A few years back I encountered a heavily disenchanted Liverpool fan. As a man in his thirties he could remember a time, in the 1980s, when his team was pre-eminent. That Liverpool vintage swept away everything before it with highly attractive football.
But, as we all know, the empire crumbled at a terrible time just as serious money was coming into the league through new TV sponsorships. While Manchester United, Arsenal et al prospered, Liverpool got left behind financially and have suffered a twenty year absence from a league winners list with which their name was once synonymous.
Yet I was still amazed that this guy actually wanted his team to lose. He believed that, until the incumbent manager was sacked, things could not improve. So, with a wince of pain, he rooted for the opposition.
In an almost incredible turn of events, we are now witnessing some Manchester United fans and soccersweep readers who want the same thing – for their club to keep losing until David Moyes is sacked.
The Manchester United board seem to be showing blind faith in the manager even though he is overseeing what many would call a complete disaster at the club.
The problem with giving Moyes a season to get things right is that it will be even harder for him to succeed by next year. Moyes always maintained that signing players mid-season would be difficult. But surely he will find it even harder to recruit top players in the summer if he can’t offer them Champions League football. Juan Mata was a great signing but Manchester United were desperate for another central midfielder in the winter window.
In defence of those who see short term pain (defeats) as a route to longer term gain (Moyes out) it is hard to see how the current Manchester United manager has improved any area of the club.
He hasn’t yet displayed even a hint of the tactical genius that may be required in future to mastermind victories in the latter stages of top competitions. There is a feeling that he will simply try to buy his way out of trouble and sign players who are so good that they don’t require too much coaching.
Unfortunately for Moyes he’s working in a football environment with greater competition than ever before. Manchester United can no longer simply skim the cream off the milk in terms of player acquisitions. Even in England, Manchester United can now be easily outbid by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.
So, moving forward, a successful Manchester United manager will absolutely require tactical ingenuity and the sort of progressive thinking that can outwit clubs with bigger budgets.
Like our aforementioned friend from Merseyside, we just can’t see how Manchester United can do this with their current manager.
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realist
Feb 11, 2014 at 10:55 am
if thats how foolish some fans are then i have given most of these muppets too much credit, and to call them idiots would be giving them too much credit!
if this time next year we are not in a much healthier position i would want him removed myself but this hysteria is becoming embarrassing at best……wind your necks in please!
Dithering Dave Moyes Fan Club
Feb 11, 2014 at 3:56 pm
You are the idiot.Only an idiot cannot see that Moyes is limited in all aspects of management.Frank O’Farrell finished 8th in his first year.We were relegated the next.Your ‘Chosen’ one has already lot the dressing room……fact
Sid85
Feb 11, 2014 at 6:47 pm
I agree with u I new this would happen as soon as he got named as our new manager and I have not been proven wrong how do u go from winning the league easily 2 not even getting in europe
Eric the King
Feb 11, 2014 at 9:09 pm
I don’t hate Moyes, far from it.
But he’s clearly not big enough, strong enough, or got enough nous for the job.
Tactics seem to consist of-1) swapping the wingers over on each flank often to the detriment of the team. Or,
2) taking of Rafael, whacking Valencia to cover at the back and watching a late goal go against us from said players awful positioning. (In fairness he’s not a defender), though not much of a winger either anymore.
At the end of the he didn’t apply for the job even, & why on earth would he turn the chance down, but that dressing room has clearly already been lost.
Look what happened at City and Chelsea last year in that circumstance.
