Aussie duo launch campaign to bring Ronaldo back to Manchester United
A pair of media and marketing professionals from Australia have set out to the UK on an unlikely quest to crowd source a bid to raise $80m to bring soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo back to Manchester United.
The campaign – which launched this afternoon – is being masterminded by Diageo Australasia’s former director of corporate relations Ron Ainsbury and the founder of digital business Catch Andrew Dent.
The social media campaign – Bring Ronaldo Home – was underway before club manager Alex Ferguson announced his retirement this week.
The campaign asks Manchester United fans globally to pledge to buy a Ronaldo shirt to provide the funds to buy the Portugese player out of his current contract at Real Madrid. He previously played for Manchester United from 2003 to 2009.
The CR7-2013 campaign – referencing Ronaldo’s number seven shirt – links to a Bring Ronaldo Home website where fans can pledge to buy a shirt. The campaign is also being driven via Twitter with the hashtag #BringRonaldoHome and YouTube.
Ainsbury
Dent
Ainsbury is currently a business strategy consultant and a visiting professor to Rotterdam Business School. He was in the Diageo role from 2001 to 2008.
Dent worked on Reed Business Information’s Catch from 2000 to 2010 and helped build the company into a multi-million dollar operation. Previously he was strategy and development director of digital publisher ScienceDirect and also spent two years working for Nike. He now runs digital agency TribalChoice.
Dent told Mumbrella: “It’s the crowd funding model. We’re involved because we have certain skills in online global business and social media.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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This is BRILLIANT idea!!!!!
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Sad. The money would be better off spent paying off Moyes’ ridiculous 6 year contract hahaha. Good luck Mancs!
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Go Denty!
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Can’t wait to see this take off. Couldn’t be a better time for this to happen?
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A very welcome idea. CR7 is a Manchester United identity. All efforts must be done to bring Ronaldo back without much affecting the debt burden on united. Dear fans lets put our fingres together
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the guy who thought of this is a GENIUS . Good luck to him and the bring back Ronaldo scheme x
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Not bad for an arsenal supporter
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this seems like a good idea for us to bring him home
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Really? How about raising money for something a little more worthwhile – like eliminating poverty, feeding homeless and sick people, building schools and hospitals in third world countries?
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awesome idea!
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Put your energy into something philanthropic that actually matters!
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I’m with anonymous. This is one of the richest clubs in the world. Why not make it even more prosperous by doing its business for it, and further widening the gap with the other football clubs. I’m sure the Glazer family would love your support to strengthen their wealth
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$80m won’t even cover his annual man-scaping bill.
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Running down the wing… hear United sing!… Christiano Ronaldo!
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Whilst it’s a brilliant idea, it makes me shudder. All that money going to one of the richest sporting teams in the world. How sad.
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This is ridiculous. I’m pretty sure Man U could afford to buy Ronaldo back on their own if they wanted him, without the need for a crowd funding exercise.
But more importantly if you’re going to go to the effort of raising $80 million, I can think of many more significant ways to use it than for a football club which two guys have decided needs to buy back a player that the management may not even want back. Pointless campaigns like this just dilute the impact of genuine campaigns which can actually make a difference in the world. The ‘poor old Manchester fans who are just so deprived because their club won’t recruit whoever they want’ does not cut it for me.
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I’m sure the fakeplasticronaldo is gagging to play for David Moyes. To play “the Steven Pienaar” left-sided midfield role in a team managed by Moyes is every Real Madrid players dream.
Just imagine how he could link up with an overlapping Lleyton Baines to send in crosses to Fallaini all day!?
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Its a tough one, the club is laiden with debt, put on the balance sheet by the Glazers, who are not football people. Look at the company structure, all Glazers, revenues of 500 million and only a 7% profit, means the share holders get zip, and it is not about money, so maybe it does help the club, but I can see this idea going further…..
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On one level, if there was a “bring Ronaldo to Spurs” campaign I would willingly buy 2 shirts.
At the same time, if this succeeds it would fill me with dread and disdain for the world we live in.
To think that this “cause” could be successful in raising the 80m or so needed in a few months when many incredibly deserving charities struggle to raise even a fraction of that is truly depressing.
….so please let this fail miserably, thus restoring my faith in myself, humankind and the potential for Spurs to close the gap vs. Man U next year!
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waaw ronaldo welcome to old traford
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