All entries for Wednesday 05 July 2006

July 05, 2006

Laughing At A Crying Man

How things change. Two years ago I defended Cristiano Ronaldo when he cried after Portugal got knocked out of the European Championship semi final. I felt it showed some passion which England players lacked at times. I also felt the loyalty that Manchester United supporters feel towards their players, a loyalty which results from the bombardment of snide remarks which any Man Utd player suffers in this country simply for being a Man Utd player (witness how underappreciated Gary Neville is).

So why did I smile at Ronaldo crying tonight? Not just smile, but feel that smiling was justifiable?

It's not necessarily a result of his behaviour in the quarter final against England… well, actually it sort of is. It's partly because when he arrived at Man Utd he was a little diving git and Ferguson tride so hard to get him to stop doing that, something I highly respect SAF for. But once more, in that quarter he was a'diving and a'cheating. Muppet.

Also did he really expect Man Utd fans to love him for his recent "I want to join Real" style comments? Our club heroes are loyal and talented, not self serving greedy gits. If he honestly thinks Real are more likely to yield trophies than Man Utd then he's taking a huge gamble.

This time around his tears seemed less like genuine emotion than the whining of a spoilt brat not getting his way. Perhaps it was like this two years ago but I didn't see it that way for above reasons. I don't care if he doesn't come back. I'd rather see a broken Ole Solskjaer on the right than that disloyal fool. Talent is nothing to us without commitment. Bobby Charlton was talented but he also came back from a plane crash. Ryan Giggs was stalked by Europe's best for years but stayed at Old Trafford. Eric Cantona retired rather than play for someone else. We've had players who make us proud. C Ronaldo is not one of them.