Join NowWhat If Ronaldinho Had Signed For St Mirren
Posted 08 Aug 2009 at 05:12 AM by skillo1
Tags brazil, ronaldinho, scotland, st mirren
Ronaldinho was born Ronaldo de Assis Moreira on the 21st March 1980 in Porto Alegre Brazil. His upbringing was poor, and as with most poor Brazilian families the Moreria’s saw football as their way out of poverty. Ronaldinho’s father, Joao da Silva Moreira, played for amateur club Esporte Clube Cruzeiro but it was his two sons that would make the step up to take on the professional ranks. Ronaldinho’s older brother Roberto was considered a hot prospect at Brazilian club Gremio and was even given a house with a swimming pool as down payment on what was surely going to be an amazing professional career. But tragedy was soon to strike the Moreira family. Ronaldinho’s father drowned in the swimming pool at Robeto’s house and Roberto blew out his knee, prematurely ending his career and leaving his little brother Ronaldo carrying the burden of his entire family.
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira took on this weight superbly and he was soon picked up by the same club as his brother, Gremio, and broke in to the first team in 1997 aged 17. He was now going by the nickname Ronaldinho, which means “The Little Ronaldo” and was causing a stir all around the footballing world. 21 goals in 44 games for Gremio saw Ronaldinho pull on the famous yellow shirt for Brazil, and in the 1999 Copa America he scored six goals with one against Venezuela going down in history as one of the greatest Brazil goals of all time. His form soon attracted interest from all over Europe and in 2000 a move to French giants Paris Saint-Germain was arranged for around 5 million GBP and “The Little Ronaldo” literally had the world at his feet.
So you really have to wonder, just why on the crest of this massive wave did the hottest property in world football nearly sign on loan for Scottish side St Mirren?
St Mirren were struggling to keep afloat in the Scottish Premier League at the time and were hoping to add some fire power to the side in an a attempt to stay in the big time. Their first options had been Nigerian Daniel Amokachi, Paul Kitson and controversial Italian Benito Carbone, but they all turned down the move. St Mirren manager Tom Hendrie then said no to bringing Brazil legend Bebeto to Love St because of doubts over his fitness. So with Gremio’s season already over and Ronaldinho in a 6 month limbo until he officially moved to Paris, St Mirren put together a sensational move for the buck toothed footballing dynamo. Amazingly their main selling point was to give Ronaldinho experience playing in a tough European league before his big move. But even more amazing was the fact that Ronaldiho fell for it and agreed to move to Love Street for a three month stint. The excitement around the club was unbelievable but unfortunately for all involved at St Mirren the deal fell through after Ronaldinho was investigated for apparently holding a false passport. Having failed in their attempts to sign a big name forward to halt their slide in to the lower leagues, St Mirren got Stephen McPhee from Coventry City instead. McPhee failed to score in his seven appearances, and St Mirren finished bottom of the table with just 35 points.
From here Ronaldinho went on to conquer the football world and cement his place as an absolute legend in the world game. In 2002 he helped Brazil win their fifth World Cup. In 2006 he won the European Champions League with Barcelona on top of picking up the FIFA World Player of the year award twice, in 2004 and 2005. He was also named European player of the year in 2005 and was selected in the UEFA team of the year on numerous occasions.
What if?
