Manchester United fans rallied behind Cristiano Ronaldo following the dreadful behaviour he received in this country after the World Cup 06. The press, football fans, rival players and pundits were all after him, criticising and berating him, in quite shocking fashion. This country became obsessed with him and that obsession is still present two years later.
To counter balance this ridiculous behaviour, United fans got behind Ronaldo in full force. His songs were sung every week, his name was cheered loudly when the team lists were read out and we defended him to anyone who would listen.
Things have changed somewhat since then, following the ‘transfer saga’ that has ensued due to Ronaldo’s vague comments and the pestering of Real Madrid. Yesterday I asked whether Ronaldo, like Barry earlier in the week, could expect boos if/when he plays for United again. A slim majority of 53% voted that he shouldn’t be booed, which shows there are large numbers of United fans who feel they deserve to voice their displeasure over Ronaldo’s behaviour.
Booing your own players is not something I’ve ever agreed with, and whilst I’ve agreed with the sentiments behind the booings Rio Ferdinand and Kieran Richardson have received over recent years, I’ve never joined in. However, in certain situations, I think it is acceptable for sections of the crowd to let the players know what they are doing is unacceptable. Booing because of poor form is something I’ll never condone though.
However, whilst I’m not best pleased with Ronaldo, I resent hearing everyone’s opinion on the situation. This is a matter for United fans, and whether we choose to forgive or not is our prerogative. What the hell does it have to do with Hansen, Venables or Wright??
“Whether Ronaldo stays or not we’ll have to wait and see. Man United have made a stand and it’s good a stand has come from the top,” said the former Liverpool man, Alan YSB Hansen. “It’s a bad system where you can sign a four-year deal, win the Champions League and win The Premier League and be the best player in the country – and possibly the best player in the world – and still turn around and say you’re unhappy. Why are you unhappy? You’ve just won the Champions League. You’ve just won The Premier League at a great club. But ‘I’m unhappy, I want to go somewhere else’. I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with that, there’s a flaw in that system somewhere that people can be allowed to do that and its great Manchester United have taken a stand.”
Maybe super pundit, Hansen, would like to show us comments from Ronaldo where he has claimed that he is unhappy? Maybe he can show us where Ronaldo has said “I want to leave United and go somewhere else” ?
“What Ronaldo is doing completely cuts through the principles we fought for. And it hurts,” said former Chelsea and Leeds man Terry Venables. “Not one of us ever imagined players could be given a contract and then be free to walk away at a whim, no matter how many years were still remaining. We wouldn’t have dreamt of asking for such a thing. Ronaldo has four years left on a highly lucrative deal that he was overjoyed to sign 15 months ago. What on earth gives him the right, now, to just throw it in the air and say ‘I’ve had enough, I’m off’? It’s selfish, it’s immoral, it’s potentially devastating for the game as a whole. It’s wrong. And it’s only any good for Ronaldo.”
In Ian Wright’s column in The Sun, he wrote an open letter to Ronaldo. “As a player, there’s no doubt what you’re capable of,” said the former Arsenal man. “As a man, you’re not showing any class whatsoever. You’re also failing to show any respect to either Alex Ferguson or the Manchester United fans. To be honest, I’m embarrassed for you. You’re now 23 and you should not be acting quite so immature. I understand if it’s your dream to play for Real but you owe it to United to be patient — and that’s why you should stay. Doesn’t the affection of United’s fans and your team-mates mean anything to you?”
If you’re a red, then as far as I’m concerned, you can slag Ronaldo off until you’re blue in the face. As a supporter of this club, then we should be more than entitled to hold our opinion and speak freely about it. But I’ve heard more than enough from these ‘pundits’ who couldn’t give a shit less about United and despite what they claim, are likely thoroughly enjoying this saga. They put on this ‘how could he do this to Manchester United?’ act, but you know that they’ll love any situation that shows United up, and also has the possibility of damaging our title chances.
Whilst their sentiments might be ones we agree with entirely, believing that Ronaldo’s reluctance to publicly commit himself to the club is out of order, I don’t see what their place is in talking on the United fans’ behalf. Since when have these three men given a shit less about what is best for United or our fans? Why do they care whether Ronaldo is happy or not? This odd obsession this country has with Ronaldo seemingly has not limits.
