I see the 'ABU' Media are back in full voice...

[RedDevil@84]

Guardian takes it one notch up and brings out the alleged rape story

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nited-awkward-conversations-as-well-as-cheers

There is, however, a more troublesome side to the almost universal delight with which he’s been received. An allegation of rape against him in 2009 – first reported by Der Spiegel in 2017 – has been conspicuous by its absence in most coverage since the signing.

Later in 2009 Ronaldo’s lawyers paid Mayorga $375,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement. In 2018, Ronaldo’s lawyers said: “This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt … Cristiano Ronaldo merely followed the advice of his advisors in order to put an end to the outrageous accusation made against him, in order precisely to avoid attempts, such as those we are now witnessing, to destroy a reputation built thanks to hard work, athletic ability and behavioural correction.”

How do we navigate this part of Ronaldo’s story? Is it wrong to bring it up now – on the eve of his return? Is it wrong to bring it up at all, to remind people of an allegation that did not end in a conviction or go to a criminal trial? You can’t just mention it a little bit. During a broadcast how do you change gears from: “What does this mean for Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood?” to: “Well, there are these allegations …”?

 

[Herman Toothrot]

Guardian takes it one notch up and brings out the alleged rape story

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nited-awkward-conversations-as-well-as-cheers

There is, however, a more troublesome side to the almost universal delight with which he’s been received. An allegation of rape against him in 2009 – first reported by Der Spiegel in 2017 – has been conspicuous by its absence in most coverage since the signing.

Later in 2009 Ronaldo’s lawyers paid Mayorga $375,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement. In 2018, Ronaldo’s lawyers said: “This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt … Cristiano Ronaldo merely followed the advice of his advisors in order to put an end to the outrageous accusation made against him, in order precisely to avoid attempts, such as those we are now witnessing, to destroy a reputation built thanks to hard work, athletic ability and behavioural correction.”

How do we navigate this part of Ronaldo’s story? Is it wrong to bring it up now – on the eve of his return? Is it wrong to bring it up at all, to remind people of an allegation that did not end in a conviction or go to a criminal trial? You can’t just mention it a little bit. During a broadcast how do you change gears from: “What does this mean for Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood?” to: “Well, there are these allegations …”?

Think it's fair to mention and it's quite evenhanded.

 

[Withnail]

Think it's fair to mention and it's quite evenhanded.

Yeah I mean they really wouldn't be doing their job if this was ignored.

 

[Adisa]

Guardian takes it one notch up and brings out the alleged rape story

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nited-awkward-conversations-as-well-as-cheers

There is, however, a more troublesome side to the almost universal delight with which he’s been received. An allegation of rape against him in 2009 – first reported by Der Spiegel in 2017 – has been conspicuous by its absence in most coverage since the signing.

Later in 2009 Ronaldo’s lawyers paid Mayorga $375,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement. In 2018, Ronaldo’s lawyers said: “This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt … Cristiano Ronaldo merely followed the advice of his advisors in order to put an end to the outrageous accusation made against him, in order precisely to avoid attempts, such as those we are now witnessing, to destroy a reputation built thanks to hard work, athletic ability and behavioural correction.”

How do we navigate this part of Ronaldo’s story? Is it wrong to bring it up now – on the eve of his return? Is it wrong to bring it up at all, to remind people of an allegation that did not end in a conviction or go to a criminal trial? You can’t just mention it a little bit. During a broadcast how do you change gears from: “What does this mean for Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood?” to: “Well, there are these allegations …”?

What's wrong with the article? The allegations should not be ignored.

 

[RedDevil@84]

What's wrong with the article? The allegations should not be ignored.

There is nothing wrong in talking about an allegation. It is just weird to bring it up now.

"Messi, who cheated tax authorities through shell companies, has joined PSG" would be a strange way to report things.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Yeah I mean they really wouldn't be doing their job if this was ignored.

Doing their job? It's written by a self admitted 'Messi ultra' as he puts it, and is basically a copy paste from his wikipedia. It looks like an article out of Goal dot com.

 

[RORY65]

There is nothing wrong in talking about an allegation. It is just weird to bring it up now.

"Messi, who cheated tax authorities through shell companies, has joined PSG" would be a strange way to report things.

He's just come back to England and he is being treated with absolute hero worship by the fanbase of the biggest club in the country, read the threads on here and you would think he was basically the Messiah, it's not in anyway the same as the Messi joining a club in a different country without even noting the fact that the allegations concern a much more serious offence.

