The return of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United has certainly had the desired effect, from a financial standpoint. For the brand, the myth, the legend, the endorsers, his handlers, everyone involved in who he is and what he’s about on an individual level, this has been everything you wanted.
According to Reuters, United’s “$3 billion club’s equity value has risen 12% since the Portuguese striker signed in late August, a period in which the team has only won three in seven games.” Yes, that is a pretty good summation of what has happened so far, and of the post Sir Alex Ferguson portion of the Glazer era.
United keep making money, hand over first, but they certainly don’t look any closer to winning a trophy, something still that hasn’t under current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The club’s valuation has increased, and the Glazers are ready to cash in on that, preparing to sell some of their shares. Of course, their stake in the team will only decrease by a percentage in the single digits, so it’s not like supporters are finally going to get what they want- less Glazer control.
But the Ronaldo acquisition has certainly worked out well for them, in terms of return on investment. The shirt sales alone have pretty much paid the amount of the transfer fee which MUFC sent to Juventus. But in all this glamorization of Ronaldo, the individual brand, what gets lost are those who want to tell the whole story about Ronaldo the human being.
And for those who wish to know the full truth, the whole truth about what really happened between him and his accuser, Kathyrn Mayorga, it’s all getting brushed aside.
Mayorga has accused Ronaldo of rape, and the civil lawsuit is still pending. Yes, this is a “he said, she said” situation, but if you read some of what’s in those court documents, it’s very disturbing. And we’re talking about the statements that are in Ronaldo’s own words, his own testimony, and much it looks pretty bad.
It also doesn’t help that he first dismissed all this situation altogether, as a complete fiction, before we then found out there was a non-disclosure agreement.
As said on After Extra Time, this site’s weekly podcast, we’ll abide by the ruling of the American judicial system. The criminal case has been dismissed, because it was ruled that Ronaldo couldn’t be convicted beyond a reasonable doubt.
The burden of proof is always on the prosecution, that’s the system we have, but it never looks good when the accused has changed their story.
Now this is all heavy sledding, some serious stuff which covers ground that’s much more important than what we usually talk about here in this space.
And it’s unfortunate because we should look at the entire human being, the whole person and try to learn the whole story. Not just the footballing superstar who scores goals on the pitch, sells shirts and raises shareholder value.
He’s a human being, and that makes him much more complicated.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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