Cristiano Ronaldo’s second stint at Manchester United, which started like a dream, ended sourly. Former club coach Mike Phelan has recently revealed insight about the Portugal International’s time at the club.
Ronaldo left Man United after just two seasons after having a fall-out with the club and manager. The Euro winner bashed the club’s facilities and criticised coach Erik Ten Hag’s policies in an interview with famous journalist Piers Morgan.
Phelan has told Sky Sports that Ronaldo would get frustrated at getting no response from his teammates after ‘pushing hard’ to improve standards in the Manchester United dressing room.
The former coach, who watched CR7 closely during his time at Manchester United, said Ronaldo lost the dressing room’s support because of his constant pursuit for perfection.
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“The second time around, he came in a lot older and a lot more opinionated, strong-willed,” Phelan said. “He still had massively high standards and was terrific to work with. But I’d probably say a tougher mindset.
“He had been at Man United, he had been Portugal’s ever-present, he had been at [Real] Madrid. I liked it because he didn’t want his standards to drop, he wanted other people’s standards to come up. And sometimes you lose a few people along the way when that happens,” said Phelan.
“I remember certain times when he pushed and pushed hard, and he didn’t get much reaction or much response. And there was frustration.
“When you deal with top, top people, it’s about them and where they can finish and where they can get to,” Phelan said.
Phelan played for Manchester United between 1989 and 1994 and returned to the club as a coach in 2000. He was added to Sir Alex Ferguson’s first-team staff in 2001 and replaced Queiroz as assistant in 2008.
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