Allardyce was on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast when the comparison came, days after Ronaldo abandoned Portugal’s October training camp over a disputed substitute appearance.
“We have to remember that Ronaldo was moved on at Manchester United to get rid of him. So the manager had to bite the bullet and take all the criticism because he felt that, in the system he wanted to play, Ronaldo was already too old to offer what he was looking for.”
The former England manager’s reference point was unmistakable. Erik ten Hag stripped Ronaldo of his starting role at Old Trafford and oversaw an acrimonious exit by mutual termination the following November.
“Sooner or later, someone has to say it, and this manager is brave enough to tell him he needs to go.”
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The walkout and the broken promise
Ronaldo, 41, left Portugal’s training camp on 7 October after an unused substitute appearance in a Nations League win over Norway. In a near-2,000-word Instagram statement he accused Jesus of a breach of trust, saying he had been promised roughly 30 minutes of game time and that a further row over how the benching would be publicly explained pushed him out.
Jesus has denied agreeing to any such arrangement. His only on-record line since has been procedural.
“I read the statement and now I am doing my job as I do every day. I am going to the federation to work and think about the team,” he told reporters.
The suspension
The Portuguese Football Federation opened disciplinary proceedings on 9 October and imposed what it called a non-automatic provisional suspension on the forward, with the case classified as urgent and referred to its Disciplinary Investigation Committee. Under federation regulations, a player who misses a national team activity faces a ban of between one and six months.
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Ronaldo issued a public apology before the ruling.
“I have already apologized, but I know that actions must have consequences,” he wrote on Instagram.
He added that being captain of the national team made the walkout worse rather than better, and asked the federation to apply its rules without leniency.
Sources close to the forward have told reporters he will not return to the Portugal squad while Jesus is still in charge, turning the standoff into an open ultimatum that Jesus has not acknowledged.
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What happens next
A ban at the lower end of the one-to-six-month range would still rule Ronaldo out of Portugal’s November Nations League fixtures against Denmark and Wales. A punishment at the top end would keep him out of the national team until spring 2027.
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