Cristiano Ronaldo And Manchester United: What Goes Around, Comes Around
It seems many have jumped on the proverbial bandwagon when it comes to trashing Cristiano Ronaldo. Many are genuinely upset Manchester United fans who have taken an unfortunate hard-line approach, but others are just trash talking Ronaldo haters who have nothing better to do than to unleash their hate filled diatribe.
Still others point to the underhanded tactics of Real Madrid, chastising them for their relentless pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo, calling it ruthless and uncivilized.
But wait a minute! Weren’t Manchester United involved in a bit of controversy of their own not too long ago? In fact, the case was so similar to that of Cristiano Ronaldo that it is no wonder that the Spin Doctors and hatemongers have distanced themselves from that very controversial set of events.
We’re talking about the pursuit of Owen Hargreaves. To refresh your memories, Canadian born Owen Hargreaves, with four years left on his contract with Bayern Munich, had like Ronaldo, aspirations of playing for another team. That team of course is none other than Manchester United. And much in the same way that Madrid is chasing Cristiano Ronaldo, Man Utd did so with him.
Quoting the Guardian:
Bayern’s determination to involve Fifa has been fuelled by reports of Hargreaves having face-to-face talks with Sir Alex Ferguson at United’s training ground the morning after England’s friendly against Greece. The saga could also have damaging repercussions for Hargreaves’s standing at Bayern if he is forced to stay in Germany, with a notable hardening in the language used by the club’s hierarchy.
Yes, even our beloved SAF was embroiled in that ‘uncivilized‘ business.
The issue was so controversial that Munich threatened to report Man Utd to FIFA. Does the story sound familiar? The only thing unfamiliar with the story is that Owen did not get the kind of berating that Cristiano Ronaldo is getting. We love Man Utd, but we don’t like hypocrisy, and we sure as hell don’t appreciate this double standard that seems to exist in the British tabloids.
You can read the rest of the story, written in 2006, here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2006/aug/23/newsstory.bayernmunich
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well, good point made, first of all.
but let’s remember that neither the coach nor president/owner(s) of manchester united have made blunt and public comments week after week saying this and that about hargraeves.
at least nothing comparable to what has been said by schuster or calderon.
i don’t even understand why SAF wanted him so bad, he’s overrated, overpriced and frequently injured. to be honest, he has not been worth the money spent.
it’s funny, but I had forgotten all about that. It is hypocrisy. This wasn’t as widely reported in Manchester as the Ronaldo saga
wow!
easy to forget. Ronny7.com, you are right! this stinks of hypocrisy.
como as verdades se saibem.
you can’t argue with that.
Actually i know you see Ronaldo as your god and can do no wrong, but you’ll see that most United fans that are berating Ronaldo do that cus he failed to say what he wants and where his loyalty lies, if he had come out two weeks ago and said what he wants, we won’t be talking about this, would we? and the saga wouldn’t have escalated to this point. The hatemongers as you put it aren’t berating him cus he wants to leave. Even if he doesn’t want to stay with us, is stating his intentions too much to ask for? Until the day when i read an article showing me where Fergie or Gill made any of the comments like Calderon and Schuster, i don’t see how United are been hypocrites, i didn’t see Fergie promising Andy Murray that he had signed Hargreaves.
Hi John Dykes, thanks again for your input.
Our intention in this post is to outline the similarities of the two incidents. We also wanted to point out how these very similar issues have been dealt with by both media and public opinion.
Bryan, thank you for your comment. We respect your opinion, but we disagree. Our opinion of Ronny has nothing to do with the message in our post, much in the same way that we hope yours is not an indication of your idolizing Fergie? We are clearly pointing to the similarities between Hargreaves’ and Ronny’s. The issues are virtually identical, just the names and places have changed.
To reference your point that Ronny “failed to say what he wants and where his loyalty lies” and that is why fans are upset. We ask, Would people’s opinion have changed had Ronny publicly stated that he is demanding a transfer? We think not. Opinions won’t and would not have been swayed by a public confession, nor will Manchester fans feel vindicated. To the fans, the sense of betrayal will linger on. People will still point to the contractual obligations and that is where the similarities between Hargreaves and Ronny’s are strongest.
The difficulty when comparing two separate yet similar incidents is that there will be slight variations to the theme. No, as far as we know, there weren’t embarrassing comments from SAF like those Calderon and Schuster, but that is a marginal point at best. What we do know is that Fergie did approach Hargreaves against the wishes of Bayern Munich regardless of Owen’s contractual obligations to them. Manchester’s about face on the current Ronaldo situation is a clear act of hypocrisy, like it or not.
To address the issue of hate mongers, yes there is quite a lot of it about. Most of it coming from non Man UTD fans camp, and we addressed this in our post.
Lastly, we aren’t telling fans that everything that’s happening is o.k. What we are saying is that it is important to view the current situation in light of all previous events where the club has shown little integrity. Any attempt to rationalize one wrong while demonizing another is wrong.
Hey Michelle Tristen Tom Jack,
Thanks for your comments
WTF are you talking about Bryan?
of course this is hypocrisy.
United do the same crap that every other high powered team does. Do you think because they are Manchester United, that that automatically excuses them from playing the ‘game’? that’s effen absurd!