David Moyes has been sacked as manager of Manchester United after just 10 months in charge leaving veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs in charge of the first team duties for the remainder of the season.&
David Moyes has been sacked as manager of Manchester United after just 10 months in charge leaving veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs in charge of the first team duties for the remainder of the season. Moyes short-lived tenure came as the Scot was appointed as the “Chosen One” following the departure of long-serving manager Sir Alex Ferguson after more than 25 years in charge.
A time to forget
The pressure has been building on Moyes with United currently languishing outside of the Europa League spots but during his time Manchester United fans saw the club break a series of records, albeit records best forgotten.
This season has been the worst United fans have seen at Old Trafford for over a decade whilst it is the first time that Moyes’ former team Everton have taken six points off of the Red Devils since 1970.
Manchester United are also guaranteed to finish the league with their lowest ever points tally. So why did it take United so long?
It takes time
Liverpool fans will no doubt be aware that life can be tough in the managerial hot-seat and last season, with the chances of European football dwindling, it looked as though their under-performing superstars could have seen Rodgers given the chop.
The higher-ups decided to give Brendan Rodgers the time he needed and with wise investment, including the addition of players like Coutinho and Sturridge Rodgers managed to transform the Reds into a title contending side.
That investment is almost a complete contrast to what Manchester United have seen under Moyes. He decided to splash out almost £30 million on Fellaini despite being able to purchase him for cheaper in earlier in the summer. The upside is that he spent £38 million bringing in the talented Juan Mata, although he has often played out of position.
Know your best XI
As a manager coming in to a team you have to work out who your starting line-up is. Even rotating managers will have a solid core team who will be almost ever-present. Moyes never really found his.
He had to build around players like Rooney, whose bumper contract and club status means that no manager will be able to drop him in the long run but even his supporting cast have rarely stayed the same.
Whether it be Mata, Kagawa, Januzaj, Nani, Valencia, Welbeck or Robin van Persie, it just felt like Moyes was trying to learn Manchester United by trial and error as opposed to seeing who was impressing in training and either paring them with the England international or playing who was on form.
As well as his frontline, Moyes hasn’t had much luck at the back. The announcement in January that club captain Nemanja Vidic would be leaving for Inter Milan and the aging of Rio Ferdinand has meant that Moyes has had to cut and pick at his back four to try and piece together some kind of consistency.
Of course, he could have used his two transfer windows wisely but most of summer he seemed to waste his time trying to lure Leighton Baines away from his old club or making pot shots at Cesc Fabregas trying to coax the Spaniard back to England.
Who next?
Jurgen Klopp was the initial favourite to take over at the end of the season but Klopp seems to have already ruled himself out of the running. United fans would have welcomed Pep Guardiola to Old Trafford as well but he too seems to have distanced himself from the job.
Giggs, temporarily in charge of the club may be an outsider for the role. He’s already a player-coach at Old Trafford and will no doubt feel that, at the age of 40, his playing career is coming to an end.
The former Wales and Great Britain international is a fans favourite at Manchester United although not everyone manages to make the jump into management smoothly. Shearer’s short spell at Newcastle United saw the Toon relegated whilst Garry Monk has almost led Swansea to safety.
What do you think? What does the future hold for United? Have your say in the comments section below.
