo’s role will become less prominent but the team will be better because he will not be the main-man to whom the ball is funnelled. These guys are all young and all have enormous up-sides. And, of course, Fergy loves attacking football – and he loves winning football even more. He’s bound-and-determined to go out on a high and clearly believes that he is within spitting distance of doing just that. Therefore, Ronaldo stood no chance whatsoever of “convincing” SAF of letting him pursue his dream move to Real Madrid since that was always going to be trumped by Fergy’s own dream of dominance.