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Man United fire Moyes, Giggs to serve as interim manager

Manchester United manager David Moyes alongside coach Phil Neville and Ryan Giggs on the bench

By IVES GALARCEP

The inevitable has taken place on the red side of Manchester, as David Moyes has been fired after an abysmal first season in charge of Manchester United as Sir Alex Ferguson’s replacement.

Manchester United announced Moyes departure on Tuesday morning, with reports stating Ryan Giggs will take over as interim manager until a permanent replacement is hired.

Moyes leaves Old Trafford after less than a full season in charge, and less than a year into his six-year contract with the club. Manchester United is in the midst of their worst season of the Premier League era, a season that has already seen the Red Devils suffer a record 11 losses in Premier League play.

Moyes final match in charge came, fittingly enough, against his former club, Everton, which beat Manchester United for the second time this season in a convincing 2-0 victory that set the ball rolling on Moyes’ departure.

Louis van Gaal is being picked as the most likely candidate to replace Moyes, with Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp also considered a possible option (though Klopp has already come out publicly stating he isn’t leaving Dortmund). Manchester United is promising to spend big money in the summer, which could entice some high-profile coaching candidates to take the job that proved too difficult for Moyes.

What do you think of the news? Feel Moyes should have been given more time? Who would you hire if you were Manchester United?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. pity. shoulda given the bloke more time. but no CL no $ so away he goes. when fergie started at man u was the money expectation so high?

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  2. Said it in a post yesterday but feel its worth restating. This team was bound to fall apart eventually, last year they had a perfect storm that allowed them to win the title. RVP is perpetually injured so him staying healthy for two years (last year at Arsenal, first at United) was more of a fluke, this year is more indicative of how his career has been. Giggs and Scholes were both important for them last year despite being ancient. United’s midfield is a massive joke, there simply isn’t the talent there. If you went player by player across their midfield im not sure a single one of them would feature in a top 6 side, I have my doubts. Moyes was dealt a stacked deck and asked to win. Ultimately I get the manager is responsible for his club’s performances but the brutal fact is that the player’s he has just aren’t very good anymore, lots of key personnel are just old and past it. Players need to play well in order to get results and to often this year United’s players just didn’t do anything.

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  3. I guess it is easier to fire him than to fire a bunch of whining team “leaders” who never got behind the guy because he wasn’t Sir Alex. If they gave him another year and showed support – and let him dump a few guys – he would have been fine.

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  4. Ed Woodward is equally responsible for ManU’s failure with player acquisitions especially with the past summer’s transfer window. I would not be surprised whoever comes in as manager gets more control over personnel. It may be the only way Woodward gets to keep his job.

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  5. i agree with most of your comment, but just want to point out that mourinho did not buy torres, and i think dalglish’s purchase of carroll was one of the reasons he was on a short leash.

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    • Oh true, forgot Mourinho didn’t buy torres. He still doesn’t want to get rid of him for some reason though. I also agree with your statement about Dalglish. That is the reason Fenway put in place a reduced budget.

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  6. I’m no Man United fan at all, in fact I’m a Liverpool fan, so although I may have wanted Moyes to stay a bit longer for my club’s liking, I think he deserved to stay at Man United for other reasons too. Let me first say that Sir Alex Ferguson started managing Man United with little to no success in his first season or two. Ferguson lead his team to defeat, at the hands of many underdog teams. He was given time however to prove himself. Moyes did well at Everton, and helped them get to where they are today, and by that he is a proven successful manager, and although I may join in with the banter from my fellow Liverpool fans making fun of Moyes sometimes, Moyes is a decent manager. He just wasn’t given enough time. Ferguson was given time and succeeded, but Moyes, wasn’t even given a full season.

    Some may say that Moyes spent so much money in the transfer window, and that his signings have been poor. They go on to say that, how can the owners grant him even more money when he doesn’t know where to spend it. I agree with the assessment that his signings haven’t paid off completely, and I also agree that Moyes doesn’t have the quality eye for talent that Ferguson has, but were people really expecting a manager to step in that would rival Ferguson’s reign? I guess the Board of Directors were expecting that, and should be ashamed because of those unreasonable expectations. Every manager signs players that end up not performing. Mourinho bought Torres, who lacks that quality he had at Liverpool. People still wonder why Torres is giving the chance to play under Mourinho. Rodgers at Liverpool bought Iago Aspas and Victor Moses, both wingers/strikers that have barely gotten any minutes because they can’t perform as expected. Hell, Daglish bought Liverpool’s record signing Andy Carroll, who was a complete flop. You can blame the manager for signing those bad players, but sometimes it just happens. Moyes hasn’t completely been horrible with his signings though. Mata hasn’t been the star in the midfield that Moyes needed, but he has helped bring added quality in the midfield, and has shined on a few occasions. He has also developed Januzaj into a nice player this season, arguably Man United’s best young talent. Sure players such as Rooney have lost their form, but most players do for a while when a new manager steps in. I don’t like Ferguson at all, actually I loathe him, but I am willing to admit that he was one hell of a manager, and with time, just like Ferguson was given, Moyes may have gotten through this rough patch.

