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      Hypocrite Gary Neville hates gig economy…unless it’s well-paid Qatar one

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      THE race for that prestigious award Thick As A Plank Hypocrite Of The Year (TAAPHOTY) is really hotting up.Gary Neville reckoned he’d got the prize in the bag but then along comes fantastically unfunny “comedian” Joe Lycett and nearly nicks it from him.
      The race for that prestigious award Thick As A Plank Hypocrite Of The Year (TAAPHOTY) is really hotting up, pictured Gary NevilleCredit: Rex
      Neville reckoned he’d got the prize in the bag but then along comes fantastically unfunny Joe Lycett and nearly nicks it from himCredit: Rex
      Congrats, Gary. You’ve won your prize. In the end, nobody came close. Now, see if you can retain the trophy next yearCredit: Rex
      Lycett made a big hoo-ha about the money David Beckham received from the Qatari government.
      As it happens, Beckham was indeed one of the TAAPHOTY nominees for his sterling work in trousering money from the Arabs after spouting woke LGBTQ slogans and so on.
      But it’s a bit much for the ghastly Lycett to have a go.
      As The Sun revealed, he did a couple of paid gigs in Qatar in 2015. The biter bitten, then. Pure, unadorned, hypocrisy.
      READ MORE ON GARY NEVILLE
      But Joe always had his work cut out wresting the trophy from Gary Neville.
      The Mancunian football pundit wins by a length. Not least for his staggering pig-ignorance.
      Neville is paid for his brilliance as a football pundit, such as not being sure “where the goals are going to come from” shortly before Spain won 7-0. He is not paid for his political nous — which is just as well, because you could fit all of his into a vole’s nutsack.
      Not just stupid, it is ­odious
      Commenting on Qatar’s disgraceful record on using slave labour, he said: “It is just worth mentioning that we’ve got a current government in our country who are demonising rail workers, ambulance workers and, ­terrifyingly, nurses.
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      “So, in our country, we’ve got to look at workers’ rights — but where football goes, we have to pick up on workers’ rights wherever it goes because people have to be treated equally.
      “We can’t have ­people being paid a pittance to work. We can’t have people in accommodation which is unsavoury and disgusting. It should not happen here.”
      You abject ninny, Neville. To compare the plight of ­British workers on strike for more money with the slave labourers of Qatar is not just stupid, it is ­odious.
      I agree the nurses should be paid more dosh, sure. But they are not being killed, are they? Nor do they have their passports taken away from them so that they have no free movement.
      Maybe this gobby, wooden-headed clown should see what happens when people in Qatar DO go on strike.
      Industrial action is illegal in Qatar and the few migrant workers who have dared to complain about their ­appalling treatment were rounded up, detained and then kicked out of the country.
      To compare their plight to that of the nurses here is simply ­outrageous.
      But then there’s the hypocrisy of Neville. He was happy to work in Qatar and trouser loads of dosh. He was even happy to work as a pundit for ­Qatari TV.
      This is hypocrisy on a whole other level. And maybe he should take a bit of time to listen to the complaints of the underpaid workers at a place called Hotel Football.
      Hotel Football is in Manchester and it is co-owned by Neville and the loveable little Ryan Giggs. It is currently advertising for staff — paying just £9.50 per hour.
      That’s the minimum wage. Over the course of a year, people working in this idiot’s luxury hotel would earn about HALF of a nurse’s salary.
      So congrats, Gary. You’ve won your prize. In the end, nobody came close. Now, see if you can retain the trophy next year.
      Pretty likely, I reckon.

      THINGS are hotting up a bit on the India-China border, with troops throwing stones at each other.
      The two countries are on the brink of war over disputed territory.
      Normally, we would be four-square behind the Indians. But the country has refused to condemn Russia’s ­invasion of Ukraine.
      And they took advantage of the war to sign a massive gas deal with the Russians.
      So stuff it, India. You’re on your own. What goes around . . .

