In my capacity as an ardent supporter of Manchester United Football Club, I am going to consult a lawyer and find out whether I have the capacity to sue Real Madrid Football Club at the International Court of Justice for willfully and consistently harassing Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.

Just before the last European championships, Real Madrid started their ambush of the young man with a reported world record transfer fee and the young man actually became dazzled and confused. He started contradicting himself in the media every now and then. He was not himself and this eventually affected his output on the field of play. Thanks to the sagacity of manager of the century Alex Ferguson, the young man was guided to take a firm decision to stay put at Old Trafford. He lost a bit of his sharpness and even though he scored the curtain raiser in the champions’ league cup final against Chelsea he missed his kick in the penalty shoot-out. United won the cup eventually thanks to goalie Van der Saar.

After a stunning recovery from a slow start this season that has seen him winning the European footballer of the year title and in the midst of the knock-out stages of this year’s champions’ league, Real Madrid have started their harassment again. They have changed the tactics this time. It is no longer direct talks with the player but with management.

One of Real Madrid’s directors, Pedro Traporte has been quoted as saying an agreement had been reached with United regarding a summer sale of Ronaldo. This is a brazen effort to unsettle Ronaldo who might begin to entertain doubts as to his future with United. Luckily the smart Alex has seen through this and his retort that he “would not sign a contract with that mob and not sell even a virus to Real Madrid” is quite loaded.

I believe Ferguson’s statement that there is absolutely no agreement at all between the clubs but for Real Madrid’s deliberate harassment of Ronaldo .I would like to seek an injunction to debar them from pestering the life of my idol player in the name of football.

A cross section of football fans have been loud of late in their criticism of sports writers and radio sports journalists and presenters for being unduly biased in their reportage. The allegation is that many sports journalists, especially radio/TV presenters are die hard supporters of clubs and they on several occasions find it difficult to hide their biases.

One regular critic of sports journalists cited an example when a goal keeper saved a penalty in a crucial cup final. One reporter said the penalty taker shot the ball straight into the hands of the goalie. Another said the goalkeeper made a good anticipation and the third reporter simply said player B missed a penalty. Quite interesting isn’t it? This is diversity in football reporting at its best.

On Sunday June 15 Kumasi Asante Kotoko beat their arch rivals Ashgold from Obuasi 2-0 in a premier league match at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi. I would like to quote portions of reports in two state owned national dailies Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times and invite readers to compare and contrast

The Daily Graphic reporter Kwame Asare Boadu wrote ," But for some unpardonable misses at goal the Porcupine Warriors (Asante Kotoko) would have run riot over Ashgold who contributed significantly to their own defeat with a second rate performance.

Kotoko could however not be denied the second goal in the 73rd minute when a brilliant combination between Osei Kuffour and Opoku found Akwaffo who surreptitiously connected non drop past goalie Nanor.

Protests from Asgold that Akwaffo scored from an offside positioning was brushed aside by Ref Nunoo".

After reading this report I found it interesting that a player can surreptitiously score a goal.

Here you are with a Ghanaian Times report on the same match by Kingsley E. Hope. He writes "A controversial 73rd minute Francis Akwaffo’s goal and another scored by Jordan Opoku in the 28th minute were all that Kumasi Asante Kotoko needed to pay back Ashgold in their 25th week One Touch Premiership at the Baba Yara Stadium.

The Miners set an offside trap and Akwafo cleverly was caught but when he slotted the ball into the net for the second goal Accra based referee Thomas Nunoo allowed it.

Referee Nunoo who was a bundle of nerves capped his strange decisions with a red card to Owusu Sefa for a second bookable offence".

The interesting thing about the Ghanaian Times report is how Akwafo was cleverly caught by the offside trap. It is unfortunate that the referee who was a bundle of nerves was not clever enough to see the clever trap.

I am inviting readers for a discussion of these two reports so that we find out whether there is any substance in allegations that sports journalists in Ghana are biased.

Post Script. I was discussing this subject with a fellow veteran sports journalist Ebo Quansah when he reminded me of an incident that happened not too long at a cabinet meeting in Ghana. The then Vice President was reportedly knocked down in a violent confrontation with his boss and the result of the fracas was the Vice Presdient’s torn coat that was widely publicized in the private media.. The official reports from "ringsiders" in the cabinet room said it was just a gentle tap on his shoulder by the president

So what is the conclusion? Your guess is a s good as mine.

I had been watching television footages of American football but did not quite follow the game till I had the opportunity to visit the USA for the first time in 1975 when a friend fully explained the essence of the game. Apart from the frightening protective gear on the heads and shoulders of the players what intrigued me most was the way the players seemingly fought each other when the ball was not around. I was told the idea is to prevent your opponent from getting to your team mate who has the ball.

I like this bit of the game as it brings a lot of action into the sport. The idea of weakening your opponent tickles me. And it reminds me of a similar tactic adopted by the then management of Kumasi Asante Football Club in the early eighties when they had been crowned champions of Africa. It was a solid team but they went for many more outstanding players notably goal poachers Anane Kobo of Real Tamale United,George Arthur of Brong Ahafo United, Saarah Mensah, Opoku Sampene of Bofoakwa Tano and others.

Asked why they were creating such a glut of star players the explanation by Asante Kotoko’s team strategist Charles Gyimah was that it was meant to weaken their opponents and keep Kotoko on top for a long time.