So Hansen, Wright, Venables, and anyone else who makes a living from indulging us all with their superior understanding of the beautiful game, keep your nose out of this. This is United business and if we want to slate him, we will do, but you can keep your noses out of it!
Things must be bad for Ronaldo if Ian Wright can say to you “as a man, you’re not showing any class whatsoever”!
What did Kieran Richardson ever do, to deserve his name being dragged into all of this?
Other than that, I agree. I don’t boo my own players, but in this case my heart will certainly be in it, even if my voice isn’t.
I disagree Scott. I think Wright’s letter is brilliiantly written and straight to the point. The boy needs to know what a selfless traitor he is. Oh how can he be so vain? He deserves to be slated, and the people that slate him the better.
Ian Wright was criticising SAF on talksport the other day calling him ‘daft’ and saying you can’t keep hold of a player who wants a new challenge elsewhere. He also nearly ruined the Great Dane’s career by falsely accusing him of racism. I have zero respect for him. Funny how he has kept quiet over the Adebayor situation isn’t it.
You are right, its our business, nobody else’s
I can tell you this, if he helps us win the league and more fine, but Ronaldo will NEVER go down (in my book) as a United great. He can go down as a great player but he will NEVER go down as one of the all time legends of the club. I don’t care if he stays 2 more years and brings 2 more CL’s. For me, we as fans deserve better, and the club as a whole deserve more.
Ronaldo is to blame fully for his actions, but Madrid are the true devils in this saga. There open attempts to unsettle Ronaldo for over 3 months (this year) have been ridiculous and shows how that club have absolutely no class from top to bottom. The team Ronaldo dreams of playing for has been long gone, and they are not the team that they and he think they are.
Madrid are not the super power people seem to think they are, and there history (that Pepe talked about today) is riddled with immoral decisions after immoral decision. (Like the training ground incident in 2000, and the siding with a dictator who oppressed the Spanish people.) Madrid may have won the CL a record 9 times but as someone pointed out, its an uneven representation of dominance. If you take away the five they won in the first 5 years of competition, they are left with four. 1 more than United, 1 less than Liverpool, and 3 less than AC Milan, who I believe is the greatest (historically) European club. United would have dominated further if it hadn’t been for the terrible Munich disaster and the lose of some of the worlds greatest talent.
If Ronaldo wants a club with true history, he should stay right where he is and show the fans and club respect that stuck by him through the World Cup fiasco in 2006. He should show respect to the manager that helped his career to blossom by putting players (like Rooney) in positions that didn’t suit them best, but suited Ronaldo’s game better.
I think what sickens me most is, in October, when he comes back and there is no way he can join Madrid, he will say I wanted to stay all along. United fans I ask you to BOO him for the out right disrespect he has shown the one man we all respect, Fergie, by trying to join the one team we ALL hate.
Actually, I like reading commentary from people outside the “United circle”. It can be eye-opening. Sometimes, we Reds can’t see the forest for the trees. And just because a particular pundit isn’t a United fan, doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t have something of value to say.
Scott, last time I looked, this was still a democratic country, and everyone therefore entitled to speak their piece. Still I know that is gradually being eroded by the PC brigade, who only want the minorites to have a voice, and the rest of us to keep our mouths shut. I agree with Ishaq’s post, the more that let Ronnie know how lacking in class his behaviour has been the better.
Kevin, he miay be a dickhead CR7 is OUR dickhead for the next four years. Enjoy the ride – and expect the rumours to rumble along until he’s flogged.
Quite clearly, he’s shown less than stellar loyalty to the club, can you expect that the club will not reciprocate in if/when suits UTD’s purposes ?
Kevin, are you serious that Madrid is the ONE TEAM we all hate?. Because I can think of Liverfool, Chelski, Leeds too lol.
Scott, It’s a known fact that almost every non-ManUtd supporter in England hates us, including Hansen and Wrighty. However, this Ronaldo issue is no more just a club affair, it affects te English League as a whole.
