Jun 20
Portugal Knocked Out But Ronaldo Talks
I saw this link directly from the Guillem Balague exclusive interview (from his website) with Ronaldo, after writing this article. [thanks Ben from the comments] So I suggest you read that interview before reading my post, because what I wrote doesn’t really matter now.
So Portugal, after a mini-drama that threatened to spoil my day, got knocked out by a German side that knew how to get things done. To be fair, the Ballack goal was dodgy because of his push. But otherwise, fair play to the Germans. Nani injected some pace into the side after his introduction and was instrumental in their second goal. If he progresses well, then be sure that the likes of Madrid and Barcelona will come knocking in two years’ time.
But, of course, Portugal’s defeat will be reported more like an afterthought. The chief concern for reporters (and United fans) was the post match comments, in the event of Portugal’s defeat: will Ronaldo make up his mind?
So we finally get to hear some soundbites from him regarding his club future and I will quote it here:
The possibilities (of going to Real) are big but it doesn’t depend on me and because of that I don’t want to talk about it,” the 23-year-old winger told reporters after Portugal’s 3-2 quarter-final defeat by Germany at Euro 2008. Asked if there had been an offer from Real, he said: “I think so, I don’t know. In the next few days we’ll see if we reach an agreement. Everyone knows what I want. But in the next two or three days you’ll have something new.” Asked when he had made the decision about his future he said: “Some time ago, before this competition. I didn’t want to say anything because we were in competition and these are important decisions.” He was asked by reporters whether he wanted to leave for personal or sporting reasons: “Personal, it’s something I want, something I dream about, he said before quoting the advice of Portugal’s Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. (It is) a dream, a step forward… For me it’s a very good opportunity. As Scolari says, this only happens once.” He added that leaving Manchester United would be difficult “but I think it could be good for both (of us)”.
Hmm… where do I start? To be honest, I didn’t expect him to make his decision in “two to three days”; I thought he would do it in two-three weeks, so this is a surprise.
But the bottomline is this: he says he’s made his decision much earlier. So clearly he’s looking to engineer a move. Either that or a pay rise. He reckons him moving away is good for both parties — hmm, I’m bitter so I could say that it’s good for us that he moves, but honestly he’s been our best player. So in the short term it’s certainly not good for us, apart from the money.
I have been against Ronaldo of late, but that stand was the most difficult one I’ve had to take — a player that I loved really doesn’t want to stay and continues to keep us guessing about his future even when, in his mind, he’s made it up. His desire to hog the limelight on the pitch didn’t bother me as much as his obsession off it.
I don’t think we can have much complaints about Scolari giving him advice, because Ronaldo reveres him.
I still suspect a scenario like this happening:
Ronaldo says he wants to move to Real. Real approach United with X million quid, and United say: “Er… we’re not sure if we’ve mentioned this before but Ronaldo is not for sale, which means he won’t be sold, which means he won’t be going to Madrid.”
Then Ronaldo will go to Gill who, along with Sir Alex will say: “Son, as we said, cry as much as you want, you’re going nowhere.”
It’s not the smartest thing to do, if you think about it, and the smart money would be on United taking the cash plus a player for Ronaldo. But for everyone’s satisfaction let’s wait and hear what he has to say in two to three days. I can’t be bothered either way, at this point. Keep him at United: good. Sell him to Madrid: good.
What I would really be interested is to be a fly on the wall in a room where Ronaldo sits with Fergie and Queiroz and summons the courage to tell them that he wants to leave.
In Ronaldo related news, he wants to have an operation because he was carrying an injury during the last three months. Well, I must say well done Ronnie for playing through the pain and thanks for such an outstanding season.
Getting back to the issue of Ronaldo leaving United, I read another story on Sky Sports News and he spoke to Guillem Balague. I will just quote a couple of lines from the article, [you could read the rest by following the link] and you can draw your own conclusions from this:
When asked if he thinks his dream will come true, he told Sky Sports’ Guillem Balague: “I really hope so, lets see.” Ronaldo, who did confirm he decided his future prior to United’s Champions League success in Moscow, has stated he does not mind upsetting fans and Ferguson in order to get what he wants. “It is my opinion, that is why I don’t mind if people get upset. It is my decision. It is what I want,” he concluded.
To me it’s apparent where he wants to go. How about you?
Addendum: And this was after reading the Balague interview in full. I say, the boy does not want to stay. Let’s for once prove that we can do good business. Let’s drag Madrid, add all sorts of sell-on clauses + goal bonuses + sneijder + plus sizeable cash upfront. I’m on dream mode right now, but I hope some of it is true if Ronaldo is sold.
Related items from Red Rants:
- United’s Transfer Strategy — Is There More to Their Denial?
