Storm clouds coming in from Madrid
Forty eight hours earlier, two late Cup goals had performed two useful services in a two-fingers-up kind of way: one, a reminder to those hacks who had apparently refused to believe his brilliant Emirates goal was a true drought-ender, and second, to Wenger and the press for harping on about United’s supposed late collapses.
Actually, to be fair to Arsene, he has explained that his private dressing room remarks had been taken out of context and Fergie was thus right to have gone all hairdryer about it last week.
Although one did have to chuckle when some journo dug up the stats which demonstrated that, umm, actually United HAVE had a last-20 problem this season.
All-in-all, a most enjoyable spat in an amusing week, marked as it also was by the Daily Mirror’s bizarre Carrington spylane story which kept both club and media officials in gags-a-plenty for 72 hours.
Mind you, any plane up there wouldn’t have had to look very hard to spot the big black cloud forming last week, which was the declared interest of Real Madrid in our other Boy Wonder. (Incidentally, I take it I don’t have to point out too forcefully that the laboured display from United for an hour on Saturday was proof positive of my perennial “Roo & Ron” argument. We can be a pretty desperate outfit without one or t’other. Disallowed goals notwithstanding).
As I predicted here three weeks ago, various powerful forces have begun their manipulations to turn Ronaldo into the next galactico, replacing one slightly poncefied ex-United number 7 pin-up with another.
Transfer fees of up to €75m have been mentioned, which is not as absurd as it seems at first glance, given that Real paid something of that order for Zidane. Of course, it is now a matter of record that Ronnie wanted out last summer and that his agent offered him to Iberia, a story broken at the time on the Red Issue website yet denied then by allcomers.
On Saturday, we were then alarmingly told that Ronaldo had been gagged from mentioning anything about his future or Madrid after meetings with Fergie and Quieroz. So far, so bad: then David Gill, our unesteemed CEO, waded in on Sunday with an unconvincing radio interview. Dave, let’s take a closer look at what you said, shall we?
“A bid would be turned down straight away. It would be a very short call.”
Oh. Well. Fair enough. But hang on, there’s more: “I would put it to the Glazers as a matter of good governance. I would explain it, but I think it would be a very quick call.”
Ah. So in fact you WOULDN’T be able to “turn it down straight away” at all, as you first claimed. And are we all convinced that a Glazer with many millions of euros to pay off would say no to €75 million?
I note you say: “I THINK” it would be a quick call. Mmm. So you’re guessing, then?! Gill concluded: “If the manager says ‘no’, the Glazers would go along with that.” Really? Marvellous. Yet what if Fergie is told he would have to say “yes” if he wanted that kind of spending money this summer? That’s the real issue, isn’t it?
This one is going to run and run folks, you can bank on that. Speaking of which, Gill added: “As Arsene Wenger has said on many occasions, football clubs are not banks.” No, it’s worse: in our case, a football club has become a credit card, loaded with Malcy’s 2005 blowout and in permanent danger of melting all over us. The incipient Ronaldo Saga will certainly tell us how hot that card has become.
Richard Kurt is author of “The Red Army Years”