After two months of discussions Ronaldinho finally made his St Mirren Debut at home against one of the giants of Scottish football Glasgow Rangers on the 2nd of January 2001. It was an icy cold afternoon at Love Street and the rain was falling heavily. The young Brazilian struggled in the bog like pitch and under the close attention of Rangers midfielder Barry Ferguson. But in the 40th minute Ronaldinho managed to escape his marker, after a clever flick and some quick feet he found himself in some welcomed space. Ronaldinho looked up ready to pick out a pass only to have an overzealous Ferguson, out to save face, lunge in two footed. A loud snap echoed around the stadium and a blood curdling scream rang out leaving everyone in a stunned silence as Ronaldinho laid motionless face first in the mud. It actually took a few minutes for the severity of the situation to hit home and when it did the crowd began to gasp with pure horror. Ronaldinho’s legs were sticking out at funny angles and pieces of bone were sticking through his now blood red socks. Ferguson was frantically waving for the medical staff to come on to the pitch. When they arrived they went to work straight away pulling the bones back in line and stemming the flow of blood that now seemed to be squirting all over the pitch. Ronaldinho was rushed to hospital where x-rays showed that he had broken both the tibia and fibula in three places in his right leg, while his left knee was dislocated and his medial ligaments destroyed.
The injury saw his dream move to Paris St Germain collapse and many people thought that the young superstar would never pull on his boots ever again. But after two years of rehabilitation and a lot of guts Ronaldinho made his amazing comeback for Gremio, the club where he started his career. While he was never quite the same player as before his horrific injury he did put in some strong performances that secured him a move to Newcastle Utd in the English Premier League. Newcastle had hoped that he would rediscover some of his early magical form, but it never quite happened. Ronaldinho became quite content to eat up his massive paycheque with the rest of the underachieving squad and dream about the player he could or should have been. He never played for Brazil.
The 2002 World Cup
While this was certainly a great loss for the world of football, for England it actually had some positive knock on effects. On the 21st June 2002 England faced off against Brazil in at the quarter final stage of the World Cup in Japan and Korea. The teams had finished level at half time after goals from England’s Michael Owen and a superb finish in first half injury time from Rivaldo. It looked like it was going to take something special to separate the sides when just five minutes in to the second half and Brazil were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position. But without Ronaldinho to fluke one over the head of England goal keeper David Seaman it was up to Rivaldo to take the kick. He stepped up and hit one high and not so handsomely over the bar. From the resultant goal kick England striker Michael Owen found himself with a half chance on the edge of the area only to be brought down by Brazil Captain Cafu. The free kick was in perfect David Beckham country and the whole of England expected their talisman to produce something special, and they all waited with baited breath. Beckham stepped up confidently but his standing foot slipped and the kick went straight toward the wall. It flicked off the heel of Ronaldo, wrong footed goal keeper Marcos and trickled in to the bottom corner. England held on to win 2-1 and eventually won the title humiliating Germany 6-0 in the final.
This is an excerpt from a book I am writing so please let me know what you think.
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira took on this weight superbly and he was soon picked up by the same club as his brother, Gremio, and broke in to the first team in 1997 aged 17. He was now going by the nickname Ronaldinho, which means “The Little Ronaldo” and was causing a stir all around the footballing world. 21 goals in 44 games for Gremio saw Ronaldinho pull on the famous yellow shirt for Brazil, and in the 1999 Copa America he scored six goals with one against Venezuela going down in history as one of the greatest Brazil goals of all time. His form soon attracted interest from all over Europe and in 2000 a move to French giants Paris Saint-Germain was arranged for around 5 million GBP and “The Little Ronaldo” literally had the world at his feet.
So you really have to wonder, just why on the crest of this massive wave did the hottest property in world football nearly sign on loan for Scottish side St Mirren?
St Mirren were struggling to keep afloat in the Scottish Premier League at the time and were hoping to add some fire power to the side in an a attempt to stay in the big time. Their first options had been Nigerian Daniel Amokachi, Paul Kitson and controversial Italian Benito Carbone, but they all turned down the move. St Mirren manager Tom Hendrie then said no to bringing Brazil legend Bebeto to Love St because of doubts over his fitness. So with Gremio’s season already over and Ronaldinho in a 6 month limbo until he officially moved to Paris, St Mirren put together a sensational move for the buck toothed footballing dynamo. Amazingly their main selling point was to give Ronaldinho experience playing in a tough European league before his big move. But even more amazing was the fact that Ronaldiho fell for it and agreed to move to Love Street for a three month stint. The excitement around the club was unbelievable but unfortunately for all involved at St Mirren the deal fell through after Ronaldinho was investigated for apparently holding a false passport. Having failed in their attempts to sign a big name forward to halt their slide in to the lower leagues, St Mirren got Stephen McPhee from Coventry City instead. McPhee failed to score in his seven appearances, and St Mirren finished bottom of the table with just 35 points.