      Yule never believe . . .
      THE phrase “Merry Christmas” was first written by Bishop Charles Booth of Hereford in 1520, 14 years earlier than originally thought, according to new research. OK, fine.
      I have been making my own study of the origins of traditional Christmas stuff and have unearthed the following . . . 
      Wizzard’s 1973 smash hit I Wish It Could Be Christmas EverydayCredit: Getty – Contributor
      The tune was actually written in 1512, by King Henry VCredit: Alamy
      The Christmas Truce of 1914 between German and English soldiers was almost ruined when a Brazilian man wandered into No Man’s LandCredit: Getty

      Robins are associated with Christmas because in the 12th Century that was the ­largest bird poor folk could afford for their festive dinner.
      The Christmas Truce of 1914 between German and English soldiers was almost ruined when a Brazilian man wandered into No Man’s Land and insisted on refereeing the football game, later denying England three stonewall penalties.
      In 1255, Genoese diplomat Luca Grimaldi was charged with the task of finding a suitable present for his mother-in-law. He instructed his kitchen staff to “create something vast, dry and inedible, so that she might choke to death”. Thus was born panettone.
      Wizzard’s 1973 smash hit I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday was actually written in 1512, by King Henry VIII.
      While Christmas was banned by Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s, people were still expected to eat turkey, because Cromwell owned a huge turkey farm (and actually invented Turkey Twizzlers).

      In 1255, Genoese diplomat Luca Grimaldi was charged with the task of finding a suitable present for his mother-in-law – thus was born panettoneCredit: Oliver Dixon
      While Christmas was banned by Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s, people were still expected to eat turkey, because Cromwell owned a huge turkey farmCredit: Getty
      ON the subject of Christmas, this is beyond parody.
      The much-loved carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, which dates back centuries, has been rewritten by an American idiot and sung at a church in Leicestershire.
      The much-loved carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, which dates back centuries, has been rewritten by an American idiotCredit: Getty
      The second verse now begins, “God rest you also, women, who by men have been erased, through history ignored and scorned, defiled and displaced”.
      So, it’s stupid, tendentious and doesn’t even rhyme or scan. Or make sense.
      The third verse starts: “God rest you, queer and questioning, your anxious hearts be still.” I suppose it’s too much to hope that the church is struck by a divine thunderbolt.

      TIME TO THANK NURSES
      THE manacles and gimp mask I had ordered as a present for our local vicar have failed to arrive.
      I blame the striking posties. It is a disgrace that frisky members of the clergy won’t get the gifts they deserve this Christmas.
      The Government should make a decent settlement with the nurses, rather than pretend it is not the final arbiterCredit: EPA
      Meanwhile, the nurses are out and so are the ambulance workers.
      And the two sides are arguing as to who should be blamed if we pop our clogs because we can’t get treated in hospital.
      The Government should make a decent settlement with the nurses, rather than pretend it is not the final arbiter.
      We can bang our saucepans together for the NHS until doomsday but it’s a decent wage the nurses really want.
      Light just round the corner
      WELL, thank the Lord. The shortest day of the year is over.
      From here on in, the days become longer and lighter. And warmer.
      It’s been a struggle for lots of people this year – hard-working people finding it very difficult to make ends meet.
      But this misery won’t last for ever – there is light just round the corner, so have some hope.
      And have a wonderful Christmas.

      ‘Only God can judge me’
      MELISSA SLOAN is feeling terribly hurt. She says she was banned from her kid’s Nativity play and had to watch it through a window.
      She’s also been banned from the town Christmas fair and from her local pubs.
      Melissa Sloan is surprised people don’t want to look at herCredit: Roland Leon
      The reason is that her entire face, and body, are covered with hundreds of tattoos, above.
      She is surprised people don’t want to look at her.
      Read More on The Sun
      One of Melissa’s ­tattoos reads: “Only God can judge me.”
      Hmmm. I’d get that one inked over. Because, as you are now aware, it’s not true, is it? More

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      Furious Premier League chiefs slam Fifa Club World Cup plan and say it could scupper TWO SEASONS

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      PREM chiefs fear Fifa’s Club World Cup plan could scupper TWO successive seasons.Fifa boss Gianni Infantino signalled he is open to another winter World Cup, potentially as soon as 2030, when Saudi Arabia are increasingly confident of landing the big prize.
      Gianni Infantino’s plans for the Club World Cup have been blasted as “unacceptable”Credit: Getty
      That would require another six-week mid-season break for domestic football, either in the November-December period utilised in Qatar or at the start of the year.
      But the launch of the 32-team Club World Cup, which will feature potentially four or more Prem sides out of the 16 European competitors, has caused more concerns.

