Fergie's Simple Solution

Sir Alex shed light on the secred of how he had persuaded Ronaldo to stay. It was nothing special, really.

You may forgive me that I won't delve into the details of the well-publicised incident between Ronaldo and Rooney that had occurred at the last World Cup.

It's well documented that the Portuguese winger wished to leave Old Trafford, preferably for Real Madrid, back then. But the move never materialised and Ronaldo went on to have the most scintillating season of his career.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been tight-lipped on the issue so far but now Germany looks like distant memory (though the England team's performance creates a nostalgic atmosphere for those who for some reason love to relive terrible memories) and the Scot decided to tell us how he had persuaded Ronaldo to stay.

'What I said to Cristiano was exactly what I said to Eric and David at the time,' he told radio station Key 103.

''They are going to boo you, but that's all. They are not going to do anything physical against you because it's not that kind of nation'. They both rode the storm and so did Cristiano.'

That's all, really? Somehow one would have expected something dramatic, something deeply psychological, preferably involving emotional upheavels. None of that? Oh, well, the man from Govan knows better than us, yet again.

Hats off to Fergie and to Ronaldo - and to a lesser extent, Rooney who apparently did not bear any grudge.

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