What's next for Cristiano Ronaldo once the Qatar World Cup concludes?
That's a pertinent question now, because it's not going to be anything involving Manchester United. In reality, after termination of his United contract, who is going to want to take him onboard?
Who wants a player who, while under contract, is willing to go on record and admit he has no respect for the manager of the club that he is contracted by?
Questions, questions, questions. Ronaldo answered a lot of them in his 90-minute conversation with Piers Morgan - some with eloquence but many a stark contrast to that. In all, it hasn't done much other than provoke more questions. And elicit a fair amount of valid discontent in many quarters as well.
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Genuinely, who would want to take onboard a player who openly says, without a seeming care in the world, that they don't respect their manager?
Routinely, that's a question that shouldn't have to be answered. For any professional athlete, or anyone in any profession for that manner, undermining their boss in such a manner is unfathomable.
Not for Cristiano Ronaldo.
"I don't have respect for him because he doesn't show respect for me," he said on the subject of Erik ten Hag. "If you don't have to respect for me, I'm never going to have respect for you."
The sentiment behind Ronaldo's comments was understandable: respect goes two ways. But his comments were very wide of the mark. There isn't the slightest indication that Ten Hag doesn't respect him despite claims that "the empathy with the coach is not good".
It seems clear that Ten Hag hasn't disrespected Ronaldo in the slightest, evidenced by the fact that Ronaldo neglected to delve into any elaborate detail in terms of a legitimate reason for why he doesn't respect his new manager.
Albeit there are factors that could contribute to his view (none of which constitute being labelled as actions of disrespect, mind).
One justifiable theory is that Ronaldo may be unable to accept being treated in the same manner as every other team-mate - a key principle of Ten Hag. After his illustrious career, it would be unsurprising if the case is that he feels he requires being held in higher regard and being treated in a special way to feel respected.
Further quashing the idea that Ten Hag has disrespected Ronaldo is the fact that, in the media, the first instinct of Ten Hag has always been to protect Ronaldo when the spotlight has been on him.
It would have been very easy for Ten Hag to have been franker on the subject of Ronaldo, who has been disruptive at times through flouting rules on more than one occasion, not learning from prior mistakes, for example.
At this juncture, it must be referenced that, as much as Ronaldo may not hold this view as he comes to terms with a disciplinarian of a manager holding authority over the squad, it is a non-starter to suggest that Ten Hag disrespected Ronaldo by banishing him from the squad for three days following his refusal to come on against Tottenham Hotspur.
Through all of this, Ten Hag has continued to position himself on Ronaldo's side when asked hard-hitting questions. It would appear from the outside that he has never wanted to do anything other than protect Ronaldo, none more so than during pre-season when people wrongly questioned the legitimacy of his absence.
Ronaldo, however, as shown by his interview with Morgan, doesn't respect or appreciate this.
Instead, he has accused Ten Hag of making "excuses" in the media. "He keeps saying in the press that he come to me, he like me, blah, blah, blah," Ronaldo said. "But that's only for the press, 100 per cent."
How can Ten Hag win? Imagine the reaction if he fronted up and, for instance, spoke with the anger that will have contributed to him taking action and banning Ronaldo post-Spurs.
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The illegitimacy of a number of Ronaldo's comments became very apparent as he answered "yes" when asked whether the club were trying to force him out. It is completely berserk when you consider him and agent Jorge Mendes were incessantly trying to engineer an exit strategy in the summer. It is pure hypocrisy.
"Not only the coach, but the other two or three around the club," Ronaldo continued when speaking about feeling as though he was being forced out of the club. "I felt betrayed. I felt some people, they don't want me here - not only this year but last season too."
It is by no means preposterous to suggest he is trying to push a narrative given a lack of suitors in the summer. He claimed a number of teams expressed interest in signing him, but why didn't he leave in that case?
It is one of football's worst kept secrets that he was pushing to move elsewhere. And it was hardly a hostage situation, with reports late in the window that the club had loosened their stance and were willing to allow him to leave.
Another noteworthy point to touch on is Ronaldo accusing figures within the club, including Ten Hag, of betrayal. Similarly, they are flawed points.
Only a matter of weeks ago, Ronaldo was handed the captaincy by Ten Hag for United's meeting with Aston Villa. That's hardly a sign of someone out to betray or disrespect you.
