By Chris Wright
David Moyes: At least he tried
Good of them to hold off until after the Bank Holiday, but after rumours starting swilling on Monday afternoon, David Moyes has been sacked by Manchester United after just 10 months in charge at Old Trafford.
United have exercised remarkable patience by modern footballing standards, though it would seem an 11th league defeat of the season and the fact that the loss against Everton signalled that Champions League qualification had officially become a mathematical impossibility (the first time United haven’t qualified for top-tier European football in 19 years) was the final nail in the coffin.
Moyes was then sacked by United via Twitter – such is modern football, though, for what little it’s worth, he leaves the club with better first-season W/D/L stats than Fergie and a better overall win percentage than Sir Matt Busby!
Truth be told, Sir Alex’s succession has been a bit of a cock-up. A doomed, awkward, loveless mess of an arranged sham marriage. Indeed, we’re left wondering if Fergie fought for Moyes before he was cut loose this morning or if he merely asked for a do-over, accepting that his Glaswegian heir had blown his chance.
Moyes should’ve blustered in through the doors at Carrington, slapped his testicles on every desk and howled at the moon in a flurry of mad testosterone. Instead he thanked everyone for his opportunity, referred to United as underdogs multiple times, signed Marouane Fellaini and was polite to everybody. Even his bloody tactics were polite. United needed a bastard. He was too nice.
This may also have been a problem…
Yeesh.
Honest Dave tried, bless ‘im – and he certainly won’t struggle to find work again – but, in hindsight, he just wasn’t ready to have the proverbial rocket strapped to his arse and be pushed to the moon, if you’ll excuse the old territory wrestling parlance.
Incidentally, that is now ten Premier League managers that have been sacked during 2013/14 – the largest total since the league’s inception in 1992.
Ryan Giggs has been put in temporary charge and Nicky Butt is now the assistant manager of Manchester United Football Club.
Dwell on that for a while.