You cannot blame Alex Fergusson for protecting his players. Its right and its natural. And Ronaldo is an exceptional player who needs protecting from the heavier-handed defenders who want to use muscle rather than skill to subdue him. That, I think, is clear to everyone. However, Fergusson pretends to justify the unjustifiable and contradicts himself in his protection of Ronaldo. That is wrong. For example, he says it was a clear cut penalty against Middlesboro and adds that Ronaldo was going at full tilt and lost his balance. That means it was, correctly, not a penalty; whatever the refereeing decsion may have been. As for Ronaldo, he may not have claimed a penalty in the usual hands-up-mouth-in-full-motion way. But he was surely looking for one. His history, of course, speaks for itself. It might be too much to ask that a player asks a referee to reverse a decision given in his favour (and he might also get booked, as did Alan Shearer against Aston Villa a couple of years back). But some honesty would not go amiss. Instead of being labelled a cheat, a player that is truly honest might just well find some new admirers and respect. Ronaldo and Fergusson (and no, they are not the only ones) are far from achieving that.
To be fair, Ronaldo was not looking for that penalty against Boro. Why would he? He'd gone past Schwarzer and had an open goal, but avoiding the challenge of Schwarzer, he stumbled and fell. The ref is the one to blame for the penalty, not Ronaldo.
