Why United should let this ego walk off to Madrid

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...premierleague1

First of all a little story to tell you what kind of man we are talking about. It is January 9, 2008, and in an upstairs room at Manchester United's training ground five elderly men in smart blazers are struggling with their emotions in front of a hushed audience. It is the club's media day building up to the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster and Sir Bobby Charlton's polite smile does not hide the fact he is trembling as he takes his seat. Bill Foulkes is straight-backed and dignified but only a couple of questions have been asked before the tears appear in his eyes and he reaches for a glass of water.
In an adjacent room Wayne Rooney has agreed to offer a modern-day perspective of that seminal day when 23 people, including eight members of Sir Matt Busby's team, were killed in the wreckage of the burnt-out BEA Elizabethan. It is not his specialist subject but he handles the occasion with dignity and more eloquence than some people might imagine. But then Cristiano Ronaldo comes through the double doors and the mood is broken.
He is wearing a white suit jacket and ripped jeans, looking every bit the boy-band hunk, but it is very obvious he is in a bad mood. He begins by berating Karen Shotbolt, the club's press officer, because he is waiting for Rooney and the event has over-run. He is banging his watch with his hand, flapping his arms and gesturing in the way that Portuguese footballers usually reserve for fussy referees and, at first, he is so animated it appears as if it might be a wind-up.
When he flounces back through the doors, cursing loudly, it is very obvious he is being deadly serious. Rooney is professional enough to carry on with his tribute but the attention is no longer exclusively on him. Thirty seconds later Ronaldo appears again, first rapping his forefinger against the glass in the door, then opening it by a fraction and starting to whistle at Rooney in the way that a farmer beckons his sheepdog.
It was such an unpleasant scene the journalists decided not to write about it because we had been invited to the training ground to cover a far more important subject and, when you have sat with men as noble as Charlton, Foulkes, Albert Scanlon, Harry Gregg and Kenny Morgans and seen the hurt in their eyes, it felt incongruous to veer off-track. But coming away from Carrington that day it was difficult not to wonder what had become of the pimply teenager with the braces on his teeth who had been photographed, in his first few weeks as a United player, holding hands with his mother, Dolores, as they crossed a busy Manchester street.
The answer, of course, is that Ronaldo has fallen in love with his own reflection and, as United are currently finding out, that ego is in danger of spiralling out of control. Nor, sadly, is this story a one-off. One member of staff at Old Trafford reports being shocked by his rudeness when sorting out his travel arrangements for a club trip last season. And then there was last season's Football Writers' Association's annual dinner when, with barely any notice, its player of the year demanded that space was made for five of his friends to attend and that he would like them all to be on the top table with him. He got his way, as superstars often do, but the organisers were unimpressed, to say the least.
This is not to say that Ronaldo is all bad. He won a court case against the Sun earlier this week after it was reported that he had been fined for breaking club rules by using his phone during training: a story that was obvious baloney to anyone who has followed the player's career. Ronaldo, in many ways, is the consummate professional when it comes to improving himself on the pitch. He is not a man for nightclubs or raucous evenings out among the Manchester glitterati and there is something deeply impressive about the way he has come from his humble beginnings, growing up in Madeira in a house so small the washing machine was on the roof, to become the most penetrative attacking footballer in the world.
And yet United's more loyal and thoughtful supporters would by now be entitled to think it would be better for Sir Alex Ferguson and the Glazer family to end this shabby saga and let the previously unthinkable happen. To them, his constant prevaricating about his future, his flirting with the Spanish media and his apparent disregard for Manchester United, must smack of a man who has started to think he is bigger than the club.
His sound bites have become increasingly strategic, as if he thinks we cannot see what he is doing, yet nobody will have been surprised that the sweat had barely dried on his brow after Portugal's defeat by Germany on Thursday before he had re-iterated his desire to leave Old Trafford - just as Real Madrid had requested. United insist they will not allow themselves to be bullied into a corner but, when a player is acting like this and would so obviously be resentful and unsettled if he is denied the transfer he craves, the question should be: what is the point in keeping him?

Interesting piece.
If true and he showed that kind of disrespect to the Babes, he has no right to wear the shirt again. I will gladly pack his bags for him, laced with 500g of crack.

40Mill Plus Wesley Sneijder
Our best player for theirs plus the cash for a RB and Striker.

wayne rooney is £#%&!ing awesome.

could be a good wum.

you never know these days though

Originally Posted by user_name

wayne rooney is £#%&!ing awesome.

He sure is.

I'd be truly gutted if we were losing him.

No idea whether that story is true or not, but i do know and have known for a long time that ronaldo is a slapped arse prima donna that is in need of a good kicking.

Seems i was the only one that could see it on here, a few months back i had every £#%&!er on here telling me i'm anti-united because i'd sniffed that £#%&!er out. Not that it took much sniffing, it was blatantly obviously to anyone that didnt have red titnted goggles on.

Get rid ffs, he's well over-rated and his form will only go down if we keep hold of him and then he'll either be worth less or he'll walk away on a free down the line.

Originally Posted by Lou_Macari_Chippy

No idea whether that story is true or not, but i do know and have known for a long time that ronaldo is a slapped arse prima donna that is in need of a good kicking.

Seems i was the only one that could see it on here, a few months back i had every £#%&!er on here telling me i'm anti-united because i'd sniffed that £#%&!er out. Not that it took much sniffing, if was blatantly obviously to anyone that didnt have red titnted goggles on.

Get rid ffs, he's well over-rated and his form will only go down if we keep hold of him and then he'l either be worth less or he'll walk away on a free down the line.

You dont half talk some shite!

Originally Posted by Lou_Macari_Chippy

No idea whether that story is true or not, but i do know and have known for a long time that ronaldo is a slapped arse prima donna that is in need of a good kicking.

