Ronaldo for Captain!

If Captain does more in the build up and is as prolific in the box then I reckon it could be a good deal!
 
The best players in the world on any team sport demand very highly of their teammates, and bring the wrath when low standards are being trotted around. If other players can’t step up to those expectations, and if need their egos massaged, then they’re not destined for greatness in terms of United standard. Some are just built different.
 
Florida Man said:
The best players in the world on any team sport demand very highly of their teammates, and bring the wrath when low standards are being trotted around. If other players can’t step up to those expectations, and if need their egos massaged, then they’re not destined for greatness in terms of United standard. Some are just built different.
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The greatest demand the best of themselves before turning their eyes on those around them. Skipping dessert counts for nothing if your performances are and continue to be mediocre at best.
 
SecondFig said:
No, I don't think he's committed to the club or its success, just his own success. And if he can get that by leaving he'll do so first chance he gets. Out of the current squad I'd probably stick with Maguire - not because he's perfect, just the best option we have. And if not him, then Bruno
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But he's a success everywhere he went and he's a 110% professional both on and off the field. Only this one year he's not successful. I think by law of average we know where the blame lies. Even if he's not in a position to criticizes performances this year he has more than enough capital to criticizes attitude and effort, as he's nothing but a paragon on determination and dedication, even if you don't like him personally.

When even he speaks up in public that says something about how bad our dressing room are.
 
ClassOf'99 said:
did Keane complain at players for poor performances? Yes, he did he went mental
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ClassOf'99 said:
Imagine Rooney coming out and saying I don't like Keane because he called me crap because I played crap and he needs to leave, God forbid this is how far we've fallen now.
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I feel like I have to point out that Roy Keane was unceremoniously thrown out of the club immediately after an MUTV interview in which he harshly criticised his teammates in public.
 
The question we and the management should ask ourself is who in this squad has the right ambition and mentality to lead this club to future success?
 
7even said:
The question we and the management should ask ourself is who in this squad has the right ambition and mentality to lead this club to future success?
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The club better tell every single one of them in simple terms: You only have one chance - you leave now or you never leave. The club has no obligation to protect players with poor mentality from getting buried where they fecking stand.
 
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No thanks. His overall play is woeful now. He wont get much respect on the pitch when he fails to control a ball.
 
Giggsy13 said:
I’m convinced now that the majority of fans knocking down the idea of Ronaldo taking the armband 1. Know nothing about football 2. Never got to see Ronaldo play with us his first 6 seasons or 3. Are prime ripe bellends who know nothing about football.
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Wow that’s an annoying post. In direct response...

1: listen to yourself - “if you don’t think Ronaldo should be captain you know nothing about football”...are you 12?

2: What has a 3 seasons of frustrating development and another 3 seasons being PART of a great team got to do withhis ability to captain a team over a decade later?

3: you just made the same point as you did in point one...suggesting you ran out of reasons why he should be captain and so started calling names.

All of the above suggest that yes...you are in fact 12 and therefore, go put your Ronaldo pyjamas on and take a nap.
 
Give the armband to the one who will be the first to ask for a transfer if we are knocked out of the cl
 
What would that change? He is an automatic starter and has a strong voice in the dressing room already, or atleast i would guess so. Not sure him wearing the armband fixes any of our problems?
 
JPRouve said:
Agree? Not really, simply because it would be a public perception move more than anything else. Teams have multiple leaders and they don't need the armband to lead, being the captain is just an adminstrative thing, it doesn't dictate who is the leader or the influence of players within the locker room. Now if for some reason Ronaldo felt that he wanted the armband that he would feel better than why not, but it would be for Ronaldo not the team.
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If anything I’d say that taking the armband off Maguire would benefit Maguire first as he’s clearly not dealing well with the pressure that he’s under at the moment. So, that’s two players already!

Although I’m not sure that I fully agree with the purely administrative role of a captain. History knows so many examples that have the institution of captainship and the armband as a catalyst for success, including drastic changes in team’s performance after a nominal change in its ownership.

