‘Half the Squad’—The Rift Cristiano Ronaldo Created in Man Utd Dressing Room

Ronaldo left the Red Devils after a bust-up with manager Erik ten Hag.

Cristiano Ronaldo left Man Utd in late 2022. | OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

Cristiano Ronaldo’s issues with Erik ten Hag at Manchester United left the squad divided over who was in the right, former Red Devils assistant Steve McClaren has revealed.

Ronaldo’s return to United in 2021 lasted just over 12 months as he clashed with Ten Hag, his manager at the time, over his role in the team. One public outburst later and his contract was terminated ahead of a switch to Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr.

“Erik tried to impose his style and that’s why he had that fight with Ronaldo all the way through,” McClaren, who worked as Ten Hag’s assistant, told The Athletic. “I said to Erik, very early, ‘It’s you or him.’

“Ronaldo was generally O.K., but he didn’t want to do the job that Erik wanted him to do. Or didn’t feel he was capable of doing it. The instructions out of possession were, ‘Get into the middle, as soon as you’re back, you’re the first press, then double run, even a triple run now and again.’

“I used to say to Ronnie, ‘If you want to play, that’s what you’ve got to do.’ He’d argue, ‘Ah, nobody wants to press.’ I’d say, ‘Well, they’re all young lads, they can press.’

“It’s right that 11 players attack, 11 players defend. Not 11 players attack, 10 players defend. So I said, ‘You have to run, it’s simple, Ronnie. If you don’t, you don’t play.’

“Maybe other managers have tried to adapt and accommodate to get the best out of him. The balance of that was significant. You’ve probably got half the squad going, ‘We think Ronnie’s right,’ and half going, ‘We think Erik is right.’”

---

McClaren: ‘Automatic Respect for Coaches’ Gone

Ronaldo did not hide his disdain towards Erik ten Hag. | ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

McClaren’s stint under Ten Hag was not his first on the Old Trafford dugout. While most famously remembered as a manager in his own right, McClaren’s career began as a number two and he spent 142 games under United legend Sir Alex Ferguson between 1999 and 2001.

Comparing the two sets of players he worked with over different generations, McClaren suggested modern players have lost the automatic respect that used to be shown to managers.

“First question [players] ask, ‘Can that man help us win football matches?’” he continued. “That’s it. Not be my friend, not be this, not be that. Can you win me football matches?

“Every time you don’t, they’re looking at you going, ‘Hmm, why are we doing this?’ There probably isn’t that automatic respect for coaches. The game’s changed.

“With Fergie, he was right or you were out. If you weren’t with him and he knew it, you were gone. And that’s the authority, the power that he had developed over years and years.

“Now, the problems we had with Erik at the beginning, Fergie had exactly the same. He used to tell me stories about fighting all the drinkers. Fergie said, ‘I fought them every day, Steve.’ I told him, ‘I’d have loved to have been your assistant at that time.’ I don’t think I’d have survived, but I’d have loved it. The characters.

“The Gaffer, Sir Alex, got time to do it. Erik didn’t get the same time. In a way, I could believe it. But in some respects, I couldn’t, because he won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup.”

---