So long, Ronnie?
August 2003, United v Bolton. United’s new signing, successor to the recently departed David Beckham, trots up and down the touchline waiting to make his entrance. His reputation is impressive, but in the eyes of the OT crowd, they have to be earned anew, particularly if you want to be thought worthy of that Number 7 shirt.
Within seconds of receiving the ball, he’s teasing and taunting the opposition, spinning away from defenders, streaking down the wing.
It’s a mesmerising, unforgettable little cameo and it has an intoxicating effect on the crowd. Like many others, I floated out of Old Trafford that afternoon, any worries that Fergie had discarded the previous No. 7 prematurely, utterly obliterated in 20 sublime minutes of football.
Cut to Gelsenkirchen 2006, and that same figure, now fully known to us, in all his sometimes exhilarating, sometimes frustrating majesty, gives a conspiratorial wink as his OT colleague Wayne Rooney is dismissed from the pitch. Probably in common with most United fans who affect to despise the national team, I was less than impressed with Ronnie’s behaviour; though being honest I’d have loved it if it was Gerrard or Lampard getting sent-off.
Fade to last season and you can pick any number of mesmerising moments, but I’ll take the magisterial way in which he rose into the Rome sky and headed United in front in the Champions League Quarter-Final. And yet, and yet…I’m still niggled by the memory of him throwing his arms down in a huff at the JJB, all that petulant, ‘how dare you challenge me?’ stuff that continues to blight his game.
When it comes to Ronaldo, adoration and ambivalence have always been locked in competition, and now as he seems to be manoeuvring towards an exit from OT, like most United fans I’m saddened, but not really surprised, and I won’t feel the visceral level of dismay that I did when Keano, Ruud and even Jaap Stam moved on. Truth be told, no one ever really thought that United had penetrated to the core of Ronaldo in the way it clearly has with players like Rooney, Vidic, and even Rio.
Ferguson is rightly affronted, but even he sensed – with his admission that he expected to struggle to retain Ronnie in two or three years time – that being a United legend was never going to be sufficient for an ego the size of Ronaldo’s. So we’ll cherish the memories of those scorching free-kicks, those extravagant flicks and step-overs, and those screaming runs down the wing, but we won’t shed any tears as we await the inevitable kissing of the Madrid badge next season.
Who knows, perhaps he’s just missing Van Nistelrooy?
Within seconds of receiving the ball, he’s teasing and taunting the opposition, spinning away from defenders, streaking down the wing.
It’s a mesmerising, unforgettable little cameo and it has an intoxicating effect on the crowd. Like many others, I floated out of Old Trafford that afternoon, any worries that Fergie had discarded the previous No. 7 prematurely, utterly obliterated in 20 sublime minutes of football.
Cut to Gelsenkirchen 2006, and that same figure, now fully known to us, in all his sometimes exhilarating, sometimes frustrating majesty, gives a conspiratorial wink as his OT colleague Wayne Rooney is dismissed from the pitch. Probably in common with most United fans who affect to despise the national team, I was less than impressed with Ronnie’s behaviour; though being honest I’d have loved it if it was Gerrard or Lampard getting sent-off.
Fade to last season and you can pick any number of mesmerising moments, but I’ll take the magisterial way in which he rose into the Rome sky and headed United in front in the Champions League Quarter-Final. And yet, and yet…I’m still niggled by the memory of him throwing his arms down in a huff at the JJB, all that petulant, ‘how dare you challenge me?’ stuff that continues to blight his game.
When it comes to Ronaldo, adoration and ambivalence have always been locked in competition, and now as he seems to be manoeuvring towards an exit from OT, like most United fans I’m saddened, but not really surprised, and I won’t feel the visceral level of dismay that I did when Keano, Ruud and even Jaap Stam moved on. Truth be told, no one ever really thought that United had penetrated to the core of Ronaldo in the way it clearly has with players like Rooney, Vidic, and even Rio.
Ferguson is rightly affronted, but even he sensed – with his admission that he expected to struggle to retain Ronnie in two or three years time – that being a United legend was never going to be sufficient for an ego the size of Ronaldo’s. So we’ll cherish the memories of those scorching free-kicks, those extravagant flicks and step-overs, and those screaming runs down the wing, but we won’t shed any tears as we await the inevitable kissing of the Madrid badge next season.
Who knows, perhaps he’s just missing Van Nistelrooy?
posted by Royton Red @ 11:52 AM
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