What next for Moyes? 9 Nov 2015 21:45

By Frank Mead, Editor

When David Moyes was sacked as manager of Manchester United in April 2014, our website was still in the planning stage, meaning we never got a chance to write a piece on Fergie’s successor. Today, he was given his marching orders from Spanish club Real Sociedad, and we felt it would be appropriate to write our own testimony on Moyes’ career since leaving Goodison Park.

The Chosen One?

That's what the banner said. Few, if any, Manchester United fans actually believed in him. It’s not that we thought he was a bad manager, far from it. But he seemed totally underqualified for the job. Nobody doubts his record at Everton, but how could he honestly walk into a dressing room full of players, most of whom have achieved every honour it’s possible to win at club level, and instruct them how to win trophies?

He didn’t exactly do himself any favours when he sacked practically every member of Ferguson’s backroom staff as soon as he got there. I could understand him wanting to have people around him that he knew and trusted, but to get rid of people who had been there through (and contributed to)all of the success United have had in recent years, and who were close to the players individually and collectively, was his first major mistake.

Another thing he did was to alienate the man who had been United’s most potent weapon as they effortlessly claimed title number 20 the previous season. Anybody who watches the Premier League knows that Robin van Persie is injury prone. At Arsenal, he had found a training regime that suited him perfectly and helped his body cope with the rigors of English football, and he brought that to Old Trafford with him. It clearly worked as van Persie had barely had an injury in two seasons. Although this was never confirmed, rumour has it that this regime was scrapped (along with the Friday night oven chips) when Moyes came on board. Lo and behold, he made almost twenty appearances less than the previous campaign.

He needed to hit the ground running, and to be fair he won his first trophy with the Community Shield win over Wigan Athletic at Wembley, and followed that up by beating Swansea 4 – 1 in his first Premier League game, but this was no more than a false dawn. By the end of September, United had already lost three times, one of them a 4 – 1 hammering by Manchester City. Points were consistently being dropped in matches, and even when we won it was rarely convincing. Strangely enough, the Champions League campaign was flying, and United topped their group and hammered German side Bayer Leverkusen 5 – 0 in front of their own fans, recording the clubs biggest ever away win in the competition in it’s current format.

In fact, Europe was a welcome distraction because the league situation was grim. Some argued that the players weren’t sure how they were supposed to play under Moyes, whereas others argued that they just didn’t want to – I personally believe the latter. How are your players supposed to believe in the manager, when he prepares for a home game with Newcastle by saying “we want to contain them” in his article? No wonder we suffered our second home defeat in the space of a week. That kind of talk hardly inspires your players to feel like you believe in them, does it?

Granted, what didn’t help was that Fergie didn’t exactly leave Moyes the top notch squad he always said he would bequeath his successor. Oh sure, United were reigning champions but let’s take a look at that last campaign. City messed up the defence of their title by getting rid of decent squad players like Adam Johnson, Nigel De Jong and Mario Balotelli (let’s forget how useless he was at Liverpool) and replaced them with Jack Rodwell, Javi Garcia and Scott Sinclair. Chelsea got rid of the man who made them champions of Europe, Roberto Di Matteo, at the first possible opportunity, despite a good start to the league campaign. United went and bought Robin van Persie – at that point the Premier League’s top striker, and the only way Arsenal were ever going to compete for the title – and once he scored the winner in the derby in December, the title was all but over. The Reds’ coasted the last five months of the season – one last hurrah for this great squad, where most of the best players were past their peak.

Moyes can also consider himself unlucky not to have made the League Cup Final, but maybe us Reds should consider ourselves rather fortunate in this respect, because judging by the way we played in the two derbies that season, we probably would have been humiliated at Wembley as well, with the whole world watching. An early exit from the FA Cup, at home to a Swansea side we had thrashed on the opening day of the season didn’t exactly improve the mood on the Stretford End. By this time, our league form was so poor that we all knew we wouldn’t be competing in the following season’s Champions League, unless we somehow managed to win it, which would have taken even more luck than Liverpool had in 2005.

