Want Ronaldo back, but don’t want to pay too much: Robson

MUMBAI: There has been a clamour for current manager Louis van Gaal’s head by Manchester United fans all over the world after the Premier League giants won only two points out of 18 on offer and got eliminated in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
But the club’s global ambassador and United’s longest-serving captains – Bryan Robson – says the embattled coach enjoys good support at Old Trafford.
“Van Gaal was under pressure even when he was at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. At those clubs too, your ambitions had to be high. We have 680 million fans across the globe and that does put pressure as we have to please them. He had to rebuild the club from where David Moyes left behind and put them back to where they were under (Alex) Ferguson. Everyone knew it was going to be a difficult job as fans want exciting football and results. But at this moment Louis has got huge support from people within the club,” Robson told TOI on the sidelines of inaugurating United’s ‘Go the Distance’ artificial pitch here at Powai.
Robson, who scored 99 goals from 461 appearances for United, feels no club can avoid a decline at a certain point of time.
“I think nobody can stay at the top all the time. You’ve always got to try to achieve and get better because people will always try to cut you from behind whenever there is an opportunity. United are no different — we have to work hard and try and stay at the top,” said Robson, who took United to consecutive Premiership crowns in 1992-93 & 1993-94.
English football saw a record 29 managers getting sacked in the last six months. High-profile names like former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and Brendan Rodgers too didn’t survive the axe. Robson however chose to be pragmatic.
“That’s football for you. Owners all around the world if they invest in the EPL, expect success as they are businessmen. It doesn’t come easy though and every team cannot be successful. If you are near the bottom of the league or if you are at a big club and not achieving what they are expecting you to achieve (winning the EPL or earning a CL spot) then one can get sacked. That’s always been part and parcel of EPL. That’s the pressure they need to handle,” the 59-year-old explained.
Robson, who wore the prestigious No. 7 shirt – a tradition begun by British football legend George Best, felt a plethora of injuries had damaged United’s reputation and with key players back to full fitness, the Club have a realistic chance of regaining a Champions League spot.
“We are just seven points behind the leaders and at this stage of the season it’s not something you cannot control. We sort of dropped behind because of a long injury list. We lost bad points against Bournemouth and Norwich. But now with everybody coming back to fitness, the title is still there, even though I believe we aren’t good enough to win it this year. But I feel we can gain a Champions League spot,” said the former Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion manager.
The three-time FA Cup winner felt that United needed an attacking approach if they wanted to outplay rival clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool.
“Where the manager improved our game was in the midfield area. I still feel we need strength in attack. We used to leak a lot of goals and Van Gaal put a good structure in place for defending. Defensively we have become quite alright. Only Tottenham have conceded more number of goals than us this season – they have given away 18 as compared to 20 by us. But when you compare us with teams like Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenal, scoring goals is an area we need to look at. The manager is also looking at that and his next buy probably will be a forward,” he said.
Asked if he would like current Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo back at Manchester, Robson said: “I would accept Ronaldo coming back as long as we don’t have to pay him too much. Ronaldo was fantastic for us and he’s a great player for Real. If that’s going to happen it will excite all the United fans.”
Quote Shoot
On promising youngster Anthony Martial
Anthony has a terrific chance to go on and become one of the best players in EPL. He’s really fit and strong for a 19-year-old boy. He has great ability and cool head when it comes to finishing.
On Rooney’s un-impressive season
I am a big fan of Rooney. I have always said Rooney is the one I would like to keep in my team. Sometimes players will have a dip in form. You can’t be brilliant all the time. At the start of this season he didn’t play well but in the last 6-7 games you can see he is more or less back to his best.
On ‘Noisy Neighbours’ Manchester City
Man City are a great football club now – they should be with the kind of money being spent. But it doesn’t matter how much money you put in, you will have to work for that success. City have done that and are big competitors. We are just four points behind them but the manager is still getting criticized.