Seems i was the only one that could see it on here, a few months back i had every £#%&!er on here telling me i'm anti-united because i'd sniffed that £#%&!er out. Not that it took much sniffing, it was blatantly obviously to anyone that didnt have red titnted goggles on.

Get rid ffs, he's well over-rated and his form will only go down if we keep hold of him and then he'll either be worth less or he'll walk away on a free down the line.

are you that sectagenarian small town sherrif that always works it our before the legions of FBI agents with all their "fancy psychological shmycological profilin's"?

top notch 20/20 hindsight lou, you really are the fred visionary

Originally Posted by Lou_Macari_Chippy

No idea whether that story is true or not, but i do know and have known for a long time that ronaldo is a slapped arse prima donna that is in need of a good kicking.

Seems i was the only one that could see it on here, a few months back i had every £#%&!er on here telling me i'm anti-united because i'd sniffed that £#%&!er out. Not that it took much sniffing, it was blatantly obviously to anyone that didnt have red titnted goggles on.

Get rid ffs, he's well over-rated and his form will only go down if we keep hold of him and then he'l either be worth less or he'll walk away on a free down the line.

Agreed, getting really sick and tired of this, get rid of the £#%&!er now but make those #@&%!s ar Madrid pay through the nose for him, I hate the way Madrid have done their business, lets be honest here Madrid have set this whole thing up and pursued their intrest in Ronaldo through the press, need to sort it now and get stability back, Fergie must be fuming.

Originally Posted by Sam the Sanitary Man

You dont half talk some shite!

Like £#%&!. He's not and never will be a complete player like zidane or even edgar davids in his prime, not even close - he doesnt have the heart of a keane or robson, he doesnt have the off the cuff skills of a cantona and he doesnt have the free kick accuracy of beckham.

Messi is a better player and much more down to earth too, would do a straight swap in a heartbeat with no cash involved.

you just beat me to posting that article. I don't know anything about the journalist but it has the ring of truth about it. I really don't care how good he is on the pitch he can £#%&! off if he behaves like that, some things are more important to this club. Give me Rooney anyday, class player, class act and appears to understand what it is to play for Utd

Originally Posted by Lou_Macari_Chippy

No idea whether that story is true or not, but i do know and have known for a long time that ronaldo is a slapped arse prima donna that is in need of a good kicking.

Seems i was the only one that could see it on here, a few months back i had every £#%&!er on here telling me i'm anti-united because i'd sniffed that £#%&!er out. Not that it took much sniffing, it was blatantly obviously to anyone that didnt have red titnted goggles on.

Get rid ffs, he's well over-rated and his form will only go down if we keep hold of him and then he'll either be worth less or he'll walk away on a free down the line.

There are plenty on here that were/are well aware of the size of his ego, but balanced that against what he brought to the team & tolerated it as long as some sort of check was held on it.

If the above story IS true (and if he has just sued The Sun, I can't see The Guardian risking a similar court case) then that ego would appear to be out of control.

I never thought for one moment he would spend his career, or the bulk of it, at United. I had hoped that when the time came, he might make his move with some dignity & respect for the club. Alas, not. It would seem that when Real Madrid are involved, a United player moving on will always leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

but if ronaldo behave like that, it is the club's fault. it's because he gets away with it.

hard to see the journo taking a risk and making this up, after ronnie's win vs the sun, which raises the question why he is publishing now. as he says, he didn't (they didn't) publish at the time because they didn't want to piss united off. now, if united are genuinely trying to keep ronnie, as they claim, then the last thing they would want is for something like this to do the rounds amongst the fans. if, on the other hand, they're preparing to sell then this kind of story would suit them down to the ground. would the journo risk pissing united off now more than then? or would he have got a nod from fergie/gill/somebody to put this out?

looks like they may be preparing to sell to me.

LMC, are you on day release from the asylum?


yes he has a big ego, yes he probably does act the @#%&! sometimes, but over rated is something he most definitely isn't

and you obviously haven'y been watching united for the last 2 seasons if you think he's over rated.

42 goals from midfield last season, the one trick £#%&!in pony

Originally Posted by borsuk

hard to see the journo taking a risk and making this up, after ronnie's win vs the sun, which raises the question why he is publishing now. as he says, he didn't (they didn't) publish at the time because they didn't want to piss united off. now, if united are genuinely trying to keep ronnie, as they claim, then the last thing they would want is for something like this to do the rounds amongst the fans. if, on the other hand, they're preparing to sell then this kind of story would suit them down to the ground. would the journo risk pissing united off now more than then? or would he have got a nod from fergie/gill/somebody to put this out?

looks like they may be preparing to sell to me.

Yep, that story suits everybody. Ronaldo gets his move and United are just getting rid of a player who disrespected Munich which no fan will have a problem with. Definitely think United will have been somehow responsible for giving that the go ahead.

look like the typical smear story a the club prepare to sell him.

remember the ruud stories that came out in lead up to us selling him.

Originally Posted by jem

but if ronaldo behave like that, it is the club's fault. it's because he gets away with it.

No he is an adult and has to take responsibility for his own behaviour. The club may well have dcisciplined him over this - we don't know and aren't likely to.

to be honest what's the point really, if he doesn't want to play for us give madrid a figure, no negotiating, if tyif they want him they'll pay it, if not he's stuck here.

If he doesn't want to be here then I don't want him here

all that said, what a fantastic player he's been for us for 5 years, shame he doesn't want to stay longer but we'll move on upwards and onwards.

thanks and goodbye

"For me, it is a great opportunity and, as Scolari says, that train passes by only once and we have to take advantage of it."

yeah, real madrid certainly don't keep coming back, do they