Indeed this strategy worked to perfection. Kotoko could assemble two strong standing teams at any given time and they remained a dominant force winning the league six times within a decade.( the 80s)

I am inclined to believe that is the tactic Portuguese national coach Felipe Scolari wants to adopt as he plans to take over the management of English premier club Chelsea. Having realized that Manchester United is the team to beat to win honours in England he wants to get rid of United’s talisman Cristiano Ronaldo to pave the way for him to have things easy. That is how ardent supporters of United see in his advice to Ronaldo to leave for Real Madrid.

Scolari’s sermon that opportunity comes but once and that the life of a footballer is unpredictable seems a bit disingenuous. If you want to stretch the argument far then players should change clubs annually for the highest bidder "because life is short". Scolari has been long in the football business and he should know that contracts are not signed just for the fun of it. If Real Madrid want Ronaldo the FIFA regulations say it must be put into writing. The shadow boxing must therefore stop.

These young football millionaires definitely need pieces of advice here and there for the good of their future and to this writer submits that it is dangerous to implant in their minds that life is short so they must exploit their skills for big money no matter the circumstances. Therein lies prostitution.

Ronaldo is in the thick of Euro 2008 and he should be given the piece of mind to ply his trade. I pity him. He appears confused. One moment he says he would like to play in Spain if United would permit him, another moment he declares his love for United and he is on record as saying that he would talk about his future after the European Cup. The young man is understandably confused. The media has succeeded in unsettling his thoughts and in my capacity as an ardent admirer of this young Portuguese football gem I would plead that he should be left alone for the moment.

In my 40 year plus career as sports journalist I have had the privilege of making close contacts with footballers in the dressing room before and after matches and off the pitch and I can say with some kind of authority that many of the high profile players cannot be said to be as fast thinking as they do on the pitch. They can be easily upset by what one may regard as trivial issues and extremely sensitive to media reports about them. Sports practitioners in general are a special breed and you need special managers like Alex Ferguson to handle special kind of players like Cantona, Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo.

Please leave Ronaldo alone

There is no doubt that the presence of Ghana's international star Michael in Chelsea has won a lot of support from Ghanaians for the West London Club. In certain parts of the country it was real mourning when Chelsea lost the European Cup to Manchester United.

A large number of Ghanaian football fans have grown to love Chelsea so much that when word got round that former Chelsea Coach Jose Mourinho now with Inter Milan plans to snatch Essien to Italy they took it with a pinch of salt.

A random survey conducted in the capital of Ghana, Accra shows that most fans would like Essien to remain in Chelsea because he has really made his mark in the team. "He is a real champion and we don’t want him to lose his glamour like what happened to Arsenal’s Thierry Henry in his move to Barcelona where he became so ordinary” said Samuel Inkoom of Accra New Town.

A tiny minority who think he must leave are not too pleased with the way club owner Abramovich treat his managers. “He sacked Mourinho without any tangible reasons and look at how he treated Avram Grant who only narrowly missed two huge trophies”said Emml Ansah of Osu in Accra.

A British football analyst has described Abramovich as treating Chelsea like one of his businesses in Russia. “This is not about metal, oil and gas, its people he is dealing with and he is being totally ruthless” said the analyst.

The analyst feels Avram Grant was sacked unfairly and the fear is that this could happen to any of the players.

At his first press conference since taking over Inter Milan. Mourinho did not name the players he intends poaching from Chelsea. It is good that the flamboyant Mourinho for once wants to keep his cards close to his chest and no names have been mentioned yet. It is the prayer of Ghanaian football fans that he will continue to shut up so that Essien will have peace to concentrate on the numerous national assignments for the Black Stars.

When Manchester United organized that special ceremony last February to honour the memories of their predecessors who perished in the famous Munich air disaster 50 years ago I said to myself that it was a real spiritual cleansing and that the team would win some top prizes by the end of the season.

It was a solemn occasion and when the club later on lost to city rivals Manchester City in the Premiership derby it consolidated the fact that it was meant to be a day of mourning I had that sneaky feeling that the sporting gods of Old Trafford would guide them to success at the appropriate time. I was wondering how the mood of the fans could suddenly change from solemnity to a jubilant occasion if United had won the day.

I had been privileged to witness a similar occasion during the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Games Village by Palestine bandits. The Games were disrupted prompting a worldwide debate whether the festival should continue or stopped. The International Olympic Committee then headed by American Avery Brundage decided not to succumb to terrorists. A memorial service was held at the Munich Olympic Stadium and after the solemn occasion where wreaths were laid for the dead Israelis the IOC ruled that the Games must go on

A little over an hour later the solemn occasion gave way to a cheering crowd that hailed the sportsmen and sportswomen as they resumed their quest for Olympic medals

Fast track to Old Trafford 2008 and Manchester City made the occasion more somber by defeating United but like Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and suffered the consequences of his action, it was no surprise that Manchester City later on had a tough time in the premiership.

The great thing about a league is that you can lose a match and still win so United braved the odds and won the Cup on the last day of the championships when their close rivals Chelsea were hoping that United would lose. That was the best option for Chelsea anyway because they could not match United’s massive goal haul.

Chelsea naturally saw the champions’ league final in Moscow as the opportunity to make history by being the first to win an all English final and winning the final at the first attempt but the sporting gods of United perceived a more illustrious honour and backed them to win the cup to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster. The impeccable Ronaldo was made to miss the penalty to serve as a warning to watch his words about his future with the great Manchester United. Free scoring Drogba of Chelsea he must now be wondering the cause of his unsporting behaviour that got him the red card. As for skipper Terry he should compare notes with the John Arne Riise who scored the 90th minute own goal at Anfield that eventually propelled Chelsea to the final.