      It is expected that Fifa will hold the first version of the new tournament, in 2025, as a test event for the following year’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
      That will become the norm and so a Saudi World Cup in 2030 would also mean a Saudi Club World Cup the previous year.
      READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
      And if the Big Six were all involved in a tournament that would last at least three weeks, it would leave a huge hole in the Prem fixtures calendar.
      One Prem insider said: “The lack of consultation by Fifa was really unacceptable.
      “This plan wasn’t even on the original agenda for the Fifa Council meeting and it looked as if it was a reaction to the European Court ruling that spelled the end of Super League.
      “But if there was a winter Club World Cup as well, that would be an outrage.”
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      Jamie Carragher added his voice to the discontent regarding the announcement.
      The Liverpool legend fumed: “Like the ridiculous idea of the @FIFAWorldCup every two years, this is another one from Infantino.
      “Players need rest at some point, they are getting treated like cattle.
      “Fifa hate the Champions League and want something similar themselves. 
      “European clubs should boycott it.”
      It has been suggested that Super League chief plotters Real Madrid have been promised as much as £50m per year for four seasons for signing up to the Club World Cup.
      Other major European years have winter breaks of varying lengths, allowing space to reschedule games for clubs involved in the new event.
      But the Prem schedule is based on 34 weekend dates and that will be hard to fit in if the big revenue drivers are overseas for a lengthy part of the campaign. More

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      Fifa to launch new Club World Cup in 2025 with THIRTY-TWO teams, setting themselves on collision course with clubs

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      THE CLUB WORLD CUP is being expanded to 32 teams in a major shake-up.It means the Fifa-run club tournament will more than quadruple in size from the current format with seven sides.
      Fifa president Gianni Infantino revealed the details of the new Club World Cup plansCredit: PA
      Chelsea beat Palmeiras in the 2021-22 edition in FebruaryCredit: AFP
      The major changes are set to come into effect from 2025, as revealed by Fifa president Gianni Infantino today.
      The world football governing body initially wanted to increase the size of the Club World Cup from seven teams to 24 for China in 2021 – before the pandemic hit.
      The new format of the 32-team tournament will take place every four years with an extended international break merging the current September and October slots to facilitate the changes.
      It is unclear at this stage how the 32 teams will be comprised – currently each continent sends one team with the host nation’s league champions making up the seven.
      read more on WORLD CUP
      Chelsea won the 2021-22 version as reigning Champions League winners, beating Copa Libertadores champs Palmeiras in the February final.
      The European and South American clubs joined in the semi-finals with the teams from the other confederations in Africa, Asia, Oceania and North, Central America and Caribbean as well as the host nation’s league champions joining earlier.
      Real Madrid will be the European representative at the 2022-23 edition following their victory over Liverpool in Paris in May.
      And Infantino confirmed that tournament will be hosted in Morocco, just as it was in 2013 and 2014.
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      The Club World Cup was launched in 2000 with Chelsea becoming the third English team to win it after Manchester United in 2008 and Liverpool in 2019.
      Real Madrid are the most successful side in the tournament’s history with four titles, one more than rivals Barcelona.
      Brazilian side Corinthians and Bayern Munich have won two each while 14 of the last 15 have been won by the European team.
      Infantino also added that a Women’s Club World Cup will be launched – although no further details were given at this stage.
      And a Fifa World Series will also start, with the friendly tournament taking place in even years to “increase the possibilities for teams from different confederations to play each other”.
      There was a hint, too, of future winter World Cups following the success of Qatar 2022. More

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      Real Madrid star Thibaut Courtois’ WAG Mishel Gerzig wows in lacy lingerie set

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      MODEL Mishel Gerzig is making sure her footballer fiancé Thibaut Courtois is putting his World Cup blues behind him.The Israeli, 25, posed in a lacy lingerie set for a shoot for fashion brand Hunkemoller.
      Model Mishel Gerzig showed off her stunning figure in this lacy lingerieCredit: Hunkemoller
      The stunner, 25, is dating football ace Thibaut Courtois
      Mishel had cheered on Belgian stopper Courtois, 30, and his team-mates in Qatar.
      But after they crashed out in the group stages, the couple have gone on a romantic trip to the Maldives.
      Courtois captioned the post: “Maldives with wifey to be.”
      The Real ace also enjoyed snorkelling.
      READ MORE GLAM
      Fans flooded to Israeli Gerzig’s comments to shower her with compliments.
      The couple have been an item since August last year and became engaged in June.
      The couple have gone on a romantic trip to the Maldives
      Mishel had cheered on Belgian stopper Courtois, 30, and his team-mates in Qatar More