    He should’ve been given at least one more transfer window I think. After the Andy Caroll flop, the Liverpool managers were put on a reduced budget. Maybe putting Moyes on a reduced budget this window would have been great to see if he can turn the club around for next season. Rodgers at Liverpool has used that reduced budget, bringing in Coutinho, Sturridge, Sakho, and other players that were bargains, and look at what he has done in a year and a half! Even with a reduced budget, Rodgers was able to spark the team and brought in good talent. Moyes should’ve been given the chance to at least prove that on a reduced budget he can bring good talent in and aid the team, because there are plenty of bargains who would love to play for Man United and would be good enough to rival for the title, as Rodgers has showed. If Moyes went through the transfer window this summer and they started off the same way they finished this season, then I understand sacking Moyes, because it would show no improvement, but at least he’d been given the time to try to prove himself.

    On Giggs, he was a great player, no doubt about it. A good, even an excellent playing career doesn’t equate to great management, in fact, that’s hardly the case. Hardly ever do great players become the greatest managers. I know it is only temporary until season’s end, but this could get even more uglier. I would assume a new manager would be brought in before the transfer window, so Giggs isn’t the one selling and buying players, because that would be an ugly mess. The thing is, United are only a couple games away from the end of the season, and they could’ve waited to fire Moyes. Giggs was also being mentored by Moyes, who was showing him the ropes. Now you essentially have a man with no coaching experience, and with little help. I don’t like Moyes, just like I don’t like Sir Alex, but he deserved more time, like Alex did, or just like Rodgers did at Liverpool.

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    • It’s all about the Euros. No UCL, and probably no Europa League for Man. U. is unacceptable and will impact the club financially. Add in the disastrous transfers (cough Fellaini) and it’s even worse. You simply can’t compare the present to when SAF was hired. No Champions League or EPL at the time. You also didn’t have a relatively new ownership trying to service its debt. IMO it really looks like Moyes, who was SAFs HAND-PICKED replacement, is massively overrated. Look at Everton this year. Martinez did more with less money to spend.

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      • But if you take a look at Man U’s team vs. the rest, how many are actually, truly good players? I count De Gea, Rooney, Mata (but only in certain circumstances, like when he doesn’t have to play defense), and Van Persie (when he’s not injured).

        I’m not quite sure that people are realizing just how incredibly average this team is. Look at the back four: Rafael (overrated), Ferdinand (old and injury prone), Vidic (ditto), Evra (lost at least 2 steps). If you start Rooney, Van Persie and Mata, that means you have 3 midfielders to choose from the following terrifying group: Carrick, Fletcher, Cleverley, Nani, Young, Januzaj, Kagawa, Fellaini, Valencia, and Giggs. Who in that bunch is scaring ANYONE?

        You make an interesting comparison to Everton, so I went through the team sheets to see who actually has the better team. Understanding that Everton has quite a few players on loan, I came to the conclusion (my opinion only, and on current form) that when everyone is healthy, Everton are legitimately better at 4 positions (LB/Baines, RB/Coleman, DM/McCarthy, CM/Barkley), Man U are better at 3 (ST/V. Persie, ST/Rooney, AM/Mata), and the others are about a wash.

      • @Forrest & Hobo, while you make well thought out and compelling arguments, there is a flip side to consider:
        Ask yourself these questions:
        – Did this team ever look impressive? (even in most of their wins they looked disjointed)
        – Were his lineup selections baffling most times?
        – Were his substitutions baffling most times?
        – Was there people playing out of position many times?
        – Did their midfield ever play with any sense that they knew what they were supposed to do?

        So what is the more likely scenario,
        -that a team that ran away with the title last year then adds Fellaini Januzai and Mata and suddenly scores 30 less goals, loses 15 games, looks completely lost all of a sudden forget how to play soccer?
        – Or that the coach is just not the right guy….