I have been surprised how little coverage it has received since he signed and how it has been effectively ignored on here, I think the persecution complex that is going on in this thread is going a bit far if you think this being noted at all in the media is part of some anti-United agenda rather than the bare minimum level of discourse of something very serious.

 

[shaky]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...orship-does-not-mask-manchester-uniteds-flaws

As predictable as ever, Wilson is back with his tidings of woe for Ronaldo and Utd.


Highlights include


"he jogged out to warm up, cleverly maximising his exposure by positioning himself behind Donny van de Beek, a player of translucent appearance and reputation"

"Might this hamper the development of Mason Greenwood?"

"Might Ronaldo’s presence impede the creativity of Bruno Fernandes, who has been so vital to United recently but with whom there has been no evidence he can play with Portugal?"

" Might his reluctance to press expose that threadbare midfield against better sides? "

 

[Jippy]

All these threads moaning about ABU media this or that are small-time and belong on Rawk.

 

[EngimaMK]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...orship-does-not-mask-manchester-uniteds-flaws

As predictable as ever, Wilson is back with his tidings of woe for Ronaldo and Utd.


Highlights include


"he jogged out to warm up, cleverly maximising his exposure by positioning himself behind Donny van de Beek, a player of translucent appearance and reputation"

"Might this hamper the development of Mason Greenwood?"

"Might Ronaldo’s presence impede the creativity of Bruno Fernandes, who has been so vital to United recently but with whom there has been no evidence he can play with Portugal?"

" Might his reluctance to press expose that threadbare midfield against better sides? "

Wilson is appalling. A man with a vendetta, no doubt about it. I'm not usually one for ABU conspiracies but this guy is a cnut.

Even if we won the league with Ronaldo as top scorer, he will hunker down in his position. Absolute arse hole.

 

[vodrake]

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-man-utd-4-1-newcastle-ronaldo-sancho-solskjaer

F365 Says: Ronaldo stars but Man Utd struggle to meet Solskjaer’s demand

His decisive brace gave the home supporters exactly what they wanted on an afternoon the feel-good factor returned to Old Trafford. But once the euphoria over Ronaldo’s return subsides, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may be feeling a little shortchanged on his pre-match demand.

Feeling a bit shortchanged on the 4-1 win

The media seem utterly gutted that we won today

 

[mav_9me]

All these threads moaning about ABU media this or that are small-time and belong on Rawk.

In general I agree. But this thread is picking out specific instances/examples. Slightly different to a generic the media hates us thread.

 

[Jippy]

In general I agree. But this thread is picking out specific instances/examples. Slightly different to a generic the media hates us thread.

We have three ABU threads on the go at the moment.
Some journos hate United, others don't care either way but know a controversial article on Ronaldo/DDG/Rashford/whichever player is in the headlines will get clicks. Life is genuinely too short to sit around getting worked up about it.

 

[Foxbatt]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...orship-does-not-mask-manchester-uniteds-flaws

As predictable as ever, Wilson is back with his tidings of woe for Ronaldo and Utd.


Highlights include


"he jogged out to warm up, cleverly maximising his exposure by positioning himself behind Donny van de Beek, a player of translucent appearance and reputation"

"Might this hamper the development of Mason Greenwood?"

"Might Ronaldo’s presence impede the creativity of Bruno Fernandes, who has been so vital to United recently but with whom there has been no evidence he can play with Portugal?"

" Might his reluctance to press expose that threadbare midfield against better sides? "

Doesn't it say that his arse may be exposed if he takes off his shorts?

 

[shaky]

We have three ABU threads on the go at the moment.
Some journos hate United, others don't care either way but know a controversial article on Ronaldo/DDG/Rashford/whichever player is in the headlines will get clicks. Life is genuinely too short to sit around getting worked up about it.

Life is too short to get worked up about anything football related. Might as well close down half the cafe in that case.

 

[Ramshock]

We have three ABU threads on the go at the moment.
Some journos hate United, others don't care either way but know a controversial article on Ronaldo/DDG/Rashford/whichever player is in the headlines will get clicks. Life is genuinely too short to sit around getting worked up about it.

Merge them then

 

[MDFC Manager]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...orship-does-not-mask-manchester-uniteds-flaws

As predictable as ever, Wilson is back with his tidings of woe for Ronaldo and Utd.


Highlights include


"he jogged out to warm up, cleverly maximising his exposure by positioning himself behind Donny van de Beek, a player of translucent appearance and reputation"

"Might this hamper the development of Mason Greenwood?"

"Might Ronaldo’s presence impede the creativity of Bruno Fernandes, who has been so vital to United recently but with whom there has been no evidence he can play with Portugal?"

