Ronaldo price tag is obscene

CRISTIANO Ronaldo is to leave Manchester United and join Real Madrid in an £80million deal.

There are probably only one or two people in the entire world who have yet to have a slice of their life force stolen away simply by virtue of learning this information. Lucky souls indeed.

The tale of the Portuguese winger’s move to the Spanish capital has been stretched thinner than the skin on Amanda Holden’s botox-stiffened face.

Like the camp television talent show on which Ms Holden appears as a judge, the whole saga is both repetitive and yet annoyingly compelling.

It was obvious that Ronaldo would eventually depart Old Trafford for Madrid, after so much tedious innuendo, rumour and counter-rumour kept the tabloid mill turning over the past couple of years.

The timing wasn’t so much of a surprise — after all, Ronnie did help land the oh-so prestigious FIFA Club World Cup with United last season, the pinnacle of any footballing career — and the transfer fee, while huge, wasn’t all that shocking either.

That said, with the world economy still in meltdown as a result of the worst recession since World War Two, and 3.2million people forecast to be out of work in Britain by early 2010, the fact that one man can now earn more than £500,000 a week for kicking a football around a pitch seems obscene.

Scratch that — it IS obscene.

It isn’t quite as bad as our top clubs selling themselves to the highest foreign bidder in exchange for mountains of debt. At least the players contribute to the game, rather than leech off it without putting anything back.

And controls over club ownership, as well as spending on both transfer fees and wages, must now be a priority for the game’s governing authorities.

Otherwise, it will come to a point where the man on the street simply refuses to hand over his money to fund a sport that is rapidly being symbolised by greed and excess.


PITY the poor Australian cricket team, forced to head to the Leicester tourist information office to pick up a load of leaflets on ways to fill their empty schedule.

An unexpected early exit for the Twenty20 World Cup left Ricky Ponting’s side with a two-week break in England’s 10th biggest city, contemplating trips to the National Space Centre and Melton Mowbray.

It is a toss-up whether staring at a Soyuz spacecraft or tasting a few luscious pork pies is any worse a preparation for the upcoming Ashes series than a few 20-over slogfests.

Much if the action thus far has been fairly entertaining, but with the format dictating that bat comfortably wins the duel with ball, Twenty20 still isn’t cricket. Roll on the proper stuff.

mattchambers@oldham-chronicle.co.uk