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On Ronaldo's departure: "If we see thrilling on-the-ball flair like that again in our lifetimes, we ought to be astonished."

The first fanzines of the new season dissect Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid:

Reditorial of RedNews.co.uk: “Months on, and impressed with his humble thanks to United’s staff, management and supporters on joining Madrid, I feel sad more than bitter about Ronaldo. We will miss him, but the story was starting to spiral out of control, and as much as the hype often lived up to expectation, he and the team were believing it all too often themselves so that every attack or momentum sort of had to feed through him as though we didn’t totally have faith in ourselves to do the business without him.  The thrill of wondering who will take alternate set pieces could be quite liberating.”

Lou Macari in RedNews.co.uk: “Will we miss him? To be fair, we’d miss anybody that scored the goals he scored. No matter what we’d like to think in that we’re not going to miss him, we are.  The compensation for him is £80m, nobody gives you £80m for a player that won’t be missed and he will be because not only did he get goals, he got important goals.”

Allyn Thomas in UnitedWeStand: “Ronaldo never immersed himself within Mancunian life. He was merely passing through. He had a £4m mansion built in leafy Alderly Edge, complete with saunas, cinema and ‘media room’, yet still he pined for the sunshine and glamour of Madrid. Now was the correct time to sell the Portuguese pouter because, from this summer on, his value was only going to depreciate.”

RedIssue: “So, now he’s gone, how much will we miss him? That partly depends on how wisely we spend the money, and much of it the Glazers siphon off for their Visa bills. There’s also a perfectly coherent argument being made that this might actually benefit Rooney in particular, and Berbatov to a lesser extent, for various boring technical and tactical  reasons. Pudding-proof will come soon enough. Old skool Reds surely won’t miss his flagrant cheating, or his high-heeled, well-moisturised, and multi-condomed off-field behaviour either.  But if we see thrilling on-the-ball flair like that again in our lifetimes, we ought to be astonished. The divorce respondent’s verdict?  “He was an unfaithful wife – but, boy, was he good in bed.”

Baggy’s Shorts from RedIssue: “Ronnie’s leaving was seemingly inevitable, but what disappoints is the dishonesty from all sides, with Fergie’s claim that he wouldn’t sell a virus to that lot, and twinkle toes’ assertion as late as May that Manchester was his home and that he was very happy here. As usual it’s a case of tell the fans any old crap.”

'Red Issue' urges Ferguson to build Utd's attack around Berbatov-Rooney in the same way he has built the defence around Vidic-Ferdinand

RED ISSUE
WHY DOESN'T FERGUSON BUILD A ROONEY-BERBATOV PARTNERSHIP IN THE SAME WAY HE HAS BUILT A VIDIC-FERDINAND PARTNERSHIP?

"There seems little idea of how to successfully incorporate both Berbatov and Rooney into the same side... The Guardian has published some interesting analysis of the pair's performances together.  Only once have they managed to link up for a goal - against West Brom back in October.  Meanwhile, out of 551 passes the team made against Sunderland in December, only four were between the pair... What also surely can't help matters is the constant tinkering with the line-up.  Ferguson often talks about the importance of the team's defensive partnership, and it's no coincidence that in a team with so many changes both Vidic and Ferdinand were two of the few genuine first choice personnel in the semi-final starting line-up.  Quite why a similar opportunity isn't afforded to the team's main strike pairing is a mystery."

UNITED WE STAND
MANAGERIAL STABILITY EXPLAINS WHY ENGLISH CLUBS ARE BESTING REAL MADRID

"Spaniards cannot understand why the English persist with coaches like Ferguson, Wenger or Benitez if they don't lift the treble each season.  They call it the patience of the Anglo-Saxon mentality.  For years they mocked as Spanish clubs enjoyed hegemony in Europe.  The scorn has stopped, with English clubs consistently outperforming their Iberian cousins.  Whereas Sir Alex knows every player inside out and his charges know their manager's formidable traits, Madrid's players have to adopt new coaches and egotistical presidents almost annually, an unsettling environment at best.  Madrid's players have adapted domestically against clubs run on similar intolerant lines, but in Europe they look exposed and unsure, two characteristics the club's grand museum doesn't advertise."

RED NEWS
FICKLE PRESS NEED MAN UTD MORE THAN MAN UTD NEEDS THE PRESS

"The Mirror's match report after Liverpool screamed with self proclaimed hysteria: "The warning signs have been there for some time.  But when defeat eventually came, no-one would have imagined it would be so brutal and humiliating."  The warning signs?  Oh yes, Oliver Holt after the game also wrote: "Why Sir Alex Ferguson, not Rafa Benitez, is in danger of cracking up after Liverpool thrashing... the comprehensive manner of Liverpool's demolition of their opponents at Old Trafford suggested there may be nervous weeks ahead for Sir Alex."  Was this really the same Holt who just a week earlier, after our thrashing of Fulham in the Cup purred: "It feels as though there's something special about Ferguson's latest creation... you want to take your kids to a game so that in years to come, they can say they saw United played... most other teams are simply not in United's league... That there is no real perspective from anyone in football journalism is an argument for another day, yet this lack of objectivity over your actual standing and form, prefering rather than to judge each and every team after a small run of games - backed up by many managers across the board lose their jobs so quickly nowadays - defines a declining industry, one that doesn't seem to realise it is they who need United, for the oxygen of publicity, and selling any papers on the back of any such large defeat, certainly not the other way round.  As Fergie stared out at the press pre-Fulham he told them: There were no lives lost last week."  In a way, he watches the tide of opinion (be it from fans and press), without interest anymore, he has nothing left to prove and doesn't need to win either of us over to keep his job, just entirely believing that he'll be proved correct.  Whilst we can wobble with fears about worse case scenarios , he doesn't, and that's a great bit of experience to have that the Scousers simply don't possess."  

Tim