" Might his reluctance to press expose that threadbare midfield against better sides? "

Someone remind this wanker how Juventus are doing post Ronaldo

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

This thread is pretty cringe, my YT homepage was littered with videos praising Ronaldo from Sky, talkSport, ESPN, fan channels since the signing was announced up to the game. You aren’t going to get unanimous praise, but this just screams persecution complex.

 

[shaky]

This thread is pretty cringe, my YT homepage was littered with videos praising Ronaldo from Sky, talkSport, ESPN, fan channels since the signing was announced up to the game. You aren’t going to get unanimous praise, but this just screams persecution complex.

Some might argue that calling things pretty cringe is pretty cringe.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

Some might argue that calling things pretty cringe is pretty cringe.

Cringe.

 

[Tyrion]

Cristiano Ronaldo FC

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

I'm pretty sure she's a Liverpool fan.

 

[Tyrion]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Him and Scholes both think that. It's so dumb. Kane is overrated because he's England's star player. He's really good obviously but if he could automatically win the league, maybe he would have done that once in the last several seasons of the league or in any of the other competitions he's not won.

Him and Souness are the biggest idiots I’ve seen on TV.

Souness is more bitter and cranky than dumb I think. He hates Pogba because he's active on social media and reminds Souness of what "kids these days" are like. He probably saw him wear headphones once and hasn't forgiven him for it.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...orship-does-not-mask-manchester-uniteds-flaws

As predictable as ever, Wilson is back with his tidings of woe for Ronaldo and Utd.


Highlights include


"he jogged out to warm up, cleverly maximising his exposure by positioning himself behind Donny van de Beek, a player of translucent appearance and reputation"

"Might this hamper the development of Mason Greenwood?"

"Might Ronaldo’s presence impede the creativity of Bruno Fernandes, who has been so vital to United recently but with whom there has been no evidence he can play with Portugal?"

" Might his reluctance to press expose that threadbare midfield against better sides? "

Might he win us the league?

Tbf, Wilson also argued that Messi makes PSG less likely to win the CL. He's basically a footballing communist in that he prefers the system and sees individuals like Messi and Ronaldo as a disaster.

The media also spent 2 years moaning that Phil Foden wasn't playing 30 games a season at 18. Afaik, he's played more games than Lampard, Scholes and Gerrard had at his age and yet there was constant pressure on Pep to play him more for at least a year. The English press loves to fret over teenagers not being turned into immediate starters for their clubs so the England team can pick them and the press can turn them into national scapegoats. Bringing the player through gradually is a process they've no patience for.

 

[T00lsh3d]

Jonathan Wilson….what is wrong with that man. Daily life must be so difficult when you’re that much of a bellend

 

[Crimson King]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...orship-does-not-mask-manchester-uniteds-flaws

As predictable as ever, Wilson is back with his tidings of woe for Ronaldo and Utd.


Highlights include


"he jogged out to warm up, cleverly maximising his exposure by positioning himself behind Donny van de Beek, a player of translucent appearance and reputation"

"Might this hamper the development of Mason Greenwood?"

"Might Ronaldo’s presence impede the creativity of Bruno Fernandes, who has been so vital to United recently but with whom there has been no evidence he can play with Portugal?"

" Might his reluctance to press expose that threadbare midfield against better sides? "

Apart from his usual glass half full outlook, the most annoying thing about that article from Wilson is his typical lack of answers to his own questions.

Everything he says is shit we already know. "Solskjaer isn't good enough and needs to win a trophy soon"... We know Jonathan, but tell us who that should be? There are very few top coaches out there who would guarantee success, and two of them are at our closest rivals right now. Anybody else would still be a punt, and we still have PTSD from Moyes.

"United shouldn't have wasted money on Ronaldo when they need midfielders"... actually Jonathan, we needed a better CB, a top player for the RW, competition at RB and a midfielder or 2. We managed to get 2 of those. We were priced out of the other two, and everyone knows getting Ronaldo was opportunistic and outside the set budget. Also, there are very few ready made CDMs out there we could get. We spent £50m on Fred, we can't just jettison him that easily. We're not City, Chelsea or PSG, our mistakes can't just be instantly replaced with someone else expensive in the hope they'll be better.

If he added this context the articles would at least be valid. He's always trying to set himself apart though, so they're just coming across as clickbait.

 

[Zen86]

I mean, these people will continue to write garbage articles as long as backlinks and pageviews are generated from places like this. Posting a link to the article is exactly what they want you to do.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Sassy Colin]

He's just come back to England and he is being treated with absolute hero worship by the fanbase of the biggest club in the country, read the threads on here and you would think he was basically the Messiah, it's not in anyway the same as the Messi joining a club in a different country without even noting the fact that the allegations concern a much more serious offence.