I’m sure you know the big wigs at the top of Football’s heirarchy (Platini, Blatter etc) are not pleased about the sudden rise in English football dominance through the injection of millionaire-owner funding and foreign players; and they have been doing every thing to discredit our league.
This public courting of Ronaldo by Real madrid is just a way to demean and belittle our club (we pipped them to the top of the world’s richest club list) and since we are the beacon for the premiership, it belittles our league too. Hansen said it, “Why are you unhappy? You’ve just won the Champions League. You’ve just won The Premier League at a great club. But ‘I’m unhappy, I want to go somewhere else”. If that situation he is trying to point out doesn’t belittle ManUtd and the premiership, I don’t know what would.
Usually, most of the press love to attack ManUtd, but some of the more sensible columnists and footballers are seeing through this smoke screen that Real madrid and Fifa are deploying in order to discredit our league. I mean, why would Blatter publicly endorse Ronaldo’s departure, when months earlier, he was critisising the CAS for their decision in the webster case? First, the 6+5 ruling, then the re-structuring of the champions league prize-money(only became an issue when english team began to occupy 3/4 of the semi-final spots), then the ’slave’ comments. This is more than Ronaldo and I hope some fans would do well and open their eyes to it.
Ronaldo, on the other hand is partly to blame, he’s 23 and should Man-up, i mean other younger players do. But it’s hard not to see why he has this fantasy for playing at Real, you said it urself, “To counter balance this ridiculous behaviour, United fans got behind Ronaldo in full force. His songs were sung every week, his name was cheered loudly when the team lists were read out and we defended him to anyone who would listen.” The guy has received every plaudit in English football, won every major cup, everything he does is magic to the fans, the guy had it all and it has probably lost it’s appeal. Hence, he might as an ambitious lad would look to acheive that somewhere else.
The poor thing is that Real are aware of this fantasy that Ronaldo has to play for them, and they’re taking full advantage of it. I just hope he opens his eyes soon and realises that ManUtd is better for him both as a player and an individual.
Davey, you can be sure, when the time comes, he will be crying all over the Sun frontpage how badly he’s been treated by the club. Cause how could anyone ever wanna sell him? The fact that you get what you give, normally don’t enter the minds of people like him.
Craig Mc – Lol obviously I’m well aware that this is a democratic country. I just don’t see why Hansen, Venables and Wright, who all have a dislike for United, feel the need to cast their judgement on our player and fans.
If Fernando Torres was thinking about leaving, I wouldn’t expect to hear a load of former United players giving their opinion on what a dreadful, immoral human being he was, and questioning how dare he let all those Liverpool fans down. What the fuck would it have to do with Gary Pallister if Torres was looking to move to Real Madrid?
I agree with Scott.
This is our business and these pundits can stay out of it.
The slave has not put in a transfer request, but by the same token, he has not come out and said that he will be staying. The fucking wanker has suddenly become religious with his,” only God knows,” shite. I hate the bastard and hope that every United fan will boo him if he ever wears the shirt again.
Obviously there are other teams that United fans hate, I was speaking more to the non-United fans who are not fans of Madrid. Barca, Liverpool, etc… we all can appreciate the hatred for Madrid.
Denton, I don’t want the dick head wearing that kit ever again, he doesn’t deserve it. United has always stood for what is great about football; Ronaldo now stands for what is wrong in football. I don’t care if he scored more than he did last season; it’s a disgrace for him to be in our kit, that’s how I feel about it. I cannot see how we can claim he is our dickhead; he cares about no one else besides himself and his own ends. Every game he plays in and every decision he makes revolve around him being successful. I realize this in turn makes us more successful but not when it comes at the cost of the team. (Example: This summer, which has to be difficult for the players in the dressing room.) Would you rather not have another Rooney who will sacrifice himself for the good of the team, than a prick who would rather go to a club who hasn’t won the European Title since 2000? He plays for himself only; I think that much is clear. Do you seriously want somebody who single handedly ruined our summer, a summer we should have been celebrating our heroic season as Ferdiand pointed out, I do not. I rather see him leave and go to that piece of shit club in Spain.