It is likely that the comments refer at least somewhat to the more sporadic role Ronaldo has been made to operate this term. But, at the end of the day, football is largely a meritocracy. No player will be content when they don't feature, but footballing decisions cannot be taken so personally.
The truth is that Ronaldo hasn't warranted a place in Ten Hag's side above other options who have proven themselves to be better suited to a system which has, thus far, worked encouragingly effectively in the early stages of the rule of a new regime.
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Ronaldo was certainly unhinged during the conversation aired on TalkTV. And, in some regards, there was merit that came from his openness, speaking some valuable truths about relevant issues.
"Manchester [United] belongs to the fans, but they should know the truth," he said, candidly. "The infrastructure [is] not good. They should change."
He also insisted: "Since Sir Alex [Ferguson] left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed."
They were not comments of someone intending to stick around at the club, but they were insightful utterances in terms of shedding light on the extent of the club's neglect, which is such that Ronaldo believes "it will be hard for Manchester [United] to be top of the game in the next two or three years".
It is not something the club will have taken kindly to at all, having an employee criticising many aspects of the club from the jacuzzis to the kitchen.
For fans, the most positive thing to come from Ronaldo's unfiltered manner in the interview has resoundingly been his disapproval towards those at executive level. "David Gill, the president, is a very, very good man," he made a point of saying. "And the structure around Sir Alex Ferguson was very important too."
Majorly, it was significant for a current employee to speak badly about the Glazer family.
"The owners of the club, the Glazers, they don't care about the club," he said. "Manchester [United] is a marketing club, they get money from the marketing. The sport, they don't really care in my opinion."
It is true that Ronaldo's comments about issues within the club didn't confirm anything new. But, at the same time, it was refreshing to hear criticism from someone privy to the situation internally.
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However, while Ronaldo's frankness was beneficial in some regards, it worked against him in many others, exemplified by claims that he doesn't respect Ten Hag.
The undermining nature underpinning large parts of the interview lamentably extended to criticism of younger players. Ronaldo claimed at one stage that younger players in the modern game "don't care" and "are not the same as my generation", which presents itself as real generational snobbery.
What he fails to acknowledge is that football is constantly shifting, and the likelihood is that his generation were once viewed in a similar light. For someone who prides himself as a role model for younger players, he should be acting to guide them rather than making degrading comments.
But, in damning reality, what are young players to learn in terms of attitude from someone who possesses an attitude such that they conduct an interview of this nature? Again, it's a conundrum of paradoxes.
That's not as far as his undermining remarks went, either. Oh, absolutely not.
"They bring sporting director Ralf Rangnick, which is something nobody understands," Ronaldo said. "This guy is not even a coach. A big club like Manchester United bringing in a sporting director like Rangnick surprised not only me but all the world."
Ronaldo didn't just undermine the authority of his present manager, but that of Ten Hag's predecessor too. Rangnick may not have been someone that Ronaldo was aware of, but such disparaging comments were wholly unwarranted given Rangnick's successes as a coach at RB Leipzig; his pedigree is even such that he has been sought after by clubs such as last season's Scudetto winners AC Milan.
"In the end, deep inside me, I never saw him as the boss because I saw some points that I never agreed [with]," Ronaldo added.
As with Ten Hag, there was a sense that Ronaldo's perception is that if managers' philosophies don't align with his preferences, and if they don't adapt to suit his demands, then they aren't giving him respect. As a professional, it is a non-negotiable to give your all and buy into any manager.
There was some correctness in Ronaldo's comments when he said: "When you sack Solskjaer, you should bring in a top manager, not a sporting director."
He isn't wrong in suggesting that the appointment was slightly confusing, with a temporary manager who was acquired from an executive role not exactly an indictment of a forward-thinking club. But a public admission is belittling and damaging to Rangnick's integrity, exuding a lamentable sense of Ronaldo feeling above his manager.
In the words of Sir Alex Ferguson: "The minute a Manchester United player thought he was bigger than the manager, he had to go."
United have initiated the right steps by terminating Ronaldo's contract.
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The hypocrisy that riddled the interview reached its peak as Ronaldo claimed: "I prefer to set an example." At present, the only example imaginable is a bad one. What sort of example does an interview during which he speaks so degradingly towards people such as managers set?
The starkest encapsulation of the aforementioned hypocrisy is the fact that he left his team-mates against Tottenham before the full-time whistle, refusing to come on and leaving the stadium prematurely during probably their best performance in as long as a few years.
