Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was quick in laying down the law to his new charges and Bruno Fernandes has finally seen it fit to admit that his celebrated compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo was called out specifically by the former Ajax manager.
Fernandes has come clean that Ten Hag is one who lived up to his word by even ripping into the likes of Ronaldo.
Having been appointed as the boss of Manchester United at the end of the club’s worst ever Premier League season, the Dutchman quickly went about regurgitating the culture within a squad that had been shockingly defined by undesirable body language and negative, shocking training ground leaks that unfailingly found their way to the media.
After the easy-going arm-around-the-shoulder camaraderie and style cultivated by former gaffer Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ten Hag’s no-nonsense authoritarian approach immediately brought into play a totally different scenario with the who-cares-a-damn laissez-faire complacency totall ripped out under his austere stewardship. The Dutchman stepped up to the plate and instilled his own rules and beliefs during a summer tour of Asia and Australia, where the players were quickly made aware of what kind of demeanor and attitude would, and wouldn’t, be condoned under the regime of the new hangman and executioner.
Ronaldo was among the first ones to find out the embarrassing was as he casually missed that summer tour having taken self-approved leave fly back to Portugal on some personal matter and – upon the squad’s return to Manchester, followed up by some unpleasant developments involving the new gaffer – would forcibly agitate for a move away. The recalcitrant Portuguese striker with the ginormous ego held crisis talks with his Dutch boss just weeks into the latter’s tenure, after having obnoxiously making it crystal clear he wanted to leave above all else.
Unfortunately for the Portuguese superstar, takers at the top level among the European clubs were awkwardly unavailable and he would ultimately remain at Carrington for the start of the season, by which time he had been relegated to the role of ‘supersub’ rather than being the favored definite starter. Obviously this further strained the relationship between super striker and new gaffer, with several signs of fractures showing almost immediately throughout the first-half of the campaign, including a notable moment where the Portuguese actually even refused to come on as a substitute.
CR7’s Old Trafford exit was eventually confirmed prior to the start of the World Cup, courtesy of a premeditated interview with Piers Morgan with explosive consequences due to the star’s numerous aspersions with regards to his gaffer and some of his more celebrated ex teammates like Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville, which stunned all and sundry. During the chat, the veteran actually accused Ten Hag of not respecting him and pushing him towards the exit door.
And Fernandes, during an interview with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport, has suggested that Ronaldo – along with the likes of Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford were made the examples to the rest of the squad that indiscipline would simply not be tolerated by the former Ajax manager – regardless of the status of any player involved.
“He demands from people. He demands and you either do it, or you’re out,” Fernandes explained.
“In the beginning everyone was like: ‘Will he do that if a big player doesn’t do what he wants? Will he pull him apart or not?’
“And then he did it many times, he did it with Cristiano, he did it with Jadon and with Marcus also.”
Kudos to the Dutchman for his upstanding demeanor and uncompromising attitude dealing with the superbrats in the game!