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      Jadon Sancho seeing sports psychologist as Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag admits he is baffled by star’s collapse in form

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      THE SIGNS were all there yet nobody appeared to wonder if Jadon Sancho might still be suffering inside.Three managers on, Erik ten Hag is finally trying to get to the bottom of why Manchester United’s £73million signing in July 2021 started badly and fell away.
      Manchester United ace Jadon Sancho has been struggling at Old TraffordCredit: Getty
      Sancho is seeing a sports psychologist to help improve his gameCredit: Getty
      Why he has struggled so badly — to the extent he was well out of contention for England’s World Cup squad — given he was touted as the perfect package.
      Whether, for example, Sancho ever did get over his penalty shootout miss that left him in floods of tears after England’s Euro 2020 final heartbreak against Italy.
      Or later, that he lost his way during the incendiary return to United of Cristiano Ronaldo.
      Ten Hag is trying to get to the bottom of how Sancho, only 17 months after arriving as a superstar signing from Borussia Dortmund, has become the lost soul of Old Trafford.
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      With the help of sports psychologists and fitness trainers, Sancho is working alone to try to find a way back. Ten Hag cannot say when that will be, either.
      He reveals only that he has had a series of discussions with the 22-year-old to try to help him through.
      Instead of being with his team-mates at their training camp in southern Spain last week, Sancho was working alone in the Netherlands with trusted coaches and advisers.
      Ten Hag said: “We didn’t see him for the last games — he wasn’t in the right status, in the right fitness state.
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      “So now he’s on an individual programme and hopefully we’ll see him back soon. Sometimes there are circumstances with fitness and mood. He was good on our pre-season tour but also when the league started he played some good games, like Liverpool, Leicester and Arsenal.
      “After, we got a drop of level and what happens sometimes, you don’t know why or what is causing it.”
      Sancho last played for United on October 14 in a 1–1 draw with Chelsea but has dropped off the radar since.
      Last month, before heading to Ten Hag’s homeland, he took down all his social media accounts.
      We didn’t see him for the last games — he wasn’t in the right status, in the right fitness state.Ten Hag on Sancho
      United sources briefed it was a move aimed at concentrating on his family and the second half of the season.
      The club are now anxious to make clear that there is nothing sinister about his disappearance and that the only plot is to make him the man he was again.
      One who, in the campaign before signing for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, scored 16 goals for Dortmund.
      He left there having hit the net 50 times in 137 games for the German side but has only eight in 52 appearances for United.
      Sancho’s was a name rarely mentioned in the months building up to Gareth Southgate picking his 26-man World Cup squad.
      Having been put on as a sub to take one of those penalties against Italy at Wembley, he has not worn an England jersey since.
      Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag is baffled by Sancho’s collapse in confidenceCredit: Getty
      Ten Hag is not giving up on SanchoCredit: Reuters
      Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka also missed from the spot and all three were subjected to appalling racial abuse from faceless internet trolls.
      Yet Saka and Rashford are now recognised England heroes.
      Too often since signing for United 12, days before that awful experience at Wembley, Sancho has been unrecognisable from the one who lit up the Bundesliga.
      Rashford has re-emerged from under his own shell thanks to the careful guidance of Ten Hag.
      The Old Trafford manager will be hoping that, whatever has damaged Sancho so much, more TLC will have the same result.
      He has only shone intermittently since Solskjaer replaced him with Anthony Martial in a 1-0 win over Wolves on August 29 last year on his first start for United.
      He was so upset that he had to be comforted on the bench by then coach Mike Phelan.
      Just over a week later he was replaced again — this time by Jesse Lingard — and once again he looked miserable.
      No questions were asked, in public at least, as to why it looked like he was carrying the world on his shoulders.
      And his difficult start appears to have been overlooked amid the euphoria of Ronaldo’s return.
      Tellingly, not long before he was hooked for that second time, Ronaldo ridiculed Sancho for not delivering a goalscoring chance for him.
      That was against Newcastle in a 4-1 win when the veteran scored two on his return. It was all about Ronaldo and from all sides.
      Sancho has been unable to replicate his Bundesliga success at Old TraffordCredit: Getty
      As the Second Coming unravelled, Ronaldo would point the finger at far younger team-mates, with Sancho thought to be one of those he condemned for not showing the right attitude.
      Ten Hag intends to get to the bottom of the Sancho mystery to save a Red Devil who has been to hell and is not back yet.
      At least he saw some tell-tale signs that something was going wrong.
      He said: “Most of the time it comes slowly. On the summer tour he played really well, the start of the league he played really well. After the break his performance was lower.
      Read More on The Sun
      “First you observe but then also the stats back it up. In the start of the season he had goals and assists, key moments and key actions, then it became less and less.
      “We want him back as soon as possible — but I can’t give a prognosis of when that will be.” More

