£80M

I was out with my girlfriend and got a call from Kentona (the ultimate rumour monger) that United accepted a whooping world record £80M bid from the virus capital of the world. I'm still in a bit of a shock and secretly happy that it's finally happened. We've been on this same roller-coaster ride last year and it's good to know it's reached it's final act, and we're spared another boring play by the same boring actors.

United and, especially, Ronaldo have been stringing us along the entire season with statements that he's staying but in the latest turn of events, he's finally reared his ugly head by signalling his intent to leave. Hopefully this is no hoax by some tabloid just to sell more papers. The official conclusion of the deal supposedly is at the end of the month, which means that there is still time for either of the 3 parties to back out. I doubt any of us would like another scene to play itself out.

So what now for United? Well, one thing's for sure, we're not going to as good as we were the previous year. As much as I think Ronaldo's a negative influence to the club on the whole, he's been instrumental to our success the last 3 seasons. I doubt we are able to cope with the same level of success with the current crop. Even if we use the money and make some strong additions, it will take sometime before we can even match the level of play when he's around. So we're practically going to take a step back in the next season.

That said, I'm still glad he's going (and hopefully gone by 30th June). His tantrums on the pitch, while tolerable for a 4 yr old, is extremely embarassing for a 24 yr old, not to mention disrespectful to his teammates and fans. His individual play and his ultra huge ego is just so un-United. At least with him gone (hopefully), Ferguson will be forced to play Rooney in his natural position upfront, although I suspect Ferguson cannot resist screwing with him.

As much as I would like to wish him good luck at his new club, he falls into the category of Heinze and Ince as conniving scums. Ronaldo and Real are a match made in heaven, and I'm glad we pulled the strings for their union. We may not win as many games as before, but at least we can hold our collective heads up high. Good riddence to bad rubbish.