An interesting editorial from Soccernet's freelance writer, Mark Payne:
Enhance Your Calm
We all need to calm down a bit here. As I keep stressing the situation has not changed. Ronaldo gave an interview and said that he agreed with Sepp Blatter and it has been twisted into 'Ronaldo Wants Out of Slavery Shocker', by those stout chaps in Fleet Street, pages need to be filled in the papers.
What Sepp Blatter said was in direct support of player power and freedom of movement. I think you will find that every single professional football player on the planet would agree with him. But if Ronaldo says he agrees with him we all read...'Ronaldo Wants Out of Slavery Shocker' and are led to believe that it is gospel when it isn't.
The man who decides who goes in and out the door at Old Trafford is Scottish, and probably in a very bad mood right now. I once met a sage old chap in the pub who informed me with great confidence that Blatter was in fact a complete prat and that he should not be allowed to speak at all. I, of course, thoroughly disagreed with his opinion (it would be libelous not to), but thought his point of view was interesting.
Ronaldo has had his head turned by all of this interest and he stands nothing to lose by making a few cryptic comments here and there, it might make him a bit more money. He does have a wandering eye which some people use to character assassinate him. He's a 23yr old bloke so be realistic, remember the 23yr old Giggs? F
ergie will sort him out when he gets back, the papers do not make decisions for that man. Besides, the guy has been out of the country for ages now and probably doesn't realise what a fuss he has stirred up.
Honestly, I can't wait for the games to get going. When we are subjected only to the 'football machine' and not the matches themselves I start to wonder if I enjoy football or just suffer from it. This saga is overwhelmingly disappointing and it is not going to end yet. Did we even get a full day to enjoy winning the European Cup before all of this started?
That Boy Ronaldo
He plays for the Reds. He plays for whites?
Well who knows. It seems as though over the course of the last week the debate has shifted from will he/won't he, to one for justifying the reasons why we should in fact sell him.
Two things appear to be clear, Ferguson doesn't want to sell him and he wants to go. I, for one, am not in the business of testing the big man's resolve on any matter, so I feel it is still a matter of whether or not he goes, rather than simply when and for how much.
History backs me up on this. After the last international tournament Ronaldo publicly stated his desire to leave for Real Madrid only to be talked out of it and quickly hushed upon his return to Manchester. You will have read by now that he has gone on holiday and the state of play has still not changed. Same as last time.
The reasons being mooted for selling him are as follows. Firstly the money. Yes we would get a big pile of cash off the Spaniards but there is no way that £60million would buy us a winger and a goalscorer of such quality in such a short space of time.
"But the Glazers might want it to pay off the debts," I hear you cry! Well that's their problem, I am assuming they have some kind of business plan which didn't involve unexpected piles of money landing on their laps so they can stick to that.
No player is bigger than the club. I agree with this one, and there are those amongst us who still rue the sales of RVN and Sir David but the precedent has been set and we should stick to it. I actually don't think that he has got to that stage yet, he still plays for the team and is not asking for outlandishly special treatment around the club. His training is legendarily diligent and as such his professionalism is still sound enough for United.
He doesn't want to play for us so get rid. Fair enough and this is the argument that will be the clincher for most of us but to me it smacks of, well, being a bit self-defeatest. It is important to remember that this guy can do stuff that nobody else can do, he really is that good, and if he plays he will play well of that I am sure.
But the reason I really want to keep him? If he stays I think we can make it in Europe again next year. And you know what? Ferguson agrees with me.
The Wizard of Fergoz
And so it comes to pass, the hybrid creature that is Fergoz has struggled for too long and must tear itself back into separate entities once more.
Well what do we think of Carlos? He has been made the scapegoat on many occasions for United's brief, fallow, period of 4-5-1ness but the facts look upon him kindly. The only league titles we have won in recent years have been on his watch and as such he should be judged favourably.
It has taken time, but his pragmatism has finally found a way to marry itself to Fergie's 'all eggs in the striker basket' approach and it has brought us Europe again. I wish him all the best and etc. but am more concerned by how this effects our club in the immediate future.
The papers have instantly latched on to his Portugeseness and how that 'may' alter the home address of Mr. C. Ronaldo, but they're just looking to put more miles into that story.
The key thing is that our 66 year old manager gets a replacement in to help him run the club soon and prefereably, obviously, somebody good. Carlos has been making 'I want to move up in the world' type comments for a year now so you hope that The Wizard has a few files ready to be looked at. I, for one, had the notion they might hit up Hughesie when this happened, but his dreadful alignment with Mordor now rules that out.
So what to do? Here's an idea, promote Mike Phelan to the bench and have Giggsy and Neville do a year as part time player-coaches, grooming them for future things. It is not as if they are ever going to leave United, and it is a good solution because Carlos is pretty much gone.
markpayne.editor@hotmail.com
Mark Payne is a freelance journalist and general football obsessive. He is available for freelance assignments and football discussion at any time.
Link to the article:
http://proxy.espn.go.com/et/corr/corrview?id=360&leagueCup=ENG.1&cc=5739&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2
