The Ruud row

[bandage]

Taken from Setanta - interesting read:

Setanta Sports can EXCLUSIVELY reveal the story behind the bust-up that saw Ruud van Nistelrooy dropped from the Manchester United team to face Charlton, a bust-up that could well presage the end of the Dutchman's Old Trafford career.

Speaking to Daire O'Brien on Setanta Sports' The Hub, European Soccer Correspondent Graham Hunter explained the incident that caused Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to drop his star striker.

"In January, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo, who literally cannot stand the sight of each other, traded punches in training, and van Nistelrooy left Ronaldo with a broken face," Hunter explained.

"On Sunday, van Nistelrooy was not named in the Manchester United team, and as we all now know, he walks out.

"The roots are from a serious bust-up on the training pitch the day before, over a perennial row between the two. Ronaldo held onto the ball too long in training, and van Nistelrooy asked again: "Why do you keep onto the ball, why don't you pass to me? I am in position, I am the striker. Get the ball to me."

Hunter went on: "Ronaldo gives van Nistelrooy some lip, it ends up in a fight, and van Nistelrooy as he always does, needles into Ronaldo, and says "Yeah, yeah, go running to your Dad."

"He means Carlos Quieroz, Ferguson's assistant. Ronaldo's own father had died during the season, and finally, in the face of this abuse, Ronaldo burst into tears on the pitch and shouts "I don't have a Dad, he's dead."

This is the incident Sir Alex Ferguson spoke of after the game on Sunday when talked about a need to keep "team unity" at the club.

However, Hunter is not so keen to write off van Nistelrooy's Old Trafford career just yet.

"It is not necessarily the end for van Nistelrooy, because he is the goalscorer, and Ferguson still wants four strikers at the club.

"What Sir Alex may not know is that Cristiano Ronaldo is dead set on leaving Manchester United this summer, if Madrid will buy him. He personally has had enough of Manchester United, and English football. So, it may be that we are left with Ronaldo saying that he wants to go, and that van Nistelrooy and Ferguson may make their peace."

[stickywithoutjam]

Don't know the sequencing of events about that one, but Hunter was also giving the lowdown on Newstalk.......interesting stuff indeed though (and an interesting journo also).

[therock67]

stickywithoutjam said:

Don't know the sequencing of events about that one, but Hunter was also giving the lowdown on Newstalk.......interesting stuff indeed though (and an interesting journo also).

I have to disagree on that last part. Hunter is a media whore who repeats the same stories ad nauseum on various media sources and they are just based on gossip in the Spanish papers. I can't believe he's earning a living from just passing on rumours in the Spanish press to whomever will pay him a couple of quid.

[eamo]

admin said:

stickywithoutjam said:

Don't know the sequencing of events about that one, but Hunter was also giving the lowdown on Newstalk.......interesting stuff indeed though (and an interesting journo also).

I have to disagree on that last part. Hunter is a media whore who repeats the same stories ad nauseum on various media sources and they are just based on gossip in the Spanish papers. I can't believe he's earning a living from just passing on rumours in the Spanish press to whomever will pay him a couple of quid.

Well said. He reminds me of John Toshack. He goes on Irish TV with only a reasonable amount of actual football knowledge and pretends that he knows it all. It is like Cathal Dervan going to Spain and talkin about English football. Dunphy licks his ar5e as well.

It is a funny story if its true. I would take Ruud at Liverpool like a shot....

[lyonsee]

eamo said:

admin said:

I have to disagree on that last part. Hunter is a media whore who repeats the same stories ad nauseum on various media sources and they are just based on gossip in the Spanish papers. I can't believe he's earning a living from just passing on rumours in the Spanish press to whomever will pay him a couple of quid.

Well said. He reminds me of John Toshack. He goes on Irish TV with only a reasonable amount of actual football knowledge and pretends that he knows it all. It is like Cathal Dervan going to Spain and talkin about English football. Dunphy licks his ar5e as well.

It is a funny story if its true. I would take Ruud at Liverpool like a shot....

And smite.

[iamthelaw]

bandage said:

Taken from Setanta - interesting read:

"In January, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo, who literally cannot stand the sight of each other, traded punches in training, and van Nistelrooy left Ronaldo with a broken face," Hunter explained.

... and van Nistelrooy asked again: "Why do you keep onto the ball, why don't you pass to me? I am in position, I am the striker. Get the ball to me."

If Ronaldo "literally cannot stand the sight of" van Nistelrooy, that would surely explain why he doesn't pass the ball to him; I mean all passes would have to be made while both looked the opposite direction from each other. Indeed that might explain the poor quality of Ronaldo's crossing generally.

And what constitutes a "broken face"?

[stickywithoutjam]

admin said:

stickywithoutjam said:

Don't know the sequencing of events about that one, but Hunter was also giving the lowdown on Newstalk.......interesting stuff indeed though (and an interesting journo also).

I have to disagree on that last part. Hunter is a media whore who repeats the same stories ad nauseum on various media sources and they are just based on gossip in the Spanish papers. I can't believe he's earning a living from just passing on rumours in the Spanish press to whomever will pay him a couple of quid.

I don't hear him that often myself, granted he's a perma-fixture on Newstalk, and he does come up regular news reports on his evening & morning slots, thought he will often recite the same story on the slots.

So, I am not getting into that one with you.

Now, he may be a media wheure, but unlike Lawro he actually reports stuff - gossip it would have to be until proven in the open, but what else is sports journalism built upon but rumour, & opinion and not results certainly.

Now, thecrock67 KARMA999, don't go off on one and start bullying me like you do to Eamo....this thread can die for all I care.

[whyohwhy]

Ruud leaving. Arf Arf!

[captainshan]

Right decision when you look back on it.