I have been surprised how little coverage it has received since he signed and how it has been effectively ignored on here, I think the persecution complex that is going on in this thread is going a bit far if you think this being noted at all in the media is part of some anti-United agenda rather than the bare minimum level of discourse of something very serious.

Which team do you support?

 

[sugar_kane]

The only way I can explain Wilson's barely disguised hatred for Ole is that he knows we now have a manager who the majority of our fans love and believe in, flaws (which all managers have) aside.

Therefore Ole must be torn down and decried as a tactical novice, as the man who has still failed to bring us a trophy.

The thing these journalists don't realised is most United fans honestly don't care - we recognise his flaws but right now know he has us on the right track, and we recognise the continued progress he is making. Yesterday's starting 11 alone is an endorsement of the rebuild he has done for our club.

Crucially we believe in him because we trust him to be trying to do the right thing for our club, even if he doesn't always get everything spot on (who does?)

The fact he is a club legend is a huge bonus, of course.

 

[RORY65]

Which team do you support?

United, why?

 

[Sassy Colin]

United, why?

Just checking

 

[Xaviesta]

Good grief, it's possible to not rate a manager and not hate them. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hasn't done enough to warrant hatred from anybody and arguably hasn't done enough to really impress those who are emotionally detached from Manchester United.

Why waste energy making a fuss about who hates United, who hates Ole, who hates Ronaldo or who hates Pat Crerand? If you don't like it, don't read it.

 

[Highfather_24]

Does Ole need to win a trophy? Yes, every Man utd manager does.

But this strange idea that Ole should be sacked if he doesnt win a trophy this season is bizarre. There are so many factors and context, what if we had an amazing season, reached CL finals, and 2nd in league by 1 point? Obviously if we have shown marked improvements over the last season, he should be sacked. He should only be if he regresses, or we dont show any improvement.

The trophy binary is stupid. Its just coming from ABUs who are scared of United again, and want to mount pressure on Ole. The agenda is so obvious.

 

[Mickson]

Good grief, it's possible to not rate a manager and not hate them. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hasn't done enough to warrant hatred from anybody and arguably hasn't done enough to really impress those who are emotionally detached from Manchester United.

Why waste energy making a fuss about who hates United, who hates Ole, who hates Ronaldo or who hates Pat Crerand? If you don't like it, don't read it.

It's a classic too, every pundit "hates their team". I saw a pundit who copied messages that he had got, apparently, he hated every team in the PL according to fans

 

[cyberman]

Hilarious. Gotta keep a tab on these as we steamroll this season.

 

[Adisa]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...orship-does-not-mask-manchester-uniteds-flaws

As predictable as ever, Wilson is back with his tidings of woe for Ronaldo and Utd.


Highlights include


"he jogged out to warm up, cleverly maximising his exposure by positioning himself behind Donny van de Beek, a player of translucent appearance and reputation"

"Might this hamper the development of Mason Greenwood?"

"Might Ronaldo’s presence impede the creativity of Bruno Fernandes, who has been so vital to United recently but with whom there has been no evidence he can play with Portugal?"

" Might his reluctance to press expose that threadbare midfield against better sides? "

You have to laugh at Wilson at this point. Bitterness is eating this man up.

 

[Coleyoscar]

You have to laugh at Wilson at this point. Bitterness is eating this man up.

So true. The Guardian is such a quality newspaper yet it produces some truly laughable football writing. You have Wilson with his regular anti-United agenda items. On the other hand I remember an article when the scousers lost four-nil to city in July last year after they had clinched the title. Barney Ronay in the Guardian explained that this proved "the splendour of Liverpool's achievement in winning the league so emphatically..."
Beyond parody.

 

[Sassy Colin]

So true. The Guardian is such a quality newspaper yet it produces some truly laughable football writing. You have Wilson with his regular anti-United agenda items. On the other hand I remember an article when the scousers lost four-nil to city in July last year after they had clinched the title. Barney Ronay in the Guardian explained that this proved "the splendour of Liverpool's achievement in winning the league so emphatically..."
Beyond parody.

Notsureifserious

 

[Chief123]

The fact that this thread is active again is a clear sign we are a threat again. Long may it continue. I’ve missed the ABU bias.

 

[Coleyoscar]

Notsureifserious

Deadly serious. The Guardian is a quality newspaper in a market in which that's a rarity.

 

[Sassy Colin]

Deadly serious. The Guardian is a quality newspaper in a market in which that's a rarity.

Whatever