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      England keeping themselves busy by playing with £11 inflatable CROCODILES in pool at World Cup after famous unicorns

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      ENGLAND are gearing up for their World Cup showdown against France with £11 inflatable crocodiles.Gareth Southgate’s side take on the reigning champions in the quarter-finals at the Al-Bayt Stadium on Saturday.
      Harry Kane relaxed in the pool surrounded by inflatable crocodiles ahead of the France gameCredit: Getty
      The inflatable unicorn was made famous by Bukayo Saka at the 2020 EurosCredit: Getty
      The famous inflatable unicorn is back in England’s training base in Qatar
      And they’re preparing for the last eight clash by playing with crocs in the pool.
      Captain Harry Kane was pictured with a couple of inflatables perched on the diving board in the background.
      The Three Lions made the blow-up unicorn iconic at the last World Cup.
      It returned for last summer’s Euros, with Bukayo Saka famously seen beaming as he leapt into the pool on one.
      read more at the world cup

      The beach item has already been seen out in Qatar, with Harry Maguire uploading a photo to his Instagram story captioned: “Nice to meet you again.”
      But England have upped their game and added some crocodiles to their collection.
      They currently cost £11 on Amazon.
      England players are often spotted relaxing in the water between sessions, while they’ve also found other ways to stay entertained away from the pitch.
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      They’ve been seen battling it out in the pool playing water polo, with John Stones seen in action trying throw a ball over one of his team-mates.
      Southgate’s men also have a pool table and game consoles at their hotel. More

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      How Arsenal lost Japan’s World Cup hero Takuma Asano for measly £1m after ZERO appearances in three years

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      JAPAN caused a major World Cup shock on Wednesday – and their hero Takuma Asano will be familiar to avid Arsenal supporters.Asano completed a sensational turnaround by smashing home an 83rd minute winner to secure a 2-1 win over Germany.
      Takuma Asano signed for Arsenal in 2016 but never made a first-team appearanceCredit: Getty – Contributor
      Asano scored the winner to help Japan cause a World Cup shock against GermanyCredit: Getty
      Asano, currently playing his football in Germany, signed for Arsenal from J-League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2016.
      But the striker would end up playing ZERO first-team minutes for them.
      Following his arrival, Arsene Wenger described him as a “talented young striker” and “one for the future”.
      However, he failed to get a work permit and wasn’t allowed to play in the Premier League.
      READ MORE JAPAN NEWS
      As a result, he was loaned out to Stuttgart for the first two years before his third season as an Arsenal player was spent at Hannover.
      And with Asano’s work permit issues showing no signs of changing, he was incredibly sold by Unai Emery for JUST £1m in the summer of 2019.

      The Japanese international would sign for Partizan Belgrade.
      He spent two years in Serbia before returning to Germany with Bochum, which is where he’s currently playing his football.
      Most read in Football
      He’s scored just three times in 33 Bundesliga games as his goal record continues to underwhelm.
      But he’ll have to go some way if he wants to top his memorable strike against the Germans regardless. More

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      Disrespectful Man United have betrayed me & made me a black sheep, says Ronaldo in explosive Piers Morgan interview

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      CRISTIANO Ronaldo has had enough.
      He’s had enough of the sniping, the sneering, and the endless blame-game bulls*** that’s been flung at him over the past few months.
      Ronaldo sat down for a sensational 90-minute TV interview with Piers
      The footballing superstar has spoken out amid a turbulent season with UnitedCredit: Reuters
      In April, Ronaldo and his partner Georgina suffered the unbearable loss of their baby son
      It’s come from the media, his bosses, work colleagues and even former team-mates.
      Above all, he’s had enough of the lack of basic respect that he feels he’s due after winning 32 trophies, including five Ballon d’Ors, five Champions Leagues, seven league titles in four different countries, and a Euros with Portugal.