The summer’s transfer dealings had also left the fans seriously underwhelmed. After spending the summer being linked with a Ronaldo return, a move for Gareth Bale or the exciting Thiago Alcantara, Marouane Fellaini just didn’t excite the fans. In fairness to the Belgian, he has got his head down and worked hard to the point where he is now a vital part of the squad – but there is no question he was a panic buy. So when Juan Mata unexpectedly swapped being two time player of the year at Stamford Bridge for a United side clearly in transition, it caused great excitement. But although he played well, and soon started getting in among the goals, the team still wasn’t functioning with any kind of consistency. You started to long for the away games, as we actually won more of them than we did at home that season.

When the Champions League resumed in February, it seemed United had been given a fairly kind draw by being paired with Greek giants Olympiakos. That first leg, where we went down 2 – 0 in Athens, still ranks as one of the most gutless performances I have ever witnessed by Manchester United (and I remember us in the late 1980’s). There is not a single player on their side who would have gotten into ours, so this was inexcusable. A fantastic Hat Trick by van Persie in the return leg saw us through, but then we got the reigning champions, Bayern Munich. If you don’t know what happened in that game, just look at how the rest of this story has gone. I don’t need to draw you a picture.

The press started sharpening their knives, following two successive 3 – 0 home defeats to Liverpool and then City. Prior to the home game with Aston Villa, rumours were abound that a group of “supporters” had arranged a plane to fly over Old Trafford during the match with the words “WRONG ONE – MOYES OUT!” This was greeted with boos from the real fans, and clearly didn’t affect the players as United won 4 – 1. Three weeks later, their wish was granted.

Following the exit from Europe, United needed to win at Moyes’ old stomping ground, Goodison Park, to stand any mathematical chance of qualifying for the Champions League. How we only lost that game 2 – 0 is anybody’s guess. Anyone who watched that match could see that the players weren’t playing for the manager, and the board clearly agreed. On April 21^st 2014, the Internet was awash with rumours that Moyes was about to be replaced. When these type of rumours are flying about at the rate they were that day, there’s usually something in it. Moyes was sacked with immediate effect, and club legend Ryan Giggs placed in charge for the remaining four games.

With a reign of just ten months, Moyes is the third shortest serving manager in the clubs’ history.

Aftermath & Final Thoughts

United were in seventh position when Moyes was relieved of his duties, and that’s where they finished the season. It had been an unforgettably forgettable season for so many reasons. In some respects, it was a breath of fresh air, if only for the fact that you never knew what was going to happen from one week to the next. But when you are one of the world’s biggest clubs, and paying one of the largest wage bills in world football, not qualifying for the Champions League is bad enough, but when you haven’t even reached the halfway point of the season and you already know that you aren’t going to qualify, the writing is already on the wall.

I went to several home games, and you have to say that the majority of the hardcore fans did stick by David Moyes. The general consensus was that we should judge him from his second season onwards, when he’d had chance to put his own stamp on the club, and spent a bit of money. But after seeing the performances at Olympiakos and Everton, how could the board justify giving the kind of money we have spent in the last eighteen months to a man who gets his players performing like that?

I completely backed him throughout that turbulent season, but after the Everton game I had completely run out of ways to defend him. My whole attitude to the appointment had been that, although I would never have given him the job in the first place, he’s our manager and we should get behind him and the team. Maybe if the players had done this, he would have kept his job, but if the rumours are true, and he did tell Ferdinand and Vidic that they should try to be more like Phil Jagielka, it’s no wonder they lost faith in him pretty quickly.

Following his exit from Old Trafford, Moyes was given a reported £5 million pay off (what will he feed the kids on?) and was very gracious about the manner of his exit. Then again, what could he say in his own defence? Nobody expected him to emulate Fergie straight away, but, with the players at his disposal, there is no way they should have dropped that far in such a short space of time.

In November 2014, Moyes was appointed manager of La Liga outfit Real Sociedad and started well, even beating Barcelona. But a poor start to this season saw him dismissed after just a year in charge, but at least he made it to twelve months this time.

There is no doubt, however, that he is a good manager and he will be back in the Premier League before too long. I can actually see Newcastle United being the perfect club for him. A club with a huge loyal fan base, crying out for a degree of stability which Moyes could give them. After all, what Moyes achieved in his ten months at United would have been seen as a successful season at Everton, and most other clubs for that matter. Newcastle certainly wouldn’t complain.

But at Manchester United, stability only works if you are being successful at the same time. As Moyes found out to his cost.