This was all after he left early against Rayo Vallecano in pre-season and was, along with a number of others that departed, warned by Ten Hag. Role models learn from their mistakes, but Ronaldo went and flouted the rules once again.
Another paradox is drawn up by the fact that Ronaldo expressed agitation at Ten Hag not bringing him on against Manchester City out of respect for his career, but it was a debacle brought on by Ten Hag trying to protect Ronaldo in the media.
In Ronaldo's eyes, however, Ten Hag disrespected him by not bringing him on against City. But, when Ten Hag tried to introduce him against Spurs, he took that as an act of disrespect too. Again, this draws up the question: how can anyone other than Ronaldo win?
Then, situations such as against Tottenham are accentuated by the fact that he is unable to acknowledge his mistakes. He put out a statement when United announced that Ronaldo would not be in their squad to face Chelsea in the subsequent match, but he never explicitly apologised.
Even in his interview with Morgan, he neglected to apologise in any sort of sincere manner, instead only claiming: "I apologised to my team-mates for the situation, I did an Instagram post. I regret to leave the stadium, but in the same way I don't regret the decision to not come on."
Essentially, he has acted as though refusing to come on is a non-issue, again exemplifying the idea that he feels he should be treated differently - not like any other member of the squad.
"I felt provoked by the coach - to put me in three minutes in a game," he added. "Sorry, I'm not that kind of player."
And that 'sorry' was about as much of an inkling of an apology as there was. He is a part of the squad, so it's beggars' belief that he believes the 'kind of player' he is means he can rule the roost over everyone else.
He wasn't done when it came to saying things associated with the implication of this, either. "Don't tell me that the top players, the guys who want everything, the key players, will play three minutes," he said. "Come on, this is unacceptable after what they keep saying before, that they respect me, that they do this, they do that." Really, though, more unacceptable is the fact that he holds this view. If you are part of the squad, you are an option. It is pure arrogance to oppose this idea.
His lack of acknowledgement of his flaws was accentuated by his view that the club made "fire for the press" by banning him. But the reality is that he fuelled said fire with his actions, underestimating the admirably disciplinarian nature of Ten Hag.
He "felt it was a lot" that he was suspended for three days, but Ten Hag was rightfully setting necessary precedents.
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One underlying issue for Ronaldo does appear to be that he cannot accept the fact that his powers are waning. As a consequence, he is in an emotionally frail state, and his frustration showed throughout the interview.
In many ways, much of what came up during the interview was centred around trying to blame others for plenty while struggling to accept his own demise. "The criticism is going to exist all the time," he said. "But I want to see if some guy of my age can maintain the level that I show."
His tricky headspace seems to be defined by confliction in his own mind. At times, the interview seemed to exude a sense that he was trying to convince himself that he remains at the top of his game; similarly, he appears to be in a position whereby he feels he has to try and assure others that he remains an elite footballer. "I still believe that I'm good," he said.
The aura that Ronaldo has always carried with him is about a sizeable as that of any individual to have ever played football. But the ego that has contributed to making him so omnipotent throughout his career is starting to get the better of him and become an inhibition. Ronaldo's suggestion that Ten Hag "doesn't respect me the way I should deserve" typifies this.
For large parts, the interview summed up all that is negative about Ronaldo's self-centred nature (which shone through). "I don't follow the records, the records follow me," presented sheer arrogance.
His suggestion that he "will continue to score goals if my mind is clear and happy" was telling. It felt a clear representation of the paradox that he is stuck within, believing he is at his best when in a good headspace yet feeling inhibited by an apparent deterioration of form.
Also indicative of his inability to accept the seeming decline that he is presently enduring, it was glaring in his interview that Ronaldo is unable to accept criticism - particularly from former team-mates. There was a clear sense that he is very sensitive to anything negative said about him and perceived them as personal attacks. Throughout, there were times that he accordingly incorrectly played the victim.
He understandably spoke well of those that haven't criticised him, for example Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane. But, when it came to certain ex-colleagues reasonably criticising him, petulance was emphasised as he took offence and held grudges.
Again, it was evidence that he struggles to concede his shortcomings; expressing that he didn't regret leaving early against Spurs very much aligns with this incapability when it comes to taking warranted criticism onboard. Instead, he confusingly held the belief that criticism came from jealousy rather than being aimed at genuine deficiencies.
