Their Ronaldo transfer was a massive mistake, an was rightly called out on here straight away. Yes, he scores goals, but he hinders their team as a unit. Mind you, they seemed to have no cohesive plan around how to progress, so I suppose bringing back the show pony helped paper over the cracks for a short time. They fell for it big-time too.
They saw it as a statement. I saw it as definitive proof of their desperation and their continuing decline.