David Moyes - Scapegoat or just not good enough?

Article by e-Manchester United Correspondent Lee Ellis

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On 8 May 2013,Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement as manager of Manchester United. A day i hoped would never come. During his 26 years at the club, he won 38 trophies, including 13 Premier Leagues and two UEFA champions league titles. Where were we to go from there? Up stepped David Moyes.

Although Moyes had never won a trophy in his managerial career, he was deemed to have the pedigree and work ethos to succeed Sir Alex and continue our successful drive in keeping Manchester United the top team in England and one of Europe's most feared. It was certain that Sir Alex was heavily involved in the appointment, he was thought of as a like for like replacement. Moyes won the LMA manager of the year award 3 times, a feat only bettered by Sir Alex himself.

I personally thought the appointment of Moyes was, at the time, a good one. The right one. A large majority of the media thought that a certain Mr Mourinho would be the man to carry the mantle. His personality certainly was big enough, but with Mourinho, I always got the impression that it was about him and not the club. That's not the way Manchester United do things. No person or player is bigger than the club, and some very high profile players have found that out rather harshly!

So Moyes was put in charge of a team who had won the premier league in the previous season by 11 points, and was promised the funds to strengthen should he feel the need to. Did he need to? He most certainly did. Did he? He most certainly did not!!! Was that his fault? Its hard to say really. For some bizarre reason, we as a club thought it would be a good idea to let our Chief Executive leave at the same time. A Chief Executive who backed Sir Alex whenever and wherever it was required. He was replaced by Ed Woodward. A man most of us fans labelled a ghost. He was never seen, went missing when he should have been working hard to get the right people Moyes needed, and lets face it, he needed a few. Why else are we now talking about the need to invest heavily and buy 5 or 6 new players.

Lets look at the transfer dealings...or lack of them. We needed some creativity in the midfield as well as a midfield enforcer. Were our transfer targets unrealistic? Not really! A club the size of Manchester United should be looking to buy the best players in the world. We were and continue to be linked with the likes of Fabregas, Kroos, Herrera and Ozil, to name but a few. In the summer we landed Marouanne Fellaini. When he played against us the season before, he destroyed us. He was almost unplayable and someone Moyes obviously knew well from his time with Everton. From the minute he made his first appearance at Old Trafford, he looked lost. He looked way out of his depth. His passing ability was none existent, he tackled his own players more than the opposition and failed to turn in any appearance of any note that I can remember. So come January, bigger and better things were expected. I don't know why, because usually United don't normally buy big in January. Yet we signed Juan Mata. This was exciting and most certainly required. We cant blame Moyes for signing him, because he has undoubted ability and his record at Chelsea spoke for itself. In his first game he was played just behind Van Persie against Cardiff and he shone. We finally looked like we had found that creativity that we had missed and were craving for. But we can blame Moyes for playing him out wide for pretty much the rest of the season. A sign that things were starting to go wrong.

So why else did Moyes fail as a manager? Many people blame the fact he chose to replace the long serving backroom staff with his own team. I don't really blame him. After taking over one of the greatest managers of all time, he wanted to make his own stamp on the club, the team he brought with him worked well at Everton and he trusted them. Rumours started to circulate that senior members of the team didn't enjoy Moyes' training methods. Whether or not this was true, what was evident was that at the end of the season the team didn't look to be playing for him. But the players need to have a long hard look at themselves, because a lot of them are guilty of letting the manager down. Many of them in my eyes aren't good enough and some will get a reality check when Loius Van Gaal strolls into town. He wont accept lacklustre performances, not tracking back and sulking.

Unfortunately for Moyes he works in a results business and this season was a disaster. I personally think that the style of football just wasn't good enough. We were dominated by the so called lesser teams at home, something that would never have happened under Sir Alex. He was unlucky with players picking up injuries, but even with a fully fit squad, there was no excitement. We are Manchester United, we play fast, exciting, attacking football. We dont get humiliated against our local rivals, but that's exactly what happened, and with very little reason offered as an explanation for this.

As a season ticket holder, sitting in the Stretford End, I can honestly say not one fan turned against Moyes during his tenure. We were frustrated and unhappy with results, who wouldn't be? As a club I think we had no choice but to sack Moyes. At the end of the day we not only failed to qualify for the Champions League but failed to qualify for the Europa League. The best players want to play in these competitions, something we cannot offer, hardly a selling point is it?

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