Sir Alex Ferguson was the perfect manager for Manchester United.
He knew how to adapt his tactics to continue to be successful throughout his long tenure, he knew how to manage a dressing room full of personalities and he knew when to sell players at just the right time, both for financial and footballing reasons.
He was a progressive tactical mind well ahead of his time. For all those reasons, Ferguson would not have resigned Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ferguson the man, obviously played a big part in the return of Ronaldo to Old Trafford, but you could say this is a decision clouded by sentiment and nostalgia.
As a manager, he was renowned for his cold hard pragmatism, and in his latest column for The Telegraph, Jamie Carragher recounted a similar situation where Ferguson took a decision that was for the good of United as a whole rather than to cater to an individual.
He said: "No single player can ever be bigger than the club. And no one knew that better than Sir Alex Ferguson who, in 2006, sold one of the Premier League's most prolific goalscorers, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, because he felt the striker's personal hunger for goals was inhibiting the progress of younger emerging team-mates.
Who reaped the rewards? Ronaldo, who thrived when given the opportunity to take a leading role in a dynamic attack. As such, the desire to bring back one of Old Trafford's favourite sons remained strong ever since his departure to Real Madrid in 2009.
Patrice Evra claimed Ferguson was close to securing Ronaldo a second act in Manchester in 2013, but that was an entirely different version of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
"Just like Van Nistelrooy 16 years ago, Ronaldo's goal sprees have the capacity to make anyone deemed critical seem foolish," Carragher continued. "It does not alter the fact that the [next] United manager will face the same issues as [Ralf] Rangnick in trying to keep him happy."
There is the obvious elephant in the room that Ferguson had a much better squad at his disposal, so could afford to sell Van Nistelrooy without much repercussion.
But Ronaldo isn't a striker at the peak at the powers scoring every week. This is a 37-year-old man who has recently gone on his longest streak without scoring in almost a decade.
His goal against Brighton was well taken and probably capped off his best display under Rangnick, but these performances should be the standard rather than the rarity that they have become.
The reputation and aura that Ronaldo has gained himself over his career is completely warranted, he is one of the greatest players of all time and won everything there is to win at club level. But even with all that behind him, building your team to cater to a 37-year-old who is declining is not a smart decision at any level.
Even AC Milan, who have a 40-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic upfront, have built a team that is capable of functioning without the legendary Swedish striker leading the line and he acts more like the cherry on top of the whole operation.
When he was signed, Ronaldo was hailed as the last piece of the puzzle, but in fact, his signing was like flipping the table that the jigsaw was on.
United's free-flowing youthful attack was replaced by a disjointed system that was designed to funnel chances to the Portuguese superstar. In acquiring his services, other more problematic areas were ignored.
Relevant criticism of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer aside, the team was clearly improving under the Norwegian and if he was unable to win anything this season, a new manager could have come in and not had to start from ground zero due to the basic system and player relationships that he had fostered.
Now United are having to speak about starting the project again from scratch, and it is not yet certain whether Ronaldo will even remain at the club to be a part of that.
That's why Ferguson would have never re-signed this Ronaldo because to accommodate the striker, you are putting the player before the system and that's just no way to be successful. Just ask Van Nistelrooy.
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