My heart sank when I saw Sir Alex Ferguson driving into Manchester United’s training ground for a meeting with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Scot shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the place. OK, so he has a special relationship with the Portuguese superstar, who is proving more of a hindrance than a help at the moment.
But it’s not for him to dictate the outcome of the stand-off between the player and the club. That’s down to Erik ten Hag.
Fergie is casting such a long shadow over Manchester United that it completely undermines the Dutchman. The former boss has to be moved on. The umbilical cord MUST be cut.
It looks awful. At the very least it’s awkward having the bloke who won 13 Premier League titles putting his arm around one of the best players of his generation in front of Ten Hag. It must have an effect on the club and the way the manager is perceived. Ronaldo should have been going in with his agent and seeing the new boss – not the bloke who was in charge eight or nine seasons ago. It should have been the Dutchman’s choice. He could have said anything to him.
That he wants him back at any cost, that he’s not having him or he can return under certain conditions. That isn’t Ferguson’s job – he’s crossing boundaries here – it’s Ten Hag’s mandate and he has to be judged on decisions that are his own. You know, people keep talking about this glorious new era – all I can see are the ghosts of past seasons. On that note, if you look back at the lessons from history – I’m talking about the likes of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Brian Clough – when their time was up, that was it. I remember when I first learned that Liverpool had stopped their open invitation to Shankly.
I thought: “Bloody hell, that was harsh.” Apparently, the Scot was made more welcome at Goodison Park than he was at Anfield and he enjoyed watching Everton train. But now, I understand why the guys in the boardroom would do that. And it will be the same when Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola leave Liverpool and Manchester City, respectively. If Guardiola kept turning up at the club’s training complex, went to every home game and was a visible presence around the place, the guy in the hotseat would be a dead man walking.
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All that it smacked of the other day was the fact that Fergie is still in charge. Plenty of managers head off into the sunset to enjoy a round of golf or a visit to the racecourse. He shouldn’t need to feel involved. His legacy is all around Old Trafford – one of the stands is named after him – you can’t escape it. But any manager must be able to make his own decisions.
It’s one thing phoning up Sir Alex and asking his opinion. But for him to drive into Carrington and to be visibly seen acting as a peacemake r sends out a rotten message. It makes Erik ten Hag look like Erik ten Bob. It doesn’t empower the manager. It undermines him. If the boot had been on the other foot – had it been Fergie sitting in the manager’s chair – he wouldn’t have allowed anyone else to meddle in his business, would he? Would he have allowed Ron Atkinson or Sir Matt Busby to dictate how he dealt with a player?
Of course, not. And Ten Hag should have put his foot down and told him in no uncertain terms that he was in charge. Ronaldo is his problem. It’s not Ferguson’s any more. Manchester United need to recognise that – and fast – or else they’ll continue down the cul-de-sac to nowhere.
