Yeah Im with you, his efforts were abysmal at the time. I wonder how ugly it would have been if social media was around then. His efforts make Ronaldos little outburst seem trifling.
Time heals the wounds, he was my first football hero but the way he left was pretty hard to take but over time I have forgotten most of it and just remembered his football which i think was something he said would happen.
I wasn't around for Best but have seen enough and read enough to know what he was like. He was doing all that shit but still being top scorer nearly every year and one of the best players in the league. I think that's part of why people kind of forget all the off field stuff, but toward the end he just wasn't arsed at all. I think at one point he even retired and then showed up for pre season training a few weeks later.
I just look how people reacted to Ronaldo taking the summer off, even after everything that happened in his personal life. I defended him for taking that time off and maybe I was wrong. But this latest garbage is indefensible.
With other players like Keane, Beckham or Stam they were still playing to very high standards and people were genuinely disappointed to see them go. Ronaldo is doing nothing on the pitch and with all this nonsense now people are just doubling up on the hatred.
I'd even say someone like Yorke would be right up there, he went from top striker to not being picked for 6 months to not even getting a squad number in 3 seasons.