      Ronaldo, 37, is the highest goal scorer in football history and for me, and many more qualified to pass judgment such as Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti, the greatest to ever play the game.
      He’s also the most-followed human being on Instagram, the modern-day metric of star power, and is about to pass half a billion followers.
      READ MORE FROM PIERS MORGAN
      But right now he feels angry, and disrespected, and he’s not going to stay silent any longer.
      As he prepares to fly to Qatar for his fifth — and almost certainly last — World Cup, he wants to have HIS say.
      We sat down for a 90-minute TV interview for my show Piers Morgan Uncensored that is by far the most explosive he has ever given.
      Ronaldo finally sets the record straight about what he calls the “most difficult period of my life”, both professionally and personally.
      Most read in The Sun
      He says he feels “betrayed” by the way he has been treated by Manchester United, annoyed that he’s been made a “black sheep” who is blamed for everything that has gone wrong at the club, and believes he is now being actively forced out.
      At work, he has had three bosses in just over a year.
      For the first, his former team-mate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who was sacked just weeks after Ronaldo returned, he has nothing but respect.
      For the other two, Ralf Rangnick and current manager Erik ten Hag, he has little good to say.
      Of Rangnick, who had not managed a football team for over a decade, he says: “If you’re not even a coach, how are you going to be the boss of Manchester United? I’d never even heard of him.”
      I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me.Ronaldo on Erik ten Hag
      Of Ten Hag, who suspended Ronaldo last month for refusing to come on as a last-minute substitute against Tottenham, he says: “I don’t have respect for him because he doesn’t show respect for me. 
      “If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never gonna have respect for you.”
      As for some of his most vociferous critics, like another former team-mate Wayne Rooney who has publicly attacked Ronaldo for months and urged United to get rid of him, he is witheringly scornful of their headline-grabbing motives.

      Watch Piers Morgan Uncensored weekdays on Sky 526, Virgin Media 627, Freeview 237, Freesat 217 or on Fox Nation in the US

      He says: “I don’t know why he criticises me so badly . . . probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing at high level.”
      Then he chuckles and adds: “I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him. Which is true . . . ”

