The Mailbox reckons Cristiano Ronaldo made some valid points but the medium renders them moot. Also: the change Everton so desperately need.
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Vanity project
I’m clearly half a day or so late with my reaction to the Ronaldo guff, but the story broke a little late for me to properly pore over on Sunday night (heavy weekend) and I wanted to put my thoughts in order this morning to some extent.
Straight out the gate, I can’t escape how surreal it all feels. As a United fan, I’ve always been conflicted on the sort of regard to hold Ronaldo in. For all the positive impact he had in his first spell at the club, I’ve never been able to escape the narcissism and petulance that he regularly displays on the pitch. That bled through in spectacular fashion last night.
The issues with that interview are many and varied, not least the fact that it was given to a phone hacking former Britain’s Got Talent judge. Bessie mates or not, that sets a bizarre tone from the off. But why stop there? Doing away with any shred of self-awareness? Check. Burning every bridge in sight? Check. Taking startlingly immature pot shots at former team mates for voicing their (correct) opinions? Check.
It’s been clear for a long time that Ronaldo had transitioned from a footballer to a vanity project, prioritising personal accolades and scoring records over the good of the team for half a decade at this point. If the team’s successes aligned with his own, then great. Otherwise, fingers got pointed at the lesser beings he had to share a pitch with. Their fault, obviously. How dare they subject him to their mediocrity while Messi played with 10 world beaters and nabbed his lovely Ballon D’Or twice every 3 years.
This season’s reality check can’t have been easy for a man of his ego and self-regard. Calling the club out for its shortcomings is a clear response to his own rotten form, raging against the dying of the light as he descends to the level of those players he loved to scorn after misplaced passes or fluffed chances. Everybody knows United need change at the top, he’s not telling anyone anything they don’t know already. But there are a host of players who inhabit the same environment as him each day and are performing just fine, thanks very much.
So he can wail all he wants – he’s been conclusively outmanouvered by Erik Ten Hag (playing a blinder on this matter) at every juncture since the aborted transfer…
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