Ronaldo, Giggs, Nostalgia

Words by Dylan Mangan.

“Well this is the place to be. The hottest ticket in town. The place to be in the Premier League this weekend. A sight most thought they would never see again. Cristiano Ronaldo walks out of the Old Trafford tunnel wearing the famous red shirt of Manchester United again. Back into his kingdom to add to his legend.” - Rob Hawthorne on Sky Sports.

I could have chosen any commentator’s opening lines, any pundit’s opinion, any tweet from the official Manchester United account - the theme of English football this weekend was obvious. Ronaldo is back, baby! As soon as his move was announced, football’s collective memory went into overdrive with nostalgia powering the excitement at his move ‘home’. A potential return to United has been spoken about nearly every summer since his move away in 2009, but intensified in recent years alongside his transfer to Juventus in 2018. With each transfer window came rumours of varying believability until this year, when the Man U marketing team’s wishes finally came true. In monetary terms, his return has already generated above £187m in shirt sales, and prompted Man United’s price on the stock exchange to surge up by 8%.

While the Glazer’s basked in the successful business decision of bringing a huge star and the eyes of the world back on Old Trafford, Man United’s fans were euphoric in a sporting sense, their expectations for the season reaching new heights. And who could blame them really - there isn’t a team in the world that wouldn’t benefit from his goal scoring abilities. There are questions around how Ronaldo will fit in with the current attack, especially since it looked like United were aiming at building a young free flowing team that is quick in transition. United have also recently been a team that is more likely to be let down by a lazy defensive display than an impotent attacking one. The need for a defensive midfielder seems to have been forgotten about in all the excitement, and could cost them in key games against the best teams.

On the pitch, Ronaldo’s influence at Manchester United has already been on display. Two goals on his second coming against Newcastle United at the weekend helped power his new old team to a win, with the plaudits flying in as fast as the goals. Each goal is a good indication of how Ronaldo will work for United this season. The first - a simple tap in - was the perfect example of a poacher’s goal, and how his experience and instinct for being in the right place at the right time will add guaranteed goals to the team. He has a reputation for the spectacular, but in a team with Fernandes, Pogba and Greenwood, Ronaldo might be needed more for simplicity and consistency than anything else. The second goal was more in line with what we’re used to, as Ronaldo gathered the ball in the channel and sprinted past a faceless, nameless Newcastle player before powering the ball through the goalkeeper.

You can’t cover Cristiano Ronaldo’s return and the manic celebrations it has caused without addressing something else as well. As first reported by German publication Der Spiegel in 2017, Ronaldo was alleged to have raped an American woman, Kathryn Mayorga, during a holiday in Las Vegas in 2009. A 2018 article by the same publication released for the first time documents that suggest Ronaldo’s lawyers changed the wording of some of his answers to an internal questionnaire. 

For example: (from Der Spiegel)

Question: "Did Ms. C ever raise her voice, scream, or yell?"

In September: "She said no and stop several times."

In December: "No."

For more in depth information, I recommend reading the Der Spiegel article found here.

Nostalgia and excitement have played a part in the coverage of Ronaldo, but have also contributed to the media's failure to in some places even mention the allegations. On a weekend where Ronaldo’s debut was watched by millions of people around the world, one figure watching from the United VIP box stood out as well. Ryan Giggs is a former United player with close to 1,000 appearances for the club. In May, Giggs appeared at Manchester magistrates court to face charges of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Kate Greville, and of engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour towards her between December 1 2017 and November 2 2020. He is also charged with assaulting another woman, believed to be Greville’s younger sister. According to the police statement issued at the time, a woman in her 30s was treated for minor injuries at the scene at the time of the police intervention, on November 1 2020. He is currently on bail awaiting trial. It was at the very least a tone deaf decision for the United board to invite him to the game, and a sad example of how any of these kinds of allegations are thought about in football.

Football is an escapist game in a way. It’s what many people turn to at the end of a hard week, not always for comfort, but for something. What happens on the pitch is more important than anything else. It’s just a game after all. Increasingly, though, it feels like football has to be more than just that - it is more than just that. Recent years and months have seen taking a knee and Black Lives Matter becoming increasingly important in the sport. Players like Jordan Henderson have been part of a massive drive to help the LGBTQ+ community feel comfortable in the sport. The women’s game is slowly getting the recognition and respect it deserves. For anyone who has been subject to sexual assault, the message needs to be that we hear you, not that Ryan Giggs was a great ambassador for the club so of course he should be in the VIP box.