      At home, back in April, he and his partner Georgina suffered the unbearable loss of their baby son during childbirth, a heart-breaking tragedy in which the boy’s twin sister survived.
      Somehow, he found the strength to continue playing, fuelled in part by the astonishing support he received from fans of rival clubs such as Liverpool, where the crowd sang You’ll Never Walk Alone on the seventh minute (Ronaldo wears No 7 on his shirt) of their next home game.
      Ronaldo told Piers he does not respect Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag
      Ronaldo, pictured with his family, feels ‘betrayed’ by the way he has been treated by United
      He admits: “I never expected to see that.”
      He and Georgina also received a personal note of condolence from the Royal Family, which amazed and touched him in equal measure.
      Shockingly, he was less well supported by his club who he accuses of a lack of “empathy”, especially when his three-month-old daughter was hospitalised in July, and he could not return on time for pre-season training because he wanted to stay with her.
      Ronaldo says senior executives at Old Trafford even doubted him when he explained why he couldn’t return, which made him feel “hurt” and “bad”.
      This wasn’t how the fairy tale was supposed to end.
      It was just over 14 months ago that Ronaldo sensationally re-signed for Manchester United in a comeback story that stunned and enthralled the world of football.
      He was heading to United’s great rivals Manchester City when a personal appeal from his great mentor and father figure, Sir Alex Ferguson, drove him back to where he started. 
      This wasn’t how the fairy tale was supposed to end.Piers Morgan
      “I followed my heart,” he says simply, tapping his chest. “He (Sir Alex) said to me, ‘It’s impossible for you to come to Manchester City’, and I said, ‘OK, Boss’.”
      In his first game back at Old Trafford, the self-styled “Theatre of Dreams”, he scored twice in a thumping 4-1 victory over Newcastle, cheered on in the stands by Sir Alex and Ronaldo’s ecstatic weeping mother.
      The delirious United fans chanted “Viva Ronaldo” for hours after the game.
      As his team-mate Marcus Rashford tweeted that night: “Like he never left.”
      But very soon, cold, hard reality hit. This was a very different Manchester United to the club he first departed in 2009.
      Or rather, to his dismay, it was just the same, and hadn’t moved on at all, and was now run by what he perceives to be inferior people to those who ran things before.
      He was shocked by the lack of improvements to training facilities, from the pool and the gym to the kitchen (nutrition and diet), and in technology.
      “The progress was zero,” he sighs. “Since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed.”
      And he was dismayed by the dismissive attitude of many of the younger players, who seemed to have no interest in learning the lessons he had gleaned in his magnificent career.
      Since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club.Ronaldo on Man Utd
      Most pertinently, he was disillusioned to find that, after years of failure and stagnation, United could no longer sign the world’s very best players, making their chance of winning top trophies much harder.
      “I think the fans should know the truth,” he says. “I want the best for the club. This is why I come to Manchester United.
      “But you have some things inside that don’t help (us) reach the top level as City, Liverpool and even now Arsenal . . . a club with this dimension should be top of the tree in my opinion and they are not unfortunately.”
      At the centre of his discontent is that Ronaldo hates losing and wants to operate in a winning environment — of the kind he doesn’t believe exists at United now and may need drastic steps to fix, including him leaving.
      He says: “As Picasso said, you have to destroy it to rebuild it (the artist’s exact quote was: ‘Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.’) and if they start with me, for me, it’s not a problem.
      “I love Manchester United, I love the fans, they’re always on my side. But if they want to do it different… they have to change many, many things.”
      As for what Sir Alex thinks of the current situation, Ronaldo says: “He knows better than anybody that the club is not on the path they deserve to be.
      “He knows. Everyone knows. The people who don’t see that… it’s because they don’t want to see; they are blind.”
      I first interviewed Cristiano three years ago in Turin, Italy, when he was still playing for Juventus, and we ended up having a four-hour dinner together.
      Since then, we’ve become very unlikely but very good friends. We text and speak a lot, and he has always been incredibly honest with me.
      He’s a very smart, likeable guy who has given a lot of careful thought to doing this interview.
      I’ve felt the frustration and anger building inside him for many months. 
      Ronaldo takes his football very seriously — and winning even more seriously.
      You don’t get to have all the trophies and records he has without possessing a ferociously strong and resilient mentality, a relentless work ethic, a stupefyingly intense competitive spirit, and an unshakeable self-confidence that you’re No 1.
      For someone like Ronaldo to suddenly find himself at a club that isn’t competing for top silverware, and where he has been dropped, benched, snubbed, scolded and even last month, for the first time in his career, suspended, has hit him hard.
      Not least because last season he was the club’s leading scorer with 24 goals.
      He doesn’t expect any special treatment, but he does expect to be treated with the respect he feels he has earned.
      Ronaldo takes his football very seriously — and winning even more seriously.Piers Morgan
      When our interview finished, Georgina arrived with an excited gaggle of their young children, who instantly all ran to their father and clung on to his legs.
      To see Ronaldo with his kids is a joy; he showers them with the same love and affection that his mother has always showered on him.
      He said: “My family is everything to me. Even more so after what we have been through this year.”
      Earlier, on camera, he made a breathtakingly poignant revelation about his dead son that had me choking up.
      I can’t imagine living my life in the constant frenzied goldfish bowl with which Ronaldo has to lead his, where everything he does or says is so intensely scrutinised, often harshly, around the planet.
      To have to do it after suffering the shocking tragedy of losing a child must be astoundingly hard.
      But he doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him.
      He knows that he is a very lucky man with a beautiful family, vast wealth, and a God-given talent that’s made him one of the most celebrated and famous sports stars in history.
      Jaw-dropping
      Instead, he wants people to understand what he has experienced this year, and to hear it directly from him, not through ill-informed rumours.
      The interview, as viewers will see, is jaw-dropping because we so rarely see or hear him like this.
      I’m not sure how this saga ends, other than it’s hard to see how Cristiano Ronaldo can return to Manchester United after this.
      But for now, he wants to focus on the World Cup, and “win it for Portugal”, and then come back and resolve things with United, one way or another.
      Whatever happens, he made it clear to me that his heart will always be with the club and especially its fans.
      He says: “They are the most important things in football. You play for them.
      “They are always on my side. I feel that every time when I go out, when I walk in the streets, the fans come up to me and they appreciate what I do for football.
      “The fans for me are everything. This is why I give this interview, because I think it’s the right time to speak my mind.”
      Read More on The Sun
      It’s some mind, and it’s some interview.

      YOU can watch it all on Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV in a two-part special on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 8pm.

      The legendary goalscorer says he feels the support of United’s fansCredit: Getty
      Sun columnist Piers Morgan says Ronaldo is the greatest to ever play the game
      You can watch it all on Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV in a two-part special on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 8pm More