Football FanCast columnist Adam Thompson can understand why Ronaldo may want to leave United and feels supporters sometimes forget that football is just a job, at the end of the day.

I sat in a pub with some work mates of mine discussing one of the hot topics at the moment - Cristiano Ronaldo's ‘will he won't he' transfer to Real Madrid. One slated his loyalty ‘a total disgrace to the club that stood by him after the aftermath of the 2006 World Cup' said he, the other argued ‘If someone is stupid enough to pay you that much money wouldn't you?'

They were two interesting points, if anything it only highlighted the way in which footballers are viewed today. Where on one hand they are expected to stay faithful and respectful to their current clubs on the other hand can they be denied self glory and self satisfaction.

At the moment we're in a society that is obsessed by celebrity and this is reflected in the world of football. Testimonials marking a player's 10 year stint at club have become a rare pastime, as players seek personal achievement rather than team success. We only have to look at Manchester United for this, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, both have shown tremendous loyalty to United, even when they had an absence of trophies and they are very much a dying breed.

Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably playing in the best team in world and earning stupid amount of money whilst doing it - if anything his decision not to declare his future at United only shows how much players of the modern day game have a thirst for ‘new challenges' or ‘a change of scene' and how many times have we heard footballers use that one?

But the question I'm asking is can we blame footballers for taking the road of self glory and satisfaction when loyalty means nothing without trophies or medals? The loyalty shown by Matt Le Tissier to Southampton by today's standard is remarkable and should be credited more so than it was back then. Arguably one of England's greatest talents (and in my opinion highly under rated) his genius kept Southampton a Premiership side throughout the 90s, but unfortunately for Le Tissier that is all his career achieved, not a single trophy or medal won with Southampton, his ability screamed out to shown on a world class level - unfortunately that is how Le Tissier will be assessed as a player as will Ronaldo and Gareth Barry.

When they finally hang up their boots and retire to their Mediterranean villas the success of their career will be measured in the amount of silver wear they have won and not the amount of appearances made for one club. Great names such as Newcastle's Alan Shearer are often followed with ‘only won one trophy' despite his tremendous scoring record or Wolves legend Steve Bull ‘Was he good enough for the Premiership?', if anything looking at players like Le Tissier, Shearer and Bull - when the opportunity knocks, it seem to make sense to move on for success and the few who stayed put and were consistent winners (Ryan Giggs and Paolo Maldini to name two) should count themselves lucky indeed.

Fair enough Ronaldo is winning trophies at United and even though they won their League, Madrid isn't as strong. But 1 European Cup and 3 league titles with Man United and Real Madrid does sound attractive on the CV, as would a F.A Cup or League title sound more attractive to Gareth Barry if he was to move to Liverpool. But as football fans in general demand instant success for their clubs, in all this time the players have been craving this too and as distressing it is to see your top player move on to pastures new, can we as society say, if we were in their position would we not do the same? I genuinely believe 8 out of 10 times we would have made the same decision as the players. Money is often used as an excuse a player moved as football fans can't face the fact that even if their club is a success, Birmingham isn't as attractive as say London or Barcelona, or maybe the team mates they are surrounded by aren't the friendliest. Would you change job if you didn't like the area, the money was crap and your colleagues were up their own back sides..... You'd think about it wouldn't you? Loyalty wouldn't come into play.

Although it's hard to see, being a footballer is a job, and reasons you would leave a job may also be the reason a footballer leaves a club. It's basic human nature, and when you break down Ronaldo's situation, he's brought to England from Portugal as a teenager, living in Northern England (which isn't the warmest) wins a few trophies for United and Madrid offer him a chance (a warmer one at that) to go closer to home to win just as prestigious trophies.

Can you blame him or any footballer for that matter for showing a ‘lack of loyalty' when these elements come into play?

NB - Adam Thompson is competing in our Bloggers Euro Championship so if you can give his article a rating in the voting box, it would be greatly appreciated.

Grp B Austria vs. Poland. 19:45