Witless and bonehead

I've been quiet a bit too long about this saga simmering since the end of last season's Champions League. As you know, there's been a lot of disquiet in Europe about whether Cristiano Ronaldo would be leaving Manchester United for that once near-bankrupt football club in Spain. Yes, I'm talking about Real Madrid whose president's lack of scruples really scrapes the bottom of anyone's barrels.

Real Madrid had been tapping up Ronaldo since the beginning of the year - there was at least one clandestine meeting between him and one of the Spanish club's fitness staff in Rome, I think. When the Champion's League ended, Ronaldo did not put any speculation to rest, saying he would only decide his future after the European Championship.

There are certainly people who takes pleasure in disrupting the best of teams for their own satisfaction and selfishness. Number One on my list would be Luis Felipe Scolari. During the European Championship, he was the head coach of Portugal but he knew that he would be accepting the offer to take over as Chelsea's manager. So what did he do? While news of his move to Chelsea was still unwraps, he casually let known to the press that Ronaldo should join Real Madrid if that's his ambition. This is totally uncalled for and totally unprofessional. Even before he joined Chelsea, Scolari had displayed his true colours. He'd go to the extent of breaking up any rival's team for his own selfish greed.

In the centre of the controversy, the Real Madrid president has been telling one lie after another ("no, there's been no tapping up of the player", etc etc) but it's all mind games as he tries to soften up Manchester United and boost up Ronaldo's own bloated opinion about himself. Of course, all his blathering has only one effect: hardening Ferguson's own resolve that his star player will never be released.

Interference from Europe's own governing football body came from Michel Platini, the Uefa president, who last month defended the way that Real Madrid was conducting the whole mind game. Somehow, I feel that there are people who takes pleasure in wrecking the English Premier League. Like Fifa too.

Now, even Fifa thinks that they had a right to poke their finger into the affair. It's Stupid Blatter's turn, of course. He thinks he is so powerful that he can ride rough shod over governments. Now, he said Manchester United was treating Ronaldo like a modern-day slave. And there's an equally stupid player who agreed with the blathering mouth.

Here's an opinion piece that I picked up from the Guardian Online:


I couldn't agree more with the writer. To read the rest of the article, click here.