Moyes Sacking – Purely Business

Article by e-Manchester United Correspondent Tony Gillies

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April 22nd 2013 - Manchester United crowned Champions.

April 22nd 2014 - David Moyes Sacked as Manchester United manager.

Funny old game football isn't it? Was Sir Alex Ferguson that great? Is David Moyes really that bad a manager?

Simply put yes, Sir Alex was that great, he was a born winner, 2nd place was never an option. He was a great man manager, he knew how to stroke egos and still had time to develop the youth and even took time out to guide managers young and old from rival clubs. The man knew how to run a successful football club, he left the training to staff he trusted while he sat in his office plotting the downfalls of our rivals and scouting our next opponents regardless of how big or small they were, you can guarantee he would have given Exeter the same amount of time watching them in the lead up to the FA Cup fixture a few years back as he would have Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League Final. The man loved his job and loved the club, respecting the fans along the way.

Is David Moyes a bad manager? No. I take my hat off to the man who had the balls to step into such big shoes, he knew he was on to a hammering regardless of how this season went because nobody would have won us a trophy this season but the reason he has gone this soon is that nobody expected us to fall from grace this quickly and with such a loud bang. The job was too big for him but as he proved at Everton, he is more than capable of staying in the Premiership and I have no doubts he will be a success wherever he goes, not saying he will win bucket loads of silverware but he will stabilise a 'lesser' club.

The Glazers have come out and said he was sacked due to results on the pitch which is fair enough but when you're running a business results on the pitch will affect your results off of the pitch and the fact we haven't qualified for next seasons Champions League, which I believe if we had finished inside the top 4 with no silverware we wouldn't be questioning David Moyes but a top 4 spot is the least we expected. No team deserves the right to finish in Champions League places you have to earn it through your work throughout the season and we haven't been up to the mark so we deserve to be where we are but from a business point of view, you've had that cash windfall of the Champions League for over 20 years at the end of each season and one season that big cheque doesn't get delivered through your letterbox it's going to take a massive hit on your earnings and annual turnover. So the Glazers and United are massively out of pocket this season, with the sponsorships we have we should be able to survive one season without it and they have probably looked at it as we have and thought David Moyes cannot guarantee us a top 4 finish next season and we need someone who can as our finances cannot take another massive loss.

It's pretty obvious that the season has been appalling; the results against City and Liverpool but more importantly the performances in those games were dreadful, I don't think I'm alone in thinking that we will always lose the occasional games against these two and if you think otherwise you might need to take your red tinted glasses off but to lose 3-0 at home to both in the space of two weeks is unacceptable but it's not these losses that have put the nails in Moyes United coffin it was the defeats at home against West Brom, Newcastle, Everton, Tottenham being knocked out of the FA Cup at home to Swansea, not being able to beat Sunderland over two legs in the Capital One Cup. They were the games that have lost him he's job because you will lose at Goodison Park from time to time, you will lose at the Etihad and Anfield more times than not but losing to some of the teams we have not only lost to but out performed by and that just isn't acceptable.

It's been well documented over that past 11 months but I agree with the points regarding the backroom staff, he should never have got rid of Mike Phelan, Rene Mulensteen and Eric Steele, if it wasn't for these three, we wouldn't have been as successful as we had been over the last few seasons, they were just as important as Sir Alex. Eric Steele even took time out to learn Spanish to help David de Gea settle in to life in England, it's little things like this that have set us apart from the rest and Moyes bringing in his Everton staff was foolish, no disrespect to them at all but they have no idea how to run a squad of United's stature and it showed throughout the season, I think Chris Wood's is the only one out of Steve Round, Phil Neville etc, who can hold his head up and say he has done a good job, I mean De Gea has been our best player by far this season a lot of that is probably down to Eric Steele but he has no doubt improved under Woods so I hope the new boss whoever he is can talk Phelan, Mulensteen and the rest around to try and get us back to the club we were not even 12 months ago.

I'd like to end this by thanking David Moyes for having the bottle to take the job on even though it was far from a match made in heaven, I'd like to wish him all the best for the future and when he returns to Old Trafford in the visiting dugout, I will welcome him with a cheer.

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