As the dust settles at Old Trafford after the first shockwaves of Cristiano Ronaldo’s highly critical interview, club executives have been busy examining their options for the next step in resolving an increasingly toxic
On the day the first installment of Talk TV’s interview with presenter Piers Morgan, Manchester United owners, the Glazer family, chief executive Richard Arnold and director of football John Murtough, along with manager Erik ten Hag, they will talk to their lawyers. while they wait to see the full reach of the player’s comments over the next 24 hours.
So far, in extracts also published by the Sun newspaper and in video clips viewed more than 11 million times on social media, Ronaldo has accused his employers of betrayal and disrespect, hitting out at Ten Hag and the club’s hierarchy. Here’s what we know so far.
But what options does the club have? How could they take a constructive step forward in the wake of the 37-year-old superstar’s embarrassing controversy?
What is the most important consideration for United as far as they know?
The most important thing for United is to establish the extent to which Ronaldo is in breach of his contract through his comments and what they can do next.
All top level players sign a Premier League employment contract with their clubs.
Under this agreement, they are required to “comply with and act in accordance with all lawful instructions of any authorized officer of the club” and are not permitted to “write or say anything which may bring the club into disrepute … or cause … damage to the club”.
Jamie Singer, a partner at sports law specialists Onside Law, believes Ronaldo may already be in breach of his standard contract.
“In the contract, there’s a specific provision that talks about not saying anything that brings the club into disrepute or harms the club’s reputation,” he says. “The content of the interview puts it immediately in violation.
“Standard conditions also include, where possible, informing the club of the interviews you are doing in advance. He could have informed the club, so I would think it was probably another breach.”
United are understood to have been made aware of Ronaldo’s camp interview on Sunday shortly before Morgan’s first tweet to announce it, so it could be open to interpretation if that qualifies as reasonable notice with in advance
“As I understand it, the standard contract does not prohibit players from doing interviews,” adds Singer. “But it forces them to try and help the club by telling them they’re doing it ahead of time and making sure they’re united.”
In this respect, Ronaldo is no different to any of his teammates or players from the 19 other Premier League clubs.
“It’s a standard Premier League contract that every Manchester United player will have signed and every club is required to use,” says Singer. “He (Ronaldo) will have subscribed to these provisions.
“This includes implied terms about trust, loyalty and obeying reasonable instructions.
“There is no doubt that what he has done puts him in breach of the standard contract. From what I’ve seen, by accusing the club of betrayal, of failing to fulfill commitments, it’s quite easy to say that he has rejected the prestige of the club and harmed the interests of the club.”
What could happen if United decide Ronaldo has breached his contract?
Ultimately, the club could terminate the Portuguese’s agreement.
Having re-joined United in August 2021 on a two-year deal with an option for an additional year, his current terms would run until August 2023, assuming no deal was agreed an additional year.
However, if United’s hierarchy feel the player is impossible to stay at the club and want to try to get rid of him even in the face of appeals or the most damaging publicity, there is a process they can follow.
Most importantly for United is establishing the extent to which Ronaldo is breaching his contract through his comments (Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
“If you break the contract, that’s one thing,” Singer adds. “But if it’s such a fundamental breach of contract that it can lead to termination, that’s another level.
“You can’t pre-judge from a few clips and snippets out of context, so it makes sense that United and their legal team know exactly what’s being said and then take a judgment call.”
United is encouraged to follow the established process as it would with any potential breach of contract and to consider all of its options.
“There is a disciplinary process and if someone breaches the contract by doing something they shouldn’t have done, the club has the ability to fine the player and impose a sanction,” explains Singer.
A high-profile precedent is former United striker Romelu Lukaku.
The striker gave an explosive interview to Sky Italia last season, criticizing Chelsea’s behavior when he was not playing regularly. Thomas Tuchel, then Chelsea boss, said Lukaku would face “some disciplinary action” for the interview but, unlike Ronaldo, he was a player signed for £90m a few months before.
Lukaku, who also apologized for his interview, is now on a season-long loan at Inter Milan, the club he left Chelsea for.
“If it’s serious or the player disagrees, you go into the disciplinary process where the player has an opportunity to defend himself,” Singer says. “The club will say what they think they’ve done wrong, they can argue that they don’t think they’ve done anything wrong and then it goes to the club board to decide what the penalty should be or if there’s a penalty for everyone.
“In that situation, it would be an internal hearing and you would potentially end up in a situation where you have committed serious misconduct and they can terminate the contract.
“Or if they think there’s so much here, they could take a shortcut and say they don’t need a disciplinary process. They could argue that it is so clear and obvious that it is serious misconduct that they would go straight to termination with 14 days’ notice.”
Are there examples of players who have terminated their contract?
In August 2011, Hull City terminated Jimmy Bullard’s record signing contract following an incident on a pre-season trip to Slovenia.
Bullard was on a lucrative deal until the end of the 2012–13 season, sparking a legal dispute between him and the club. Eventually, it was reported that the former midfielder agreed to a settlement and both parties signed non-disclosure agreements.
In 2014, Nicolas Anelka was sacked by West Bromwich Albion for gross misconduct. Anelka, who was banned for five matches and fined £80,000 by the Football Association for his quenelle gesture at West Ham, had announced via Twitter that he would terminate his three-year playing contract months and a half to execute.
Anelka was sacked by West Brom in 2014 for gross misconduct (Photo: John Walton – PA Images via Getty Images)
The club had suspended the Frenchman on full pay following the FA’s verdict and planned to complete their own investigation. West Brom had initially said his statement on Twitter was “very unprofessional”.
Three hours later, the club revealed they had written to Anelka giving him 14 days’ notice of termination, as required by his contract. They said Anelka had not apologized for “the impact and consequences of his gesture (quenelle)” or accepted a substantial fine, which would have resulted in his suspension being lifted.
Singer thinks it would be better to advise United to go through the whole process, no matter how angry they feel about the interview.
“The safest way is to go through the process of a disciplinary hearing, we will expose it and you can defend yourself,” he says. “Then we decide the penalty.
“If he is found guilty of serious misconduct, which is very rare, the player can still appeal it to the Premier League. What makes it unusual is that normally the value of a player’s record is so significant .It is unusual for a club to terminate a player’s registration contract due to the value of his registration.
“But here they pay him hundreds of thousands a week and they won’t be able to sell him for a big transfer fee. That changes the dynamic a lot.
“To save yourself £400,000 a week it would be worth going down that route. There is enough incendiary stuff in what we’ve seen that it probably warrants serious misconduct.
“They would probably want to go through a disciplinary process to protect themselves from any claims that it wasn’t a fair and just process. Knowing that Ronaldo would probably challenge them, then they have another layer of protection.”
So what might the end result be?
Despite the possibility of breaking his contract, United may choose to do things amicably and quietly.
As well as criticizing United’s training ground facilities and making a number of other damaging remarks about their culture, Ronaldo has accused the club of showing a lack of “empathy” when his young daughter was hospitalized in July
Simon Leaf, head of sport at law firm Mishcon de Reya, believes settling the matter privately could be the best way for the club to further limit the embarrassment.
“The club is caught between a rock and a hard place,” he says. “(A) right of termination is subject to Ronaldo’s right to appeal, particularly as it appears to suggest that United is in breach of its duties to take reasonable steps to protect the health and safety of its employees, which may extend to allowing Ronaldo.free time in such difficult circumstances.
“There is no easy answer to this particular legal dispute and, from experience, one suspects that given the sums involved in terms of wages and a possible transfer fee that can be waived,…