Cristano Ronaldo - The Fans reaction

So it has come to pass. Cristiano Ronaldo is FINALLY on his way to Madrid after over a year of almost constant specualtion.

As anyone who read my post from a couple of weeks ago will know, I am not shocked or upset at this news. for some reason the world and his wife seem to be expecting United fans to be up in arms, to be sat wiping teary eyes on their Ronaldo replica shirts - but this could not be further from the truth.

First of all, I want to put on record that we are losing a GREAT player. That fact is beyond question. I have enjoyed watching him play for the past 6 years, and there is no doubt that his departure weakens our squad in terms of talent.

BUT

Anyone who believes that football is merely about filling your team with talent is missing the point. Football is about more than that. And Manchester United is definately about more than that.

No player can ever be bigger than the club. No player can forget the fact that they are part of a TEAM. And, no matter how fantastic their ability, no player should be able to get away with a lack of commitment or displays of disrespect for the club.

Ronaldo's behaviour over the past 12-14 months have broken all these unwritten rules. Shows of petulance towards his manager and teammates, a decrease in workrate and constant enticement of speculation over his future has angered most United fans, leading a lot to conclude that he was now more concerned with personal glory and attention than sharing in successes of the club as a whole.

I stated that his desire for personal acclaim and attention had even damaged us on the field last season. His refusal to track back, and his reluctance to pick himself up from fair challenges, even when his teammates had won the possession back, both started to irritate as time wore on.

In his final game for the club, he chose to stand on the halfway line, lost in his own disappointment, rather than join his teammates in thanking the supporters for their backing. Just as in Moscow, the previous year, he chose not to run to congratulate Edwin van der Sar with the rest of the squad, but to attract some personal attention by collapsing in tears on the halfway line.

Some may regard these allegations as harsh. And maybe they are, but football is an emotional game. And it is for this reason that United fans opinion on the loss of Ronaldo will not be swung on his undoubted talent alone.

There is no doubt that, especially if Tevez follows him out of the OT exit door, that there is now plenty of work for Sir Alex Ferguson to do before the start of the season. But his record of letting supposedly irreplaceable players go in the past should give us confidence that he will be plotting his next moves..if they are not already in motion.

And if the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez can be looked at as an on-field positive in one way, it is that we may now see the best of Wayne Rooney. Forced to play out wide for big games because we couldn't trust Ronaldo to occupy a midfield position and track back in those matches, we lost a percentage of his influence. Now I hope we can provide him with a permanent role in the centre, hopefully giving him a true target man to play just behind.

I blogged that in Tevez, Rooney and Berbatov, we had three players who all wanted to play in similar ways - now we have the impetus, and hopefully the funds, to bring in that different option we are missing.

So, Ronaldo may have gone, and we thank him for the memories. But, for those who have spouted pure ignorance on various media outlets today, there will be no major outpouring of grief. We may have lost a great player, but his selfish attitude just couldn't be allowed to take over the club, his less beneficial on-field antics couldn't be allowed to continue, and it is the loss of these factors that have led many Reds to feel relief rather than the expected devastation today.

The saga that Ronaldo wanted to keep in the public eye as much as possible is over. And Manchester United can move on - because they will, and no matter how important Ronaldo believes he is - Neither he, or any other player will ever kill the spirit of MUFC.