Ronaldo Says Sorry…Again (and Again and Again…)
September 5, 2008
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If, like us, you spent the summer growling and frothing at the mouth every time another Ronaldo-wants-off story appeared (which was about once every five minutes) - you vowed to never forgive the Portuguese ingrate’s behaviour and felt a curious mixture of regret and relief when it transpired he was staying at United after all.
Ever since he first sought to make amends with his studiously apologetic and frank interview in Portuguese paper Publico, United’s PR people and Ronnie’s PR people have been busy working out a strategy to rehabilitate a player who had undergone a catastrophic two-month transformation from hero to pariah.
The PR strategy for Ronaldo is clearly to drip feed sympathetic stories through the United-controlled press or United-friendly journos, up to the point at which he is ready to return to the field.
Ronaldo’s latest clarification comes in the Inside United magazine, where he outlines his reasons for considering the move to Real:
“After we’d won the Champions League I felt that I’d help win everything there was to win, I felt maybe I needed a new challenge.”
“I never hid the fact that I wanted to play in Spain, at Real Madrid in particular, and I thought it could be the right moment. Apart from the challenge, everyone realises that Spanish and Portuguese culture and lifestyle are more similar. I also have to recognise that my family would welcome the change,”
“What I said publicly, which was maybe a little naive, I take total responsibility for. I just said what I thought: I have a dream of playing at Real and I thought it was time to move on.”
Apology re-iterated he goes on to address the other concern United fans have about him staying on:
“I’m 100 per cent professional and have always given my heart and soul to this club. If one day I leave, I want to do it knowing I did everything I could to help the club win as much as possible.”
So there we go - we can all love him to bits again now, right?
Hardly - whilst the bitterness and loathing of the summer has dissipated somewhat, it’s very much a case of forgiving the worst of his sins but not forgetting them.
This sort of softly-softly revisionism doesn’t fool anyone whose memory extends back more than a month. There’s a concerted effort here to make out Ronaldo went about asking for the move to Real in a reasonable way - as opposed to agitating for it very aggressively and very publicly, which is certainly the way we remember it.
Even with the arrival of Berbatov, it is patently clear that United very much need the explosive, special impact Ronaldo brings to our game - but the Bulgarian will now be the new object of fascination and a lot of the adulation afforded to Ronaldo will be transferred on to his, as yet, ’sinless’ team mate.
Sinless, that is, in the eyes of your average United fan - not that jilted Spurs fans would see it that way.
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6 Responses to “Ronaldo Says Sorry…Again (and Again and Again…)”
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Its my opinion that while we should not forget what has happened this summer, I do not think we should hold it against him. People forget that he is only 23 and was under alot of pressure from friends and family which im sure many of you will agree is probably the hardest to take. He said it best himslef when he said he was “naive”.
Although I found it hard to swallow, I could understand why he wanted to move! But after his meeting with Fergie I think he has realised that he is at the best place for him at the moment. The old cliche of everybody makes mistakes is relevant here and I do not think that Ronaldo should be punished as harshly as some fans are planning to upon his return! As this article correctly points out, we really need his attacking directness and potency in front of goal in order to retain our titles and therefore when he returns I think we should get behind him and be glad that the worlds best player is still wearing a red shirt and ” giving his heart and soul to the club”.
My beef is with Madrid over this. i think it’s disgusting how they carried on (and still are). I hope Calderon gets Syphillis.
I wonder how long Rooney would play in a country where he would need to learn a new language, new customs etc. I suspect he would be anxious to return home also.
I agree with DublinRed. While the whole Summer episode had left a bitter taste, I could understand his position. Put yourself in his shoe, albeit with clubs reversed. Imagine you are playing for Real and had won everything there is, and the Great Manchester United comes a calling (your boyhood club). What do you do? What do you do?
I understand that he wants to play for Real, feck I’d do anything to make my way out of Real and into Man U. I just don’t like the fact that REAL is his boyhood club and not MAN U. Maybe that’s a bit unfair but hell I don’t care just like he doesn’t about the fact that he emberassed us this summer.
We don’t need you Ronaldo, you can just feck off if you want to.
Money talks louder…