Ronaldo: “I’m Definitely Staying” - Er, so: Do We Love Him Now?
August 7, 2008
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So - confoundingly, pleasingly, shockingly - Ronaldo has finally come clean:
“I can confirm that next season I will play for Manchester United.” he stated.
“I knew Real Madrid were interested in signing me and that they had allegedly made a very high offer to Manchester United,”
“My desire was, for some time, that Manchester had accepted my transfer to Madrid. Saying otherwise would be to trick people and my own consciousness.”
The - by turns exasperating and deeply boring - summer saga over Ronaldo’s future has finally found some closure, from the only person who could have brought about that closure - the player himself. His interview with the Portuguese paper Publico makes it clear that he will be staying with United - for at least one more year.
All summer long we have vituperated in this blog (and down the pub, in the park, on the street, in the air…) about Ronaldo’s behaviour, urging him to show some respect to the fans and the manager and state his case plainly.
And now he has done that.
Yesterday, we took issue with Carlos Tevez’s estimation that Ronaldo was a ‘clever’ media operator, criticising him precisely for his failure to address the United fans’ legitimate right to hear a straight-forward answer.
We applaud Ronaldo for finally grasping the concept and in so doing restoring some of the - almost entirely depleted - good will of the fans.
One of the other specific criticisms we had of Ronaldo was that he had lacked the maturity or self-awareness to the acknowledge that he was in the wrong - either in an absolute sense or in respect of his media strategy.
Now clearly on a rapid learning curve - Ronnie again made the right noises:
“I was responsible for all this controversy,” he added. “I was the one who publicly expressed my desire to go to Real Madrid. I ended up being, even involuntarily, responsible for the poor relationship between the two clubs.” The final concern we mooted was that, were he forced to stay (which is effectively the situation now), Ronaldo would under-perform and would additionally buckle under the pressure this whole episode had generated.
Ronnie must have had some kind of tick sheet for all these points because he covers this one as well:
“Before rumours emerge saying that I will play against my will, I want to make this clear - whoever says or writes that is lying,” “I will play for Manchester with all my heart and soul. I will fight and honour that shirt with the same commitment and dedication as always.”
So - all fine and dandy, right? Ronnie has said ‘I’m sorry!’, he’s going to play a blinder next season and score 43 goals, help United to the league title yet again and win a second successive Champions League final, scoring a hat trick including a flawlessly executed penalty….
So, we all forgive him and love him to bits. Roaring choruses of “Viva Ronaldo!” will once again ring out around Old Trafford.
Right?
Wrong - or not quite right, at least.
For us, it’s clear Ronaldo is staying under duress. He makes it very plain he thinks Real are a bigger club and wants to play there and would jump at the chance right now, were he allowed. The only revelation this interview offers us is that Ronaldo has wised up a fraction on how to best tilt opinion in his favour for the coming season - it is a belated piece of public relations disaster management.
So - you tell us. Do you all love Ronnie now? Or do we still think he’s a bit dodgy?
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One Response to “Ronaldo: “I’m Definitely Staying” - Er, so: Do We Love Him Now?”
What Do YOU Think ? Leave A Comment:
This news is both good and bad
Good - he’s still a blinding player and he likes himself far too much to want to play sh*t. So, we’ll get at least another 12 months of decent play out of him. Having watched UNited in preseason, they have been good but you can’t deny that the spark of ’something’ is missing when ronnie doesn’t play. if he does go next summer united have to work hard on compensating for that - or finding a suitable replacement.
Bad - the kid clearly wants to be elsewhere. part of me thinks we should have just let him go rather than risk poisoning theteam spirit. i think the other united players are going to appreciate his skills as much but be a bit guarded towards him