Cristiano Ronaldo says Manchester United facilities a disgrace – Mike Ashley says hold my glass

Cristiano Ronaldo has been making the headlines.

No surprises there…but rather than it being about what is happening on the pitch, the headlines are anything but about that.

They are simply about poor old Cristiano Ronaldo and where he now finds himself.

After kicking off in the summer and demanding a move to a club offering competitive Champions League football, he received no offers.

Credit to Ten Hag on the way he has handled this absolute embarrassing mess, Cristiano Ronaldo clearly causing all kinds of problems behind the scenes and widely reported to have refused to play, or indeed come off the subs bench during at least one match.

The Man Utd manager responding by limited Cristiano Ronaldo to only four Premier League starts, 10 PL appearances in all, scoring only one goal.

His star (and legs) is / are clearly on the wane and only the player failing to see that it is he himself who is the problem.

Anyway, all the headlines on this Monday morning are about Cristiano Ronaldo, he has done a TV interview with Piers Morgan (what a pair…) and ahead of it being shown, the newspapers are carrying details / quotes.

The former top star claiming it is he who is the victim, that they are trying to forced him out of Old Trafford.

Basically, he is now totally slagging off Man Utd and one of the angles he is using, is accusing the club of totally failing to invest in the infrastructure. Not spending anything like the necessary funds on Old Trafford itself, the training complex and so on.

Cristiano Ronaldo says Manchester United facilities a disgrace – Mike Ashley says hold my glass…

Responding to the Ronaldo claims, football finance expert Kieran Maguire has responded.

Kieran producing the table below showing what Premier League clubs each spent between 2009 and 2021 on their club’s infrastructure…

Kieran Maguire asking the question…‘Does Christiano Ronaldo have a valid criticism of Manchester United in terms of infrastructure spend since he left in 2009? (Man) United have certainly spend less than most other senior compared, but not as parsimonious as Mike Ashley’s Newcastle.’

The figures are taken from official club accounts and Man Utd spending only £98m in that 12 year period.

However…anything the Glazers can do, Mike Ashley could do ‘better’!

Yes, in that 12 year period, Ashley only allowing the very bare minimum of £8m maintenance / upkeep on St James’ Park, the training ground, Academy facilities and the rest of the facilities / infrastructure.

For outsiders, they need to realise just what a complete embarrassing mess the current Newcastle United owners and Eddie Howe have inherited from Ashley and his minions. An absolute disgrace that the vast majority of the media completely failed to hold Mike Ashley to account for, with only the odd media exception such as Kieran Maguire.

Going back six months, Cristiano Ronaldo was already at it, with complaints about the Man Utd facilities.

It was widely reported that he’d complained to the club that they’d failed to invest in the training ground facilities and he particularly complained about the state of the swimming pool and sauna facilities on offer. He demanded that they be refurbished and apparently the club did a big upgrade.

Once again though, imagine if Cristiano Ronaldo had arrived at Newcastle United with Mike Ashley in charge, then met with these ‘facilities’…

…and this

The Newcastle United owners declared the training facilities not fit for for purpose after taking over, unable to believe just how poor the Ashley conditions were for the first team playing squad especially.

An urgent upgrade is now on its way to being completed at that current training ground, with a new location set to be bought and a state of the art training complex to be built in these next few years, in line with an ambitious Premier League club.

I would love to have seen Cristiano Ronaldo turn up at Newcastle under Mike Ashley, arrive at the training ground and seen his face when asked to choose his wheelie bin, before then getting directed to the paddling pool!!!