From here Ronaldinho went on to conquer the football world and cement his place as an absolute legend in the world game. In 2002 he helped Brazil win their fifth World Cup. In 2006 he won the European Champions League with Barcelona on top of picking up the FIFA World Player of the year award twice, in 2004 and 2005. He was also named European player of the year in 2005 and was selected in the UEFA team of the year on numerous occasions.
What if?
After two months of discussions Ronaldinho finally made his St Mirren Debut at home against one of the giants of Scottish football Glasgow Rangers on the 2nd of January 2001. It was an icy cold afternoon at Love Street and the rain was falling heavily. The young Brazilian struggled in the bog like pitch and under the close attention of Rangers midfielder Barry Ferguson. But in the 40th minute Ronaldinho managed to escape his marker, after a clever flick and some quick feet he found himself in some welcomed space. Ronaldinho looked up ready to pick out a pass only to have an overzealous Ferguson, out to save face, lunge in two footed. A loud snap echoed around the stadium and a blood curdling scream rang out leaving everyone in a stunned silence as Ronaldinho laid motionless face first in the mud. It actually took a few minutes for the severity of the situation to hit home and when it did the crowd began to gasp with pure horror. Ronaldinho’s legs were sticking out at funny angles and pieces of bone were sticking through his now blood red socks. Ferguson was frantically waving for the medical staff to come on to the pitch. When they arrived they went to work straight away pulling the bones back in line and stemming the flow of blood that now seemed to be squirting all over the pitch. Ronaldinho was rushed to hospital where x-rays showed that he had broken both the tibia and fibula in three places in his right leg, while his left knee was dislocated and his medial ligaments destroyed.
The injury saw his dream move to Paris St Germain collapse and many people thought that the young superstar would never pull on his boots ever again. But after two years of rehabilitation and a lot of guts Ronaldinho made his amazing comeback for Gremio, the club where he started his career. While he was never quite the same player as before his horrific injury he did put in some strong performances that secured him a move to Newcastle Utd in the English Premier League. Newcastle had hoped that he would rediscover some of his early magical form, but it never quite happened. Ronaldinho became quite content to eat up his massive paycheque with the rest of the underachieving squad and dream about the player he could or should have been. He never played for Brazil.
The 2002 World Cup
While this was certainly a great loss for the world of football, for England it actually had some positive knock on effects. On the 21st June 2002 England faced off against Brazil in at the quarter final stage of the World Cup in Japan and Korea. The teams had finished level at half time after goals from England’s Michael Owen and a superb finish in first half injury time from Rivaldo. It looked like it was going to take something special to separate the sides when just five minutes in to the second half and Brazil were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position. But without Ronaldinho to fluke one over the head of England goal keeper David Seaman it was up to Rivaldo to take the kick. He stepped up and hit one high and not so handsomely over the bar. From the resultant goal kick England striker Michael Owen found himself with a half chance on the edge of the area only to be brought down by Brazil Captain Cafu. The free kick was in perfect David Beckham country and the whole of England expected their talisman to produce something special, and they all waited with baited breath. Beckham stepped up confidently but his standing foot slipped and the kick went straight toward the wall. It flicked off the heel of Ronaldo, wrong footed goal keeper Marcos and trickled in to the bottom corner. England held on to win 2-1 and eventually won the title humiliating Germany 6-0 in the final.
This is an excerpt from a book I am writing so please let me know what you think.
Share
Post a Comment
Total Comments 0
Comments
|
Post a Comment
|
Total Trackbacks 0