Dragon
Feb 11, 2014 at 9:56 pm
@Realist. What you Moyes sympathisers don’t realise is that he is a cancer. The longer he is allowed to fester the more damage he will do. It’s also people like you, who claim to be “the reasonable and real United fans” that are part of the problem. I true analysis of the situation is not hysteria. Of course there are fans, but I think it is those that think he may turn it around that actually encourage hysteria. You see, when you are unable to realise the true nature of the problem…i.e. Moyes and his tactical ineptitude…people start lookng for other reasons. Suddenly, “Rooney doesn’t work hard enough” “RVP wants to go back to Arsenal” “Players are too old” “Other players are too Young” “Other players aren’t United quality” “The Glazers are not spending enough” “we are spending too much on some players” “Fergie was at fault” “Fergie is at fault” etc etc etc. The true problem is Moyes doesn’t know tactics. He doesn’t understand why failure to pick players who can keep and use the ball is a problem, instead blindly thinking his industrious, ineffective and out-of-form mainstays like Valencia, Young and Cleverley are going to give him more cover and stop us leaking goals. Despite the fact that we are shipping more goals than ever, the clown Moyes openly admits he doesn’t know why we aren’t winning. It’s his complete failure to Analyse, much like the likes of you, which leads to these kinds of issues……and leads a manger of a great club like United repeatedly claiming luck just isn’t on his side. It’s an embarrassment and any real United fan would see it and want it to change. So yes, I do understand the authors point, and yes, sometimes praying for short term hardship for long-term prosperity is an intelligent choice. So please, do us all a favour, and take your moralising righteous opinions somewhere else.
Eric the King
Feb 12, 2014 at 9:24 am
Totally agree mate. It’s not Moyes’s fault he got the job, but he’s quickly proved he’s not up to it.
Dude@MANU4Life
Feb 13, 2014 at 6:54 am
well said
Utdfan
Feb 11, 2014 at 1:42 pm
Moyes out !!! Sack the Moron in the Morning !!!
Shola
Feb 11, 2014 at 4:38 pm
I dont know what are they still watin for to ds idiot to be sack he,s is a 8nd9position manager he has no mentality of one to thirdposition
Longinus
Feb 11, 2014 at 5:34 pm
I am disappointed by the results of man u this season.moyes should accept the poor results &encourage his players.world class players r made,let him make them one..my dear man u you r so lonely in post.7.
Trevor
Feb 11, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Mourino and Pellagrini both new managers with months less time than Moyes to take over a new club both brought three or four top players into their clubs before the season commenced where Moyes had about five months notice and boughtFellaini in the last hours of the transfer window.
It just goes to show the fans what kind of a manager United were getting
Touljier
Feb 11, 2014 at 6:46 pm
I do hope that Moyes gets the chop after the game this Wednesday, even if it ends in a draw. This poor guy is broken and looked a ‘cripple’ figure pre and post the game. He is in an absolute rutt which is difficult for him to fix as he had never been tasked to expect Everton to be a title challenging or CL challenging club, but Man U is defnding champions and that is the minimum myself as a Man U fan is expecting this season. Sadly, the former is already past and the latter is looking all the more likely too. Gives Moyes a Bells and let him Keep on Walking! Now let me enjoy a stiff Jameson 🙂
Man u guy
Feb 11, 2014 at 8:19 pm
I blame alex 4 d worst xperience he drop man u into. Afta 26yrs, he’s stil lobbyin around seeking 4 power in man u…infact man u doesnt hav a gud management board. Dats y al dis tins is hapenin. Moyes must b sak.
red aware
Feb 11, 2014 at 8:38 pm
What a load of old tosh !! I do not believe true man utd fans want the team to lose. What sort of idiot would travel to old trafford buy a ticket and cheer for the opposition !!! All the people on here are moaning without seeing the work moyes is putting in scouring Europe and at the same time giving the existing players a fair chance to prove they deserve to wear the shirt . I would be more upset if he had bought in the summer and cleared out players who had won the league without getting to know them. The so called fans that call for moyes out and echo the press taking cheap shots at our manager have probably never been to a game at old trafford and will end up supporting city from their armchairs !! COME ON DAVID MOYES !!!!
Dragon
Feb 11, 2014 at 9:58 pm
Please see my comment at the top for Realist….it also applies to you
Devo
Feb 11, 2014 at 11:11 pm
Well said my friend, its not the manager that needs replacing its the team thats been broken for a while now, SAF papered over the cracks with his unique management skills but the time has come now to give the team a complete overhaul and that won’t happen over night, so we must all be patient till Moyes has constructed his own team which will take a couple of transfer windows plus some of our promising youngsters that should break into the first team in the next few seasons .. Give him time and Moyes will come good !!!
