Last week Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best player in the world - and rightly so.

Even though I don't particularly like him, it would have been criminally unjust to give the Ballon D'Or to anybody else, such were his performances last season.

His two main rivals - Messi and Torres - were worthy opponents, but in terms of consistently turning on the style and performing at the highest level, there was nobody better than the man with the never-ending neck.

Ironically, the award came just a few hours after the most stupid moment in his entire Manchester United career - being sent off for a handball that would have made Maradona blush. And in the Manchester derby to boot.

Just in case you missed it, he leapt like a deranged salmon, got himself a foot higher than everybody else in the box and then, instead of heading it into the net as everyone expected him to do, put his hands up and palmed it away.

Ronaldo's claims that he heard a whistle don't hold a great deal of water. Unless he now has super-hearing to go with all his other impressive bodily functions.

Personally, I think he was concerned he may have got the angle for the header a little wrong and, with the ball rushing towards him at speed, decided it was more important to protect that oh-so-pretty face.

Which is rather sad.

But even more sad is Sir Alex's reaction to the incident.

If it had been any other player he would either have slammed them for being unprofessional or simply laughed it off. It didn't cost them the points after all.

However, because this was Ronaldo, he went out of his way to defend the indefensible, dishing out a variety of different excuses on the player's behalf: he heard a whistle, he got a little push, he was just protecting his face.

It was almost as if he was scared to criticise him. And the truth is, I think he is.

Sir Alex fought tooth and nail to keep the Portuguese star at the club this summer and he now appears to be terrified of doing anything that might make Ronaldo unhappy.

One thing I have always admired about Fergie is his man-management skills. He has never been afraid to send someone packing if they weren't toeing the line (think Stam) or lay into them in the dressing room if they were getting too big for their boots (think Beckham's eyebrow).

But it looks like he is getting soft in his old age. Treading on eggshells in a desperate attempt not to send his star man sulking off to Madrid.

The irony is that Ronaldo is nothing like the player he was last season. He can still turn it on and his skill is still there in flashes, but his heart is not in it the way it was.

He is playing like he is going through the motions, biding his time until the Real Madrid saga starts all over again. What he needs is bringing back down to earth.

A good public telling off might just have helped get his feet back on the ground. A public display of pandering certainly won't.

The lost power of dreams

If anybody was under the illusion that the world of sport was going to be immune to the credit crisis then those illusions will have been shattered this week.

It's taken some time, but with the announcement that Honda are withdrawing from Formula 1 we now have the first real indication that sport is going to suffer along with the rest of the world.

For those not familiar with motor racing, that is a bit like Blackburn saying they're going to withdraw from the Premier League.

Honda's move comes as a result of the global recession, which has seen their first quarter sales slump by a massive 41 per cent.

With those sort of figures likely to continue for a while, it's no great surprise they saw the £300 million a year it costs to run their F1 operation as a bit of an unaffordable luxury.

Unless a buyer can be found by next month, the 600 people who work for the Honda team will be out of a job come the turn of the year. Including drivers Reubens Barichello and Jenson Button.

I have to say I am a little surprised that a team of Honda's stature was the first to go from motor racing. I thought it would be one of the lesser teams with less backing and less history.

And that doesn't bode well for the rest of F1 and sport as whole. How long, for example, before the first football team goes down the same route?

It could be a long, cold winter...

Too keen to quit?

The departure of Roy Keane from Sunderland has made the Premier League a poorer place.

The former Ireland and Manchester United midfielder has been a breath of fresh air since he moved into management, never afraid to tell the truth or express an honest opinion.

When he took over at the Stadium of Light, the team were at the bottom of the Championship. He got them promoted and kept them there in their first season.

However, despite spending considerable amounts of money on a number of players, his second season in the top flight has not lived up to expectations.

And five defeats out of the last six games pushed him over the edge.

But being Keane, he didn't wait to be fired and instead jumped ship midweek after deciding it was the right thing to do in the interests of the club.

Bizarrely, Keane apparently quit by sending a terse and business-like text message to club chairman and close friend Niall Quinn.

Now, on the basis of that SMS, Quinn will be sending out an SOS as he bids to halt the team's headlong rush towards relegation.

The current favourite to lead the rescue mission is Sam Allardyce, who has been out of work since he was fired by arch-rivals Newcastle. And I think that will happen.

The question is, where does this leave Keane? People are already describing him as a serial quitter, which is harsh and unfair.

If I had to put money on it though, I would suggest we have seen the last of Keane as a manager. He doesn't need the money or the heartache.

Taking the Mickey

I couldn't help but smirk when I read that Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear was in trouble with the FA over comments he made about a referee.

Kinnear, never one to mince his words, described Martin Atkinson as a "Mickey Mouse" ref for failing to award a freekick in the build-up to a goal Newcastle conceded.

That to me is a fairly self-explanatory insult. However the FA, always game for a bit of rule-following, wrote to Kinnear and asked him to "explain his comments".

What exactly did they expect him to say?

"What I meant was he has big black ears, a long tail and spends his life entertaining children, starring in cartoons and earning vast sums for the Disney Corporation in merchandising."

I think it's fairly safe to suggest Kinnear was actually questioning Atkinson's ability to take charge of a top-level match if he gets such basic decisions wrong.

If the FA need that explaining to them, then they really are a bunch of muppets.

Hang on, I'm probably going to have to explain what they are too...

A united front

Today, he is as much a part of Manchester United as Sir Alex.

His loyalty and devotion to the club is never in doubt. His commitment to the United cause is total. And the chances are he will see out the remainder of his career at Old Trafford.

But Rio Ferdinand has not always been passionately in love with his current club.

Speaking earlier this week, the England defender said he used to detest the Red Devils.

"I couldn't stand Manchester United when I was 21 because they used to win everything. I said I'd never go there," he admitted.

You can't help but wonder what persuaded him to change his mind and his allegiances. It couldn't be the £120,000-a-week they stick into his bank account could it?

Perish the thought.

Your say

Frank Cassar, writes:

"I am on your side when it comes to the introduction of video technology into the game of football, and believe it needs to be done sooner rather than later to make the whole sport fairer and more accurate. Arsenal's Arsene Wenger said not introducing replays was like normal people not using electricity, and he is 100 per cent correct.

"Every single foul, handsball, trip, shirt pull, dive and offside is now shown in ultra slow motion on television, so we at home know the reality of what has happened while the referee is left in the dark. This is a stupid situation which makes the sport unjust and the laughing stock of the world.

"Last week you wrote about the experiment with six officials instead of four, which I think will help cut down on some errors. But it is not a complete solution to the problem, which will only continue to grow worse as television improves and high definition becomes common.

"Fifa and Uefa need to look into how they are going to catch up with the rest of the sporting world and start planning for the introduction of video replays. Whatever they do now with extra referees is only going to postpone the inevitable, so they might as well start working on a proper plan."

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com