Former Man Utd assistant Steve McClaren has revealed that there were “a lot of battles on that training field” between Cristiano Ronaldo and Erik ten Hag.
The Portugal international left Man Utd in controversial circumstances at the end of 2022 by airing out his dirty laundry in an interview with Piers Morgan, following a heated fall-out with Ten Hag.
Ronaldo had his contract mutually terminated as he snubbed interest from across Europe to sign for Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr in a mammoth pay day.
In the interview with Morgan, Ronaldo said of Ten Hag: “I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me. If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never going to have respect for you.”
Before he later doubled down on his criticism of the Dutchman, who he claimed wasn’t up to a job of that magnitude.
Ronaldo said: “(As) Manchester United coach, you cannot say that you’re not going to fight to win the League or Champions League.
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“You have to be, to mentally say, listen, maybe we don’t have that potential, but I cannot say that. We’re going to try. You have to try.”
And Ten Hag’s former assistant McClaren has revealed that events leading up to their fall-out that would end Ronaldo’s time at Man Utd.
McClaren said on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast: “There was a lot of battles on that training field. There was a lot of ‘all I want you to do is this, this, this and this.’ That was Erik’s coaching – Ronnie this is your job.
“I used to say to Ronnie, ‘all he [Ten Hag] wants you to do is, you’re the first press, make one run, make two runs, and maybe make a third one, if you feel like it. And then, recover back into the middle, in case we win the ball, and then we can play to you. That’s all he wants you to do.’
“‘If you can’t do that, you won’t be playing. Or if you won’t do that, you can’t be playing. Okay, or he [Ten Hag] won’t pick you. I’m telling you, he won’t pick you.’
“It’s not like, I think other people would, and that’s the difference, other people would. But Erik was, no, I’m doing that, and he’s [Ronaldo] got to do it, otherwise he doesn’t play.
“It was a little bit of a fight. Not a fight, but a standoff, and who is going to win? Erik stuck to his guns. I think most managers would accommodate to that. some managers are like that. But he stuck to his guns.”
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The Man Utd and Real Madrid legend spoke as recently as November last year on the club’s latest situation with Ruben Amorim going through a poor run of results at the time.
Ronaldo told Morgan: “For me, I’m sad because of the club, that’s one of the most important clubs in the world, and a club that I still have in my heart because of the obvious reasons.
“You have to follow with the intelligent people, smart people, to create a base for the future as Manchester United have [done] so many years ago.
“Nicky Butt, Gary [Neville], Roy Keane, [David] Beckham, they became big players but they had youth. So Manchester United right now, they don’t have a structure.
“I hope that changes in the future, present/future, because the potential of the club, it’s amazing. It’s one of the most important clubs of the century.”
Asked by Morgan: “Do you still look out for United results. And does it hurt you to see how badly they do?”
Ronaldo replied: “Of course. Of course.
“Because I was there so many years. I win the Champions League there, I win the golden ball, I win like 12, 13, 14 titles there.
“So I repeat, Manchester United is still in my heart. I love that club.
“But we have all to be honest and look for ourselves and say, “Listen, they are not in a good path”. So, they need to change and it’s not only about the coach and players, in my opinion.”
Man Utd are in a healthier position now with interim head coach Michael Carrick taking 13 points from his first five matches to get the Red Devils into the top four of the Premier League.