If the team is already a cohesive unit that has multiple leaders, like Fergie’s United of late 00’s, where Neville & later Vidić we’re de-jure captains but the likes of Rio, Evra & Giggs often wore it and there was a core of leaders that also included Rooney, van der Sar, Scholes, Carrick etc. — then yes, it’s a simply administrative thing. When a dressing room is a disjointed mess with multiple separated groups and players with questionable mentality and we need someone to unite them together then this symbolic piece of clothing can actually be a big thing. Although personally I don’t think that Cristiano is someone who is capable of doing so (and I don’t see anyone that can do it from the current crop).
 
The team has nose dived since he arrived. Juventus seem like they were glad to be rid of his influence and his negativity towards his team-mates if Bonucci is to be believed. I'm not seeing a compelling argument for captaincy.
 
harms said:
If anything I’d say that taking the armband off Maguire would benefit Maguire first as he’s clearly not dealing well with the pressure that he’s under at the moment. So, that’s two players already!

Although I’m not sure that I fully agree with the purely administrative role of a captain. History knows so many examples that have the institution of captainship and the armband as a catalyst for success, including drastic changes in team’s performance after a nominal change in its ownership.

If the team is already a cohesive unit that has multiple leaders, like Fergie’s United of late 00’s, where Neville & later Vidić we’re de-jure captains but the likes of Rio, Evra & Giggs often wore it and there was a core of leaders that also included Rooney, van der Sar, Scholes, Carrick etc. — then yes, it’s a simply administrative thing. When a dressing room is a disjointed mess with multiple separated groups and players with questionable mentality and we need someone to unite them together then this symbolic piece of clothing can actually be a big thing. Although personally I don’t think that Cristiano is someone who is capable of doing so (and I don’t see anyone that can do it from the current crop).
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What examples do you have?
 
Siorac said:
I feel like I have to point out that Roy Keane was unceremoniously thrown out of the club immediately after an MUTV interview in which he harshly criticised his teammates in public.
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Ronaldo and Fletcher if i remember correctly.
 
One is club legend and the best player, the other is constant under preformer.For me it is quite obvious.
 
JPRouve said:
What examples do you have?
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Maradona & Passarella, for example. Extremely disjointed squad, change of captainship and Maradona leads them to victory. As I've said, when things are going well, it doesn't really matter much. When things are looking bleak this symbolic gesture can be a catalyst for a change... and we certainly need to change something. Not that I consider Cristiano to be the right person to do so, for the entirety of his career he had shown that all he really cares about is his individual success — not that it's a bad thing when he happens to play for your team as it usually means that your team is thriving as well. It's just not the sort of thing that makes you a good leader.
 
You guys know that Ronaldo will likely bail if you don't get top 4, right?

Not that he doesn't care about the club, but captain-material? I don't think so, no, then again, Maguire should not be captain either.

DDG is the one imo.
 
Siorac said:
I feel like I have to point out that Roy Keane was unceremoniously thrown out of the club immediately after an MUTV interview in which he harshly criticised his teammates in public.
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Exactly.

If you want to criticize your teammates do that behind the door. Go to the press and attack your teammates only make things worse for your team. It's also very disrespectful to your manager as such thing make them look bad in public eye since that's clear evidence that the manager hasn't been able to do his job properly. It'll give the press abundantly more chance to create stories and stir shits up. And they surely will do that. Very very bad for the team I must say.
 
No thanks, can’t just blow in and the team get worse, show yourself to be an individual and then become captain ahead of players that have been there for years, when he’ll probably only be here for another few months, 18 months tops. You think the team spirit is bad now?
 
harms said:
Maradona & Passarella, for example. Extremely disjointed squad, change of captainship and Maradona leads them to victory. As I've said, when things are going well, it doesn't really matter much. When things are looking bleak this symbolic gesture can be a catalyst for a change... and we certainly need to change something. Not that I consider Cristiano to be the right person to do so, for the entirety of his career he had shown that all he really cares about is his individual success — not that it's a bad thing when he happens to play for your team as it usually means that your team is thriving as well. It's just not the sort of thing that makes you a good leader.
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International Football is a bit different, players don't spend much time together. But in club Football, you are talking about people that interact with each others at least 300 days per years for several years, in that context the armband isn't that important, leaders will lead or are already leading. The exception being a young/new player that may need the acknowledgement of the manager in order to take a leadership role.