Hopefully along the way we will lose some of these plastic glory hunter fans who can now leave and go and support City or Chelsea !!!!!
United forever
Feb 11, 2014 at 11:31 pm
Well said – I’m embarrassed about these so called united fans; a bunch of over reactive tossers!!! Get behind the team!
We had no midfield to start with, he gave the defence a chance to prove there worth at the start of the season; they’ve all aged over night and on top of that his front two have been out for ages – the whole spine of the team lost. Give him a break and a chance to get things right for frigs sake!
Man u guy
Feb 11, 2014 at 9:40 pm
Red aware, am sure u hav gone out of ya mind, u must b a foolish scotish scumb as wel as ur moyes is 4 ur coment, i cn see, u ar an anti-man u fan.
In the know
Feb 11, 2014 at 11:28 pm
For Moyes read Wilf McGuinness for Fergie read Busby the rest is history
United forever
Feb 11, 2014 at 11:50 pm
Did you support fergie during his early tormented years and cheer on Ralphie Milne and co; or was you praying he’d be sacked???
zuby
Feb 11, 2014 at 11:36 pm
Alex ferguson made some terrible signings in his time like Tiabi djemba djemba barthez bebe to to name the few but he put the icing on cake with farewell signing of david moyes and then he says it be stupid to sack moyes but alex you give time to right person not the wrong .
henry mark
Feb 12, 2014 at 12:46 am
Moyes needs to be managed before managing manchester united.he needs to be taken out cos he is the dead wood we never wana see.message to moyes,”moyes,u are not a manager”.u are a scum bag
Hitman
Feb 12, 2014 at 2:09 am
Moyes! Moyes!! Moyes!!!
I don’t thing Moyes can handle Manchester United with a great playes like Roony, RvP, Mata, Carreck etc, but he is not in the top 4 position.
If care is not taking we are goin to end of 8 or 9 position becouse that was he’s metiom since from Evaton.
Eugene Morais
Feb 12, 2014 at 3:25 am
The real culprit was SAF. Bowing to owners pressures he did not go all out to build a strong squad but rather used his managerial acumen to cajole average players into giving their best. Knowing that the future was not looking too rosy he then left and now Moyes gets all the blame.
Mulako Emma
Feb 12, 2014 at 7:29 am
Moyes you can only coach small teams like wigan, Leeds etc not man u. Man u is too big for you
Trevor
Feb 12, 2014 at 9:46 am
Everybody is blaming that some players are to old But with the same team that won the championship last season plus four new players added to the squad it must have something to do with the manager that United are in this mess.
Fletcher is back with Fellaini, Mata and the exciting young player Januzaj.
So with the additional players surely Moyes should do a better job than he is doing now.
He is 21 points worse off than the same period last year.
Dude@MANU4Life
Feb 13, 2014 at 7:41 am
i really wanted to back moyes but he is clueless he knows how to stay top 10 he doesnt know how to reach top 4 he got there once and couldnt stay so how can SF pick him that has no consistent top4 knowledge.let me make a simple example for those fans that dont understand when speaking in soccer terms,”u have a winning racing car thats always winning or ends up 3rd for the lowest now ur driver retires and so the car gets a new driver which is good but never ends up in 4th or better,now the new driver changes the entire mechanical staff and now u not winning at all wot has changed its still the same car,the driver cant drive a super fast car like the previous driver he can just drive a fast car and his mechanical team dont know what modifications to maintain a super fast car they just know average fast cars so how can he compete against the top racers,there is only two things that can happen either the driver learns to drive super fast or he makes the car slower for him to drive which he did already,u see its better to replace a superfast driver with another one not ur everage fast” simpler than that i cant explain so if u still dont understand why moyes is not the man for the job then u should retire from being a Man U fan. Honestly i really want moyes to prove everybody wrong and win cups but i must be realistic and reality shows in the log. Big question is who replaces him?