The nature of the interview, tailored to try and make Ronaldo look good, was demonstrated by questions about whether, for example, he was wealthier in terms of finances or social media followers. "Probably similar," he responded, also saying: "Something that makes me happy too is Forbes magazine. Every year I'm at the top of the [rich] list. It's not by coincidence."
It was an uncomfortable, gloating manner. He added that this financial success will make the critics hate him even more, initially alluding to Wayne Rooney. "Not only him, imagine the rest of the rats they're going to criticise me too."
It ultimately veered beyond just not accepting justified criticism, creeping into an insulting and offensive manner as he labelled certain people "rats" and even went as far as mocking Rooney's looks. There was a sense that Ronaldo felt on a pedestal and viewed others in a peasantry manner.
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Some sympathy can be offered to Ronaldo given the emotional period he has endured after the devastating passing of his newborn child, Angel. Large parts of the vulnerability emanating during the interview at times will have stemmed from this, with one particularly gutting story about crying with his eldest, Cristiano Jr, upon the death of Angel.
It is credit to Ronaldo that he dealt with such an immense tragedy and returned to action so soon after, scoring against Arsenal in his first game back.
Obviously, accusations that, through this and the illness of his three-month-old daughter which saw him miss pre-season, the club failed to show the necessary sympathy cannot be proven. But, in any case, it is understandable that Ronaldo would feel any dealing from the club was not enough in a time of such immense tragedy.
In many ways, the interview was also rather summed up by the fact that Morgan used quotes about Ronaldo's personal tragedy as a part of the wrath of clickbait associated with the interview.
Again, you have to feel sorry for Ronaldo in some regards. But it was classless to reach out to someone with the notorious reputation of Morgan to conduct the interview with. At the same time, it was understandable why Ronaldo chose Morgan; he was never challenged on anything given Morgan's admiration for him, which has seen vocality on social media surrounding Ten Hag.
Ronaldo's love for United did shine through at times - it was abundantly clear that he wanted to express that he desires the best for the club. "You have to destroy it to rebuild it," he said. "And if they start with me, for me, it's not a problem. I love Manchester United. I love the fans."
The sentiment was right on occasion during the interview, and he often spoke with a genuine-looking smile when talking about United. "I want the best for the club," he made clear. "This is why I come to Manchester United. But you have some things inside that don't help reach the top level. A club with this dimension should be top of the tree in my opinion, and they are not unfortunately."
Hypocrisy can be drawn up again, however, with supposed adoration caveated by the fact that Ronaldo was on his way to Manchester City before Sir Alex Ferguson catalysed a U-turn.
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One big question is surrounding whether Ronaldo's legacy remains intact at United.
It is important to note that other players have essentially been sacked by the club and remain legends. Ronaldo's legacy will be somewhat tarnished, at least in the short term. But it is hard to see it being wholly lost.
It is easy to get caught up in the positive aspect of the interview, especially now that news suggesting the Glazers may be open to a sale has emerged. But the premise of the interview was ultimately for himself in order to get himself a move away. If he was committed to the club, it is unlikely he would have spoken about internal issues.
Unfortunately, this premise delegitimises many comments surrounding his love for the club. The interview is positive in some ways, but very wrong at the same time; good points are weakened by the knowledge of the underlying reasons for the interview, plus the derogatory nature of parts. It is important to look at it in this way - just because he spoke out about the Glazer family doesn't mean slights against Ten Hag can be forgotten.
It is ironic in many ways that Ronaldo only returned to the club due to the structural ineptitude that he spoke about.
That's not to say he didn't have a positive impact in many ways last term, with his goal tally invaluable in the absence of any further available striker for the most-part. But, just like the ending, it has been bittersweet at times. On the footballing side of things, as has come to the fore this season, it has often felt he was shoehorned into a system at the expense of overall funtionality.
Sadly, it ends in a bitter manner amid disciplinary issues that aren't really synonymous with the professionalism that has so often been a key theme of Ronaldo's career.
That said, all parties do come out of the situation in good stead. Ronaldo gets what he wants in terms of an exit, while United have a frustratingly disruptive figure gone.
For fans, frustrating will remain rife for some time in some regards. Attention has been diverted from the upward trajectory under Ten Hag heading into the World Cup, with Ronaldo not aligning himself with the improving camaraderie within the squad.
The fact that the interview wasn't surprising is damning. But at least this is now a page that can be turned over and a saga that can be put on the backburner.
United can now continue to look towards building for a better future.
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