Now of course I'm sure that there are counter examples, I don't really have one in mind but I don't doubt that they exist.
 
Siorac said:
I feel like I have to point out that Roy Keane was unceremoniously thrown out of the club immediately after an MUTV interview in which he harshly criticised his teammates in public.
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He was going to get thrown out anyway. Like Ronaldo now, his legs had gone and wad no longer value for his wages on the field.
 
I've no problem with Ronaldo being captain for Portugal because he's played 184 games for them and has played non-stop for them for 17 years. However, at United he's not done that, he's blown in and the whole team has fallen apart, and there seems clear tension between him and other players. And given his age and the unlikeliness for him to stay, he's a bad choice for captain in my opinion.

In fact, when he was captain for the Wolves game recently, it was one of the least spirited performances I've seen United give in years. I got the feeling that Shaw and others were pissed off at the choice.
 
Wait, people are actually discussing this possibility? Giving the option to a player clearly past his best to play every game for probably next season and a half.

De Gea is probably the only decent option as permanent captain considering we have no other option(since he isn't the greatest option either) or rotating option of three captains de Gea/Bruno/Ronaldo. Giving it to Ronaldo and cementing his place in starting XI would be one of the most stupid things we can do at this point.
 
I came here to win titles. I could have signed elsewhere but I wanted to be at mufc and help get them back to the winning ways that the club had in the Sir Alex era.
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mufc should only win the league or be second or third. I don't see other positions for Manchester United to be on. In my eyes, I don't accept that our mentality is to be less than the top three in the league, in my opinion
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If we're deciding who should be the captain based on what they say in interviews, I'd prefer the guy who said the 1st statement than the guy who said the 2nd statement
 
I do question making Ronaldo captain. The guy throw hissy fits when he's not playing which is a problem considering that he's 37 years old. Imagine what he would do if he becomes captain.

However I do believe that Maguire should be stripped of the captain's band. The guy has no leadership, he's been relegated 4 times and he's not even playing at first team level. We're just rewarding mediocrity at this point.

I'd say we should give the captain's band to Varane at this point. He's a calming figure everyone respect and a proven winner. He is the youngest player ever to captain France, he plays at the back (so he's got a view of what is happening in front of him) and he spent half of his career partnering Ramos who was probably one of the finest captains in recent football.
 
Someone like Cantona lifted the squad. Keane was incredibly consistent. Ronaldo at his current age is invisible all match unless he poaches a goal and is Very error prone. I agree maguire shouldnt be captain, but neither should Ronaldo
 
I was against signing Ronaldo when it happened. One of the reasons for that, maybe the most important one, was what I can only call his enormous gravitational pull - his reputation and stature is so enormous after everything he's done, and it's even bigger in this club than it would be elsewhere. That means that inevitably, things would rearrange themselves around him, on the pitch and off it. Despite everything he brings, I did not believe that would on the whole be a good thing, for a team that seemed to be getting somewhere building around a different core. It seemed to be more likely to be disruptive than facilitating.

Half a year later, I don't see much reason to view that differently. But: Once you've done it, you've done it. It's debatable what and how big the damage is, but whatever it is, it's already been done. Having thrown someone like CR into the mix, he now dominates it. If you don't build around it, you make it a disruptive force on the side. So unless the club is prepared to move him out, I don't see much other choice than making him kingpin.

