Steve Bruce, the Wigan Athletic manager, has warned Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez they would be making a huge mistake by leaving a Manchester United team that may continue to dominate at home and abroad under Sir Alex Ferguson for several years.
The ex-United captain, who left Old Trafford for Birmingham City after nine successful years in 1996, intends to interrupt Ferguson's pursuit of a third successive Premier League title tonight when the leaders visit the JJB Stadium. The Champions League holders and finalists require four points from their remaining three league games to secure the championship, yet doubts persist over the futures of Ronaldo and Tevez at the club. Tevez openly challenged the United hierarchy to finalise his permanent transfer to Old Trafford on Sunday while the Portuguese newspaper Record, a paper with close links to Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes, yesterday reinforced the idea that Real Madrid have a deal in place with the United winger for this summer.
Bruce believes both will be jeopardising their future prospects by quitting Old Trafford now. "Once you leave Old Trafford you find it very difficult. It's a step down," he said. "Not many have gone on to do well elsewhere and that applies whether you have been a reserve, a kid or have been in the first team for 10 years. It is very, very difficult to adjust.
"The modern player must accept that to be involved at the top – especially when they have been involved in five competitions and can win four this season – you don't have to play 60 games a year like we did. It takes about 18 games to win the Champions League so you need a squad of players capable of handling big games."
The Wigan manager denied Ferguson would be concerned with Ronaldo's diva strop when substituted against Manchester City on Sunday. "It won't bother him a jot," he said. "The kid was desperate to stay on the field and that's refreshing. I've had a few who have been desperate to come off"
Bruce believes his former manager will remain at the Old Trafford helm for the foreseeable future regardless of what he achieves this season. "With the team he has got he will want to finish above Liverpool in terms of league titles and, while Real Madrid may be out of reach in the Champions League with their nine titles, he will want to be up there with the likes of Ajax, Bayern Munich and Liverpool. I don't think he has any intention of quitting at all. He will be looking at that team and thinking 'Why should I?'"
Bruce's chairman Dave Whelan, meanwhile, has reiterated his call for club debts to become a percentage of takeover and believes there is a growing momentum within the game – and even within the Premier League – to prevent the likes of the Glazers at United and Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Liverpool from loading borrowing on to a club rather than their personal finances.
Whelan, speaking at the launch of Wigan's new two-year sponsorship deal with the online gaming company 188BET, said: "The lads at Manchester United and Liverpool have bought the football club and put the debt in the name of the club. The debt should be in their name and that's what wrong and that is what has to change. We must have some control on debt.
"I have constantly argued at Premier League meetings that we should only be allowed to have 20% or 25% of our turnover in debt. You could give the likes of United three or four years to put their house in order. Everyone knows in their hearts that it has to happen. Richard Scudamore [the chief executive of the Premier League] and others know in their hearts that it has to happen. It will come, there is no doubt about it. It is a matter of when. The government and Europe is looking into it now but it should be the Premier League who guide us. I don't want the politicians involved. Whenever politicians intervene everything gets cocked up and we'd all be claiming expenses that we are not entitled to."
