The Big Blunder

Ferguson was afraid something might go wrong, so he wanted to suppress the news for the time being. But in this day and age, what secrets could there possibly be?

Especially when it was such joyous news worth celebrating?

Not only did the Manchester Evening News publish, on its front page the next morning, a clear photograph of intern Luke Hurst taken at the airport, but its commentary, while stopping short of a final verdict, had essentially confirmed that the 2008 European Golden Ball Award would belong to Cristiano Ronaldo.

There was no such thing as an impenetrable wall.

The Manchester Evening News had not even hit the stands, yet media outlets across Britain and Europe had already received the news.

After receiving the information late that night, Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes immediately notified Cristiano Ronaldo. Early the next morning, he traveled from Portugal to Manchester.

It was undoubtedly a day worth remembering!

For Cristiano Ronaldo, certainly, and for Jorge Mendes as well.

Even Little Ronaldo's phone had already been flooded with congratulatory messages and calls.

The next morning at Carrington Training Base, there were also large numbers of reporters and fans, all craning their necks in anticipation of the arrival of France Football Magazine editor-in-chief Denis Chaumier.

Cristiano Ronaldo had been distracted all morning, caught between hope and fear in anticipation of something momentous.

According to past practice, before Chaumier and the others arrived, they should have called him and the club in advance. But this time, they had not.

Almost everyone chose to ignore that issue and instead focused on the photograph taken at Manchester Airport the previous night. They had all reached the same conclusion: if Chaumier's group was not coming to Manchester, why had they chosen Manchester Airport instead of John Lennon Airport?

Time passed bit