I realize Madrid has played a large role, but Ronaldo could have ended all of this by simply saying, I want to stay. That’s all that needed to be said. I agree outside people’s views is fine, we shouldn’t rely solely on what just United people think. The best part about it, we can ignore what anyone else tells us to do and make the best decision for the club. I understand with him we might be better on the pitch but at what cost? His actions really could seriously hurt the future of the game we all love. Look at the NBA wear the jersey you wear means nothing and the name on the back means everything, I don’t think any United fan wants to see that. NFL is not much different and that is because players have more power than the teams. I still to this day regret the fact we kept him on after 2006. I realize I might catch some flak for this, but I would never trade success for honor. If you would, I think you are missing the true beauty of what United has stood for. This is my opinion and many may disagree but I don’t think success at that price is something we want.
Awesome!
I might not boo, but I will turn my back on him when he nets his first goal.
@ALL
on a serious note, even before all this started, ask urself dint u all know deep inside of ur heart tht ronaldo is never gonna stick with this club forever and never ever, i mean ever gonna be a legend at this club… all these were long time coming , it’s jus tht we as fans manged to over look it
I like your passion behind this story but even as a die hard United fan i believe that everyone has an opinion on such matters but Hansen Venables and Wright get paid silly amounts of money for what most of us do all day…. I would love to have there job and feel it is right they speak their mind. They have all enjoyed success and would have jumped for half of what Ronnie is on now. They see a greedy arogant man and he’s inevitably going to get boo’d just like Cashley Cole because people don’t like cocky greedy little t**ts. I for one hope he stays and we have another crack at the treble next year but he loves the superstardom too much and i don’t think he’ll be here too long!
Most of you guys here completely hate Ronaldo. You take the ‘moral high ground’ and question CR7’s actions as if most of you would do things completely differently.
i would like to know,if you were playing for Real Madrid,the club who made you a superstar,a club you have grown to adore, and ManU,the club we love,the club we have always dreamed of playing for,the club that almost every one of us would give our left nut to play for,came calling,waving there cheque books,willing to pay you a ridiculous amount of money to come over…What would you do? Would you jump at the chance,at such a young age, to leave the loyal club who made you,where you have enjoyed so much success over the years, to go to your dream club,where your footballing future is somewhat uncertain? or would you carefully consider all your options, not giving away too much, so as to get the best deal for yourself in the end. Football is, as you all are aware, big buisness…Players go to the places where they can make the most amount of money in their short careers. Ronaldo is no different. As a person involved in the corporate world,i have to admire CR7’s handling of the situation. It is for that reason i will support him in a red shirt next season
Kevin, me-lad – you took the bait, hook line and sinker.
Of course Ronaldo has acted like a dickhead – I don’t think that anyone disputes that. But he is under contract to UTD and that makes him OUR DICKHEAD.
So, of course, he’s going to have lost a huge amount of “love” from the faithful but I never believed that that “love” was ever really reciprocated. The kid is not a Mancunian – he’s a mercenary, but that’s what most players today are when it comes down to money and meeeeee. After all, didn’t Ca$hley Hole walk away from his boyhood team for a seven per cent rise in pay to play for the RentBoyz ?
Bearing that in mind, I can see two resolutions to this kerfuffle: first, CR& signs a new, longer mega-deal with UTD/Nike which will essentially enslave him; or, second, he will be flogged when the UTD hierarchy decides that the price and timing is right. Hopefully, he won’t be sold to those arseholes at Madrid ! My guess is that the former resolution is the more likely outcome because he will then have enough money to own his own jet so that he can spend all the time he wants partying in his off-hours in Mardid or Milan.
Denton, I am not sure how Ashley Cole’s situation explains Ronaldo’s actions. I am not upset he was never a die hard loyalist, however I believe he owes his fans at this club that have supported him through thick times more respect than he has shown. It is crazy for me to think come a years time Madrid will be interested in spending the kind of money that it seems it would take to make the United hierarchy allow Ronaldo to leave. I just feel its time for him to go right now due to his absolute disrespect to our fans cause I can honestly say it will make me sick to put on that jersey again. You can claim him but I want no more part of him.