- Short Thursday Roundup
- Rossi vs Nani Videos from Portugal vs Italy U21 game
- Conflicting Reports Cast Cloud Over Fergie-Ronaldo “Meeting”
- Ronaldo Scores, Players Come Through Unscathed… So Far
Tags: Manchester United News
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right my guess is, fergie is sitting down with a nice cup tea on the sofa watching the footy, with a notepad and pencil on his lap ready to take notes of a player who goes by the name of arshavin…
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:Quote:”JB; Wasn’t it big news a little over a month ago when it came out that United had a significant loss in revenue for the past year. I forget the number but they were in the red. So where do those profits show up? Please explain as you may know a Hell of a lot more about this stuff being closer to the action than I am. I’m basing it on numerous widely circulated articles that stated United was operating at a loss on top of the debt owed. This was one of the reasons Platini came down on us so hard and said the team was running itself in an unethical manner. He went as far as to call United cheaters. So please explain this one for me so that I can better understand it?”:Quote:
Grognard: We have shown an operating loss. Probably to avoid tax. The fact is operating profit/loss includes alot of non cash items. Like depreciation; amortization etc etc. The most important figure would be our intrest coverage ability, which is comfortable from what i can see. We have enough free cash to pay off the debt.
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Utsav; Thanks for clearing that up for me. Now lets see how much money Fergie spends to bring in new players. Probably a better gauge as to where the team is financially.
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Yes, it will be a good indicator. But its also a bit worrying to know that we have to maintain the same amount of growth and success on and off the pitch for the next 5-8 years in order to keep ourselves stable. But the fact still remains that there’ll many investors out there willing to take over from the Glazers incase they want to quit.
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[Grognard]
Regarding your question on why he didn’t reign Ronaldo in, well one possibility could be that Ronaldo is extremely motivated by personal glory. With his outstanding talent, Ronaldo’s desire for success (from a personal perspective) helped United to succeed. So perhaps it was a sort of marriage of similar ends: Ronaldo wants to succeed, Fergie wants to succeed, and so do you and me. So while Ronaldo doesn’t upset team harmony to a large extent, the success on the pitch for two seasons justified that there certainly wasn’t too much disharmony in the team. Or at least not too much disharmony that Fergie couldn’t control.
Plus, Fergie has always indulged his most controversial characters, like Cantona and Keane. It’s only when he decides he’s seen enough and he thinks the player might really undermine him that he decides to move him on. I think Fergie’s greatest strength as a manager is not in the tactical side of things, but in his man management. I think he’s the best man manager in the world. So I trust he’ll know best on that.
We’ll have to see, if even Fergie sees Ronaldo’s ego has spiralled out of proportions during the Euros, when he meets him. Let’s wait and watch what the boss thinks of him.
Regarding Stam, Fergie said it was a mistake had nothing to do with Stam’s autobigraphy, and it was just based on poor form in pre-season, and the money he got from Lazio for an old defender like him. He admitted it was an error of judgement on his part.
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Grognard – Your comment regarding the Tampa Buccaneers not spending on players is a bit off base. While they enter this year a healthy amount under the salary cap, for the first time in many years, for years they were at/close to 100% of the cap as a result of the winning run culminating in the super bowl championship in ’02. Even though the NFL has a salary cap, the equal ceiling teams can spend for players, the current formula for determining the cap does create some disparity.
Teams in top-third NFL markets, such as Boston, Washington, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York, generate revenues on average of $256 million, according to Enquirer research. Teams in the middle third, such as Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Seattle, have average revenues of roughly $199 million.
In Cincinnati, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Jacksonville and Buffalo — the league’s smallest markets — average per-team revenues are about $177 million.
The average per-team revenue is $211 million, and each team is responsible for paying 57.5% of its revenues toward player costs, according to the collective bargaining agreement.
My point is that the economics of Football and Futbol can’t be compared. The bucs have been a very competitive team in the inferior NFC conference without having too many big name players on the offensive side of the football. A lack of big names doesn’t mean that the team isn’t competitive (think NY Giants and if you say Eli Manning he wasn’t even drafted in the top 10 quarterbacks in most fantasy football leagues last year) and the Glazers have done a great job with that franchise since they took over in the mid 90′s (was a long time losing franchise before they arrived.)
I wouldn’t be too concerned with a lack of signings thus far. Why, because we haven’t seen any big name signings at our primary target positions of right back & striker. Perhaps this is because of the Euros and teams don’t want to take the focus off that competition. If we don’t fill the position of striker then I’ll have some questions for the mgt team. Until then I’m willing to show a bit patience and see what happens and have faith in the management team that brought us a glorious double this year. After reading these posts over the last few weeks I find it interesting how many supporters state or suggest we’re in complete turmoil. Even if we do lose one player the team is strong enough to cope with that lose with the addition of one or two more quality players.
Cheers – Kevin
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And regarding inactivity in the transfer market, I think this is normal especially during a major tournament. Transfers happen either before or after the tournament. I won’t be going mad over this.
