The king: Cristiano Ronaldo and the Premier League trophy - again Photo: REUTERS
If a player shows the kind of petulance that Ronaldo displayed against Manchester City last week, then more often than not Sir Alex Ferguson puts them on their bike.
Ferguson has never had a player of Ronaldo's importance show petulance like that, but if he were to get rid of him, the odds on United winning the big prizes next season would lengthen dramatically.
Nobody steamrollers the lesser teams like Ronaldo. Wayne Rooney might regularly be better than Ronaldo in terms of his work rate and other qualities, but Ferguson will never find a player who hammers opponents like Ronaldo.
Ferguson will want to keep Ronaldo, not because he likes him, but because he is so important to United. When he got rid of David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy, they were both still great players, but you could argue that they had seen their best days at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo is still only 24, so this summer is not the right time to get rid of him. United have to keep him and put up with his idiosyncrasies because he is simply a sensational player.
It was always impossible for him to better last season's performances, but he has still scored 25 goals this season. He has helped United overcome the lesser teams that Liverpool failed to beat.
Maybe they haven't been at their scintillating best this year as they have been in the past, but you cannot question their position at the top of the table.
What happens next season will revolve around what happens with Cristiano Ronaldo this summer, though. If he leaves United and Liverpool make two or three key additions, the balance of power could shift away from Old Trafford.
The only person who could come close to replacing Ronaldo if United sold him would be Steven Gerrard, but Manchester United are not going to get Steven Gerrard, so that's a non-starter.
Ronaldo is simply irreplaceable and that's why Sir Alex will turn a blind eye to certain things and put up with his petulance.
People talk about the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Thierry Henry and Eric Cantona as the best players the Premier League has ever seen, but none of them compare to Ronaldo in terms of the impact they have made.
Ask any manager which player they would choose out of those four and they would all say Ronaldo. No matter how much you dislike him, you just cannot deny that he has everything and that's why the Ronaldo factor is so important to United and all of their rivals this summer.
When I lifted the league championship trophy for Liverpool in 1990, it was my last game in football and I would never have believed it if somebody had told me then that, almost 20 years later, United would have gone from seven titles to go level on 18 with Liverpool.
It has now happened, but Liverpool are getting closer and next season could be the year for them and Rafael Benitez.
It's clear that a rift has grown between Benitez and Ferguson, but the only person who wins those kind of rivalries is the guy who wins the trophies.
Alex has had his spats with everybody, from Arsene Wenger to Jose Mourinho, and now Benitez, but when he comes out on top, he isn't interested in what has been said.
You cannot accuse Benitez of lacking humility towards Ferguson after the West Brom game yesterday because Ferguson has never had any humility towards opponents.
But Ferguson and United have won the title and that's all that people will remember, not who said what.
Benitez probably needs to put an end to it and say nothing. If you lose, don't keep going on about it. He should just get on with it now and look towards next season.
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