Kingpin – I would hope that after signing a lucrative deal with United a year ago when Madrid was interested (highest paid player at United), won the EPL two years in a row, won the Champions League, and scored 40+ goals in a system tailored to your skill set, my dreams would all be fulfilled no matter what club I was at. I think it was always my dream to play for the best, which is unquestionable United at this moment. No team clicked in the same way United did in Europe and domestically. Yes I can fully understand the lure of wanting to full filling a dream and making a shit-ton of money, however I hope I would have handled it in a different manner and with more class.
Great comment Zunaid
Kevin – how much money are Madrid really willing to pay ? Don’t believe the hyped-up 100 million Euros bullshit. If UTD want to sell Ronaldo then, suddenly, the fascists will get coy and you will see the price drop.
In fact, there is almost no “market” for a player like Ronaldo since only a very, very few teams have the money to pony up one hundred million Euros. That being the case, I can see why there is a strong case for the UTD hierarchy to keep hold of him for as long as he is “motivated”.
The only fly-in-the-ointment in this scenario is the crazy European Court ruling that might enable him to buy himself out of “slavery” for the price of his last two years’ wages.
That is what scares me the most, that if he decides we screwed him, he will walk away from the club for free and we would have lost the best player in the world. I understand the entire money situation but I just don’t want to see “our” dickhead be ours anymore. He just doesn’t even deserve that in my eyes. Your right, Madrid is mostly talk, but they did offer a record fee for Kaka last summer, bought Zidane for a record fee, and I would only presume that area would the be the starting point of negotiations between the two clubs. But maybe its better for him to leave us for free as we would have stood by the contract and made some what of a point. That fly scares me as we could realistic sell him for over at the very least 50 million euros, which is still a lot of money for one player.
Kevin – I don’t think that Ronaldo can “walk away from the club for free” unitl the end of his contract: ie.., 2012. Before then – when ? – he can buy himself out of his contract. So, let’s say that after the the 2009/2010 season that Ronaldo can do that and that he does buy himself out of “slavery”. Is there an upside ?
To my way of thinking, the issue revolves around what this team can accomplish with Ronaldo – as opposed to being without Ronaldo.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that UTD replicate this past season’s success in the next two years – two more EPL titles and two more CL titles. That’s clearly the best case scenario. But in contributing to that amazing success, Ronaldo decides that he has had enough and ponies up the twelve million quid to make himself a free agent. UTD potentially lose a huge transfer pay-day but in exchance they will have had a truly fantastic three years of dominance and won about 125 million in prize money. I’d be happy with that best-case scenario.
Of course, the worst-case scenario would be licking the RentBoyz arses for the next two years, winning nothing, and then losing the Ronaldo transfer money. The legions of ABU would like that but no fan of UTD would be happy with that worst-case scenario.
It all comes down to a roll of the dice and, frankly, I’d rather have the chance for glory (i.e., the best-case scenarios outlined above) rather than cashing in our chips, talking the money, and running away from glory.
I thought the ruling is, that a player can’t buy out his contract until he has been with the club 8 years. If that’s the case, then we have at least 3 more years of Ronaldo. I think though, that United will sell him after one more year, because in the meantime, they will have had more time to plan for his loss, and will have replacements in place. Anyway, failing all this, can any of you imagine Ronaldo’s agent not getting him to extend his contract just before he leaves Man Utd, because that means the agent will get A MASSIVE PAY OUT from the transfer fee. How many agents have got their players to extend contracts, JUST PRIOR to the player moving out. It’s common sense.
THE MASSIVE PAY OUT is, I think, understandable in another way. It’s a quid pro quo. By extending the contract JUST PRIOR to the transfer, it’s a way to grease the skids with the selling club, who are selling an “asset” with a much, much higher value
That said, I still expect that Ronaldo will stay with UTD and that he will do so under the terms of a new, longer, and incredibly-lucrative contract with a massive buy-out clause.
David Gill’s firm stand regarding Ronaldo’s contractual status is about as convincing as Daniel Levy’s complaints about Fergy’s “arrogance”.
Like the man said, “show me the money”.