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RR; We’ll see. I agree that Fergie is an excellent man manager but his propensity to play favorites may end up slapping him in the face for once. No player is bigger than the team yet Fergie allowed this ego to grow and fester out of control. He has to take some of the blame. Reigning in Ronaldo a few years ago befor Real got their clutches on him may have stopped this persoanlity shift of Ronaldo’s. I honestly think he blew it with this boy by giving him too much room to be corrupted. I think his own selfish ambitions may have done Fergie in. He so wanted that European Cup that he might have sold his soul to the Devil to get it. I hope for his sake and United’s that’s not the case but I just cannot see how he could excuse that behavior and then cast aside RVN who up to that point was a loyal and devoted soldier who had just bought a new home in Manchester and was intending to play out his career with us. Very disappointing.
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What’s a “Dream” when money’s involved……… poor ronny, he prefers blinded by money to achieve a “dream” that never come true rather than the FACT that he’s in “THE THEATER OF DREAMS” already..
Poor Ronny…. he’s too full with himself… Poor Ronny, dont know what he’s got till it’s gone….
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Grognard where are you getting the 45million + Sneijder offer information? Also any idea what Sneijder’s valuation is? Im guessing around 25 million.
Haha dan i can’t imagine ferguson doing that. my guess is he is enjoying a lovely glass of red wine with his missus waiting till the Euros are over before he comes back and chats with his scouting team who the stars of the tournament have been.
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colver; I’ve read it at a few sources. Honestly I don’t know if it’s true but if it is, it’s insulting to be sure.
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[Grognard]
Perhaps, but RvN was not exactly loyal. He did hand in a transfer request a season before leaving, when there was really nothing untoward from Fergie at that time. RvN wasn’t a saint either. But of course, nothing compares with Ronaldo’s ego.
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grogy
whatever u may say about rvn and ronaldo (i think ronaldo also has bought a mansion in manchester – does it mean he is gonna stay with us for life?) I am a huge rvn fan but honestly i m happy he was booted out at the right time by boss! Since his departure we have won 2 championships and a CL and are playing prob the most attractive footy for a long time!
RVN leaving brought the best out of our squad esp Ronaldo. Ronaldo leaving might just bring the best out of the likes of Rooney and Tevez! You’ve been reading one too many conspiracy theories lately. Take a break man! Save some of your frustration for the event when Ronaldo actually leaves.
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wow, at this rate, arshavin will be the worlds most known player, for the right reasons if you know what i mean.
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Wow, if I could figure out where Arshavin would fit in I’d say go after him immediately! Oh wait… Ronaldos leaving… does anyone think that Arshavin could fill that position? He seems to really enjoy running at players and knows how to find the back of the net.
I’ve not been so impressed by a player since I watched a certain Anderson play for Porto in the Champions League season before last.
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Absolutely gutted for Edwin VDS, who had an excellent game, and it would have been a cricket score for Russia but for Edwin. It could have been 6-1 in the first half, Edwin was superb with a good few saves. Pity he had a sinking sand defence in front of him.
I have a feeling that if Arshavin keeps playing like this, Madrid may cool on Ronnie and go for Arshavin instead. He is standing out for his team, far more than Ronnie did for Portugal. Fact makes me realise what a lazy arse CR7 is. Imagine if Madrid said, we don’t want him now, or reduce the price because he doesn’t perform when it truly matters.
I think to believe Fergie’s comment that he didn’t sell Stam for the autobiography, you would have to be in denial. If it was because he was getting a good price for an old player, well he was replaced with an even older, slower player. So sorry Fergie, I don’t believe your take on things.
I heard that the problem with Ruud came when Ruud called CR7 a selfish bastard, because he didn’t get the ball into the area, but spent too much time doing his fancy step overs. Also CR7′s dad had just died, and Ruud accused CR7 of looking for CQ to Father him, and that he was Quiroz’s little boy. This caused upset in the dressing room, and Fergie thought it was bad for team moral, so he got rid of Ruud. That’s the story anyway!.
Does anybody really believe Abramovitch will let us get the best Russian players, when he has so much influence inside the Russian federation. It would be naive to think Chelsea will sit back and let us get the Arshavin’s etc of Russia.
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well grongard thats more harrowing than nething i’ve read in footballing context…there’s no use bawling our eyes out n we need to look forward to what’s next in the store for us…this whole saga makes me reminiscent of what happened when becks left…well cr is not even miles close to his stature at united but one thing we learnt was that great players come and go but club lives on forever and no one fares higher than manchester united….nd not to forget the old sly fergie whos capable of conjuring sumthng out of nothing will live up to his mark this time round aas well…the only thing that pisses me off is the roughshod treatment from real the way they,ve handled the issue with disgrace not only towards united but also towards football.and one thing is evident that even fifa doesnt have the balls to rebuke them…nd that will only make them more arrogant and determined next time round when they will try to lure someone who’s under a contract..
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