        Do I think this team was good enough to repeat? NO
        Do I think SAF missed the boat rebuilding the last few years? YES. They never replaced Scholes, and can’t figure out what to do with Jones as a CB.. Evans was hurt.. needed new CB

        But I would submit to you that the reasons Moyes is gone
        – because the drop off was staggering
        – they never looked like a “team”, no matter who was playing
        – a coach that never starts the same lineup for an entire season doesn’t look like he has a handle on anything
        You could do a man vs man analysis all you want…is that really the point?
        Compare ATM vs. Barca man v man this year, or BVB v Bayern 2 years ago… or the usmnt vs Spain in the Confed Cup… is that really the point? A coaches job is to get his guys to play to the best of their abilities as a team.
        Did Chelsea suck so bad overnight under AVB, only to go on to win the Champions league?
        The sports world is littered with coaches that take over a team and unfortunately the only answer is it was just oil meets water

        If they had at least just “competed” he would still have a job

      • And to add to my response, give a read to Gab Marcotti’s article Myths and Facts about Moyes Firing on espn

    • “I think he deserved to stay at Man United for other reasons too. Let me first say that Sir Alex Ferguson started managing Man United with little to no success in his first season or two.” Prior to Sir Alex taking over United the last time they had won the English First Division was 1966-67 season. In fact prior to Ferguson taking over the United, Liverpool had won 4 of the 5 First Division championships. Moyes took over a United team that had won 5 of the last 7 Premier league titles and last season won the EPL by 11 points. Expectations had changed since Sir Alex took over a middling team in the 80’s.

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  7. I wouldn’t have given him more time if I was giving the manager a hundred million pounds to spend in the upcoming transfer window, and if they don’t invest that kind of money in the squad I don’t know what I’d expect to change in regards to the team’s performance so you might as well fire him right now.

    I’ll be fascinated to see where Moyes lands with his next job, and how far down the table he’ll land from where he was with Everton.

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  8. This is great and necessary discussion… here is a list of 472 reasons why David Moyes was or maybe wasn’t the right guy for the job… Let me start from the top. Reason number one…SAF was definitely [blah blah blah]

    WE INTERRUPT THIS WACK, RERUN EPISODE OF “MOYES IN THA HOOD” TO BRING YOU SOME REAL @SS SHI*T!!! THE FIRST AND ORIGNAL “DESIGNATED HOMEGROWN PLAYA”!!!! DROP A DEUCE, SBI FOOLS*

    (*Comin’ to you live… straight out tha “Project 40 oz to Freedom”—hittin’ that sticky Julian Green. Lez get it, SBI… *)

    New on the scene. Like Julian Green.
    Don’t like it b*tch? File that one time switch.

    Fulhamerica? Yeah I but that sh*t behind me
    Just as easy as I swap my AK47 for a badass MB90

    And so forth… Back to my day job.

    ABC, BBD… DMB.
    I’m out

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  9. Hey Ives, how long did it take you to find this specific picture to post with this story?
    A conspiracy theorists dream pic…

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      • This is great and necessary discussion… here is a list of 472 reasons why David Moyes was or maybe wasn’t the right guy for the job… Let me start from the top. Reason number one…SAF was definitely [blah blah blah]

        WE INTERRUPT THIS WACK, RERUN EPISODE OF “MOYES IN THA HOOD” TO BRING YOU SOME REAL @SS SHIT!!! THE FIRST AND ORIGNAL” DESIGNATED HOMEGROWN PLAYA”!!!! DROP A DEUCE, SBI FOOLS*

        (*Comin’ to you live… straight out tha “Project 40 oz to Freedom”—hittin’ that sticky Julian Green. Lez get it, SBI… *)

        New on the scene. Like Julian Green.
        Don’t like it b*tch? File that one time switch.

        Fulhamerica? Yeah I but that sh*t behind me
        Just as easy as I swap my AK47 for a badass MB90

        And so forth… Back to my day job.

        ABC, BBD… DMB.
        I’m out

  10. Finally Moyes was a failure. I don’t understand how a team that won the league the previous year could look so uninspired. I started having serious doubts about his coach abilities when Zaha wasn’t getting playing time. He wasn’t world class talent but he was full of potential and it was the coaches job to bring out that potential in him. Further more Fabio, Cleverly, Hernandez, Nani, Büttner and Januzaj all seemed to plateau under Moyes these were the kind of players that basically personified the “Fergie Magic”. There’s no excuse when a coach can’t figure out a good rotation for Mata, Kagawa, Rooney and Fellaini. This guy simply wasn’t ready for the bright lights

    Reply

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