The Glazers Bottled It

This time last year Manchester United were crowned Premier League champions once again. The difference with this winning campaign to all the rest was that it was to be Sir Alex Ferguson,s last, as in a shock announcement,one of the greatest managers ever in the English game had decided to call time on a glittering career and decided to step down. Family reasons were given by Fergie as his reason to step down as he wanted to spend more time with his beloved wife Cathy after the death of her sister. Also

leaving the Manchester United boardroom was chief executive David Gill. David was off to take up a big job in Europe. How could such a big club manage with two retirements at such a level in the club and where would the future of the this club end up. Step forward David Moyes to the managers job and Ed Woodward into the boardroom. The appointment of Moyes was the perfect step forward for United and at the time most fans and media did agree. In fact I don't seem to remember many dissenting voices to his appointment. Moyes was heralded into Old Trafford by a rousing speech by Fergie on his last home game,he left the fans in no doubt that they were to back the new manager and give him all the support he needed to succeed. What was to follow over the coming months was a story of no board support for Moyes and eventually ending up with him losing his job at Old Trafford last Tuesday.

As the season kicked off United claimed another prize by bagging the Charity Shield and David's first trophy. But all was not well behind the scenes. Moyes had targeted a few players to bolster his squad and as the transfer window slowly closed he was let down on a few targets eventually only bringing in Fellani from his old club Everton. New chief executive Ed Woodward had failed at his first big test. In my opinion the team Fergie left behind needed a few players to replace the old guard. Two centre halves, a ball winner in midfield, a left back, and another striker were the simple requirements. On his first step into this huge job, Moyes was now heading for trouble. Home defeats became more frequent and we all know the basis off any title challenge has to be good home form. It was obvious from October onwards that United would not be challenging for the title this season and in fact top four could be looking dodgy as well. In my opinion the signing of Mata in the January window was a last throw of the dice and a risky one at that. Having a player of Mata's quality and not been able to play him in every game did not help Moyes' cause. On top of all that, Fellani had not settled well after his huge move to such a big club and his performances had been awful.

Earlier this season I wrote an article saying the Glazers should give the new manager time and let him build his own team from top to bottom. On reflection if David did anything wrong the one thing I will say is, he possibly should have kept Mike Phelan and work with him to keep the winning continuity in the dressing room. Alas it is always great to see things in hindsight,but one thing I did not see was professional players throwing in the towel and just giving up. Last weekends performance by the players at Goodison Park was despicable and they finally shoved the knife into the managers back and twisted it. It has become a way in the game over the past few years, that players just down tools and give up. It happened at Chelsea twice with AVB and big Phil Scolari and if that is the way football is going well I think the fans should think twice before adoring these overpaid ego maniacs.

I for one was saddened to hear all the rumors going around last Monday that Moyes was to be sacked. For such a great club to be leaking such information to the media is below contempt and as it stands this morning, there reputation is in the gutter. There is no doubt in my mind David will come back from this a much stronger manager and for those of you who are old enough to remember, the Leeds United team of the seventies once shafted Brian Clough and he went on to win championships and two European Cups. So as the dust starts to settle at Old Trafford I wish the club all the best for the future but my main thoughts are for David Moyes and his family. I have no doubt he will be back in management in the not to distant future and I for one hope he is successful, after all David Moyes is one of the nice guys of football and on top of all that a gentleman.