In the end David Moyes didn't even have the comfort of the
temporary stay of execution that is the dreaded vote of confidence. The best he
got was a "no comment" before the axe fell and he found himself out
of work, less than twelve months after his appointment as manager of Manchester
United. When rumours began to circulate on Easter Monday afternoon that Moyes
was likely to be sacked, the club limited themselves to saying that they did
not comment on such rumours and you can understand why. Being a company listed
on both the London and New York Stock Exchanges any comments made officially by
the club on matters regarding the manager would have to have taken into
consideration the need to comply with stock exchange rules. As it transpires,
United share price fell as a result of the speculation about Moyes's future and
the club's alleged briefing of journalists on the matter before apprising
shareholders may get them into trouble with the New York Stock Exchange.
Subsequently United's shares rose to an eleven month high on the NYSE on the
strength of Moyes's dismissal, further proof, were any needed, that football is
a business first and foremost and that decisions that clubs make about
managerial appointments need be driven by many concerns such as their brand,
their marketing and their profitability as much as their success on the pitch.
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| Glum: There was rarely much for Moyes to smile about this season. |
Now that Moyes has gone, fans and sports writers all over
the country are picking over the bones of his short tenure in the Old Trafford
hot-seat. Taking over from a manager as successful and iconic as Sir Alex
Ferguson was always going to be a hard task; some might say that taking the
role was like accepting a poisoned chalice. Even a manager with a more
successful track record than Moyes may
have struggled to meet the expectations of the United faithful hoping for a
seamless transition. Ending the season without the Champions League trophy
coming to Old Trafford and not retaining the Premier League title may have been
just about accepted if some other silverware had been won but qualification for
next season's Champions League was a minimum requirement and that has not been
met. Winning the Community Shield as United did back in August does not, by any
definition of the word, equal success. As it turns out, Moyes has left the club with
a home record poorer than that of Crystal Palace, who we will remember seemed
doomed to relegation not too many weeks ago.
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| One of the hardest acts to follow in football anywhere |
The unenviable task that Moyes took on was not made any
easier by the continued attendance at United's matches of Sir Alex. How many
managers have taken over a club and found their predecessor apparently
breathing over their shoulders week in week out? Not many, and for Moyes, Ferguson's
continual presence was like the spectre at the feast. Moyes's task was made no less
daunting by the fact that he took over an ageing squad that over achieved in
winning the Premier League last season. His only major summer singing, Marouane
Fellaini, has been less than an unqualified success (how Leighton Baines must be
breathing a sigh of relief that he did not follow his old manager and team-mate
from Goodison Park to Old Trafford), while the arrival of Juan Mata in January
did something to stem the tide, although like Canute, he could not hold back
the waters. That squad Moyes was left with by Ferguson had not been
strengthened in a while, particularly in midfield where it said much for the
paucity of talent that Ryan Giggs, even at 40 years old, remained one of the
better performers.
After Everton’s win at Old Trafford in December there were
plenty of jokes about Moyes along the lines that he had “spent 11 years trying
to get Everton above Man United and now he's finally achieved it.” On Radio 5’s
6-0-6 on the Saturday night after United's next home game, a 1-0 defeat at the
hands of Newcastle United there were Manchester United supporters predictably
calling for Moyes’s head and on Match of The Day that evening there were shots
of forlorn looking United fans unable to accept that their team was losing...at
home...again. For those of us non-United supporters there was a certain amount
of schadenfreude to be had in watching them stumble from one bad result to the
next. United fans were receiving an introduction into the world inhabited by
supporters of most clubs, the world
where winning is not to be taken for granted. Meanwhile for supporters of United's keenest rivals, clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City, the
saying "It is not enough that I should succeed - others should fail"[1]
was probably not far from their minds.
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| Fellaini has not lived up to expectations. |
Those fans who were so used to success during the Ferguson
era and who were making unfavourable comparisons between Sir Alex and his
fellow Scotsman Moyes seemed to conveniently forget that when Ferguson took
over in the Old Trafford hot seat in 1986 the initial results were not
auspicious. Eventually United finished eleventh in Ferguson's first season, as
they did the following term. Three years after his appointment Ferguson had
still not fully convinced the United faithful of his credentials; he was close
to the sack when a third round FA Cup win at Nottingham Forest effectively
saved him from the push. United went on to win the FA Cup that season and the
rest, as they say, is history.
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| United fans, so used to constant success, found it hard to deal with failure. |
Should the United board have shown more patience with Moyes?
After all, they gave him a six year contract and everyone connected with
football knows that success is not guaranteed. Patience is however a commodity
in notoriously short supply in the game and long term rebuilding projects are
only really accepted in clubs that have not enjoyed continued success over many
years; for clubs like Manchester United only more of the same success is
acceptable. For those reasons Moyes's sacking should come as little surprise.
It may even be that it was not simply the lack of success on the pitch that
concerned United's owners; the damage that was being inflicted on the brand, on
the share price and the club's image would have been of no little
consideration.
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| The Theatre of Dreams became the Boulevard of Broken Dreams in less than a year. |
What next for United, and indeed for David Moyes? The
appointment of Ryan Giggs is only an interim measure and the club will hope to
appoint a new manager with a stellar reputation in the summer. As to who it
will be is anyone's guess at the moment, but without Champions League football
to look forward to next term they may find their options limited; indeed
recruiting top name players may also prove difficult without the carrot of the
Champions League. As for Moyes, his reputation has undoubtedly been damaged by
this season's travails for all that we may say that he had a thankless task;
his next job will be crucial in rehabilitating his career.
Anyone expecting a sudden resurgence by United next year should
remember how long it took them to win the League Championship after Matt Busby
left the club in 1969, how many managers they employed before Ferguson's first
Premier League title in 1993.
Perversely, Moyes's lack of success this season may actually
benefit the club in the long term. Certainly whoever replaces him may have
reason to feel grateful for the fact that Moyes has been something of a
sacrificial lamb; his successor may not have the same weight of expectation or
the legacy of Sir Alex sitting on his shoulders.
[1] David
Merrick (November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000), but also attributed to François
de La Rochefoucauld and Gore Vidal.
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