He makes it clear enough in this interview what that means: Standards must change, several players must adjust their mentality and up their commitment. Again, that's either a direct challenge to Rangnick and the club, or something they can embrace. Maybe they have already, and the message is coordinated. But if Rangnick and the board agrees with the views CR is expressing, they have to align the squad around CR and follow through on players who aren't making the adjustment. It would be logical then to make him captain. But we should not kid ourselves that this is anything other than a strategy frought with peril and potential ruinous cost, even if it may turn out to be the right one or only possible one. You can only lead people who accept your leadership.
 
justsomebloke said:
I was against signing Ronaldo when it happened. One of the reasons for that, maybe the most important one, was what I can only call his enormous gravitational pull - his reputation and stature is so enormous after everything he's done, and it's even bigger in this club than it would be elsewhere. That means that inevitably, things would rearrange themselves around him, on the pitch and off it. Despite everything he brings, I did not believe that would on the whole be a good thing, for a team that seemed to be getting somewhere building around a different core. It seemed to be more likely to be disruptive than facilitating.

Half a year later, I don't see much reason to view that differently. But: Once you've done it, you've done it. It's debatable what and how big the damage is, but whatever it is, it's already been done. Having thrown someone like CR into the mix, he now dominates it. If you don't build around it, you make it a disruptive force on the side. So unless the club is prepared to move him out, I don't see much other choice than making him kingpin.

He makes it clear enough in this interview what that means: Standards must change, several players must adjust their mentality and up their commitment. Again, that's either a direct challenge to Rangnick and the club, or something they can embrace. Maybe they have already, and the message is coordinated. But if Rangnick and the board agrees with the views CR is expressing, they have to align the squad around CR and follow through on players who aren't making the adjustment. It would be logical then to make him captain. But we should not kid ourselves that this is anything other than a strategy frought with peril and potential ruinous cost, even if it may turn out to be the right one or only possible one. You can only lead people who accept your leadership.
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This just isnt prime Ronaldo. Its mental to build around him. Especially we are trying to become a high pressing team.
 
I agree with the OP.

Maguire is a lost cause and shows no leadership at all, give the armband to CR7.
 
devilish said:
I'd say we should give the captain's band to Varane at this point.
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Probably the best option imo. He's also the current vice captain for France.

DDG is not vocal, Bruno is too vocal without the form required to back that.

But imo we should not change the captain now. There's been too much noise already and the last thing we'd need is more noise. Just bench Maguire and give the armband to Varane. I like his calmness too.
 
Talking a good game off the pitch to the cameras but being pretty invisible on it doesn't make a good captain.
 
Gehrman said:
This just isnt prime Ronaldo. Its mental to build around him. Especially we are trying to become a high pressing team.
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Then we have to move him out. Or shut him up, and make him accept it, which isn't going to happen. All of which brings me back again to the issues involved in signing him in the first place, but it's too late for that.
 
Nordmore said:
Probably the best option imo. He's also the current vice captain for France.

DDG is not vocal, Bruno is too vocal without the form required to back that.

But imo we should not change the captain now. There's been too much noise already and the last thing we'd need is more noise. Just bench Maguire and give the armband to Varane. I like his calmness too.
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Varane would be a good shout. As you said, sometimes it helps having a captain who brings calmness to the team.
 
The Plump Poet said:
He was going to get thrown out anyway. Like Ronaldo now, his legs had gone and wad no longer value for his wages on the field.
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I thought Keane was thrown out because he couldn't gel with the new younger squad which he also admitted recently, he was becoming increasingly toxic towards the squad due to this and he was also calling out Sir Alex's adopted son in Ronaldo.

On calling out teammates or speaking on issues, I think in this occasion it does need to be addressed as our current captain and also the club legend Ole recently called out a certain player and made to apologise.

That needs addressed ASAP, I think Ronaldo has done it in a very classy way while also not excluding himself from his own parameters of criticism, watch from about 5:12 onwards and you will hear it.

(Not just you Plump, this is a generality, only the first paragraph is a reply to you, the rest is in general towards Ronaldo calling out everyone)
 
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