Regardless of what social media had you think, Manchester United let David Moyes go with a heavy heart. The club has built its image upon stability in the managerial department and so cannot afford to go down the path of changing managers every season. Moreso, given the club's listing on the New York Stock Exchange, stability rather than instability enhances its value in the long term. Perhaps more importantly, an Academy system desperately relies on having the same first team manager for a while. The only reason a lot our players have managed to get through the Academy system is because Sir Alex was always there to monitor progress and take his time to pick and choose who and when to give a debut. Contrast that with hired guns who only have a season to merit an extension to their 2 year contracts. What are the odds that they will stake their contract extension on youth team players? For all the progress David Moyes made with the Reserves, it goes to waste when someone else is brought in, quite simply because the new man has to make his own evaluations.
We all hopped that it would work out with Dave. Goodness knows that United would have been saved a great deal of pride if Dave was what Sir Alex made him out to be. As it stands, he has added fuel to the argument that leaders, no matter how great, should not be allowed to choose their successors. The results were simply unacceptable. Sir Alex made poor United sides punch above their weight, but so did Moyes at Everton and hence possibly the reason why he was seen as the man to do a job. Forget the alleged 'unprofessional' manner in which the club let him go, I actually do think that Moyes feels a huge weight has been let off his shoulders. He probably did not imagine that the scale of the job would be this big. It must have taken him till Christmas to realise that every word said by the United manager would get thousands of tweets and retweets across the globe. As a result, he must have been appalled by his own inconsistencies in his interviews. Pressure does that you. And it can be sickening, especially when you are in your dream job, because at the back of your mind, you know its downhill from hereon of you fail to make the grade.
They will not say it out loud, but the League Manager's Association was mostly disturbed by the reality that England's first club were on the verge of taking the foreign route in management as well. Brendan Rogers now carries the flag for British managers at the very top level, but even he can only be solidly assessed with how he juggles Champions League football and domestic duties next season.....much like how his opponents in Sunday's title decider are caught between a rock that is Athletico Madrid and a hard place that the Dippers have proved to be this term. However the foreign influence in England is a debate for another day.
Manchester United are lucky to have Ryan Giggs. For all the continuity that was about Moyes, Ryan Giggs brings much more of the same on the table. In effect therefore, until United hire their first foreign manager in July, continuity is still very much alive. The Class of 92 that learned their all from the great Scot can only seek to impart their traits on this current side. The last 4 league games are therefore about whether we can finally see the Manchester United that we know take to the pitch. Intriguingly though, should United resonate with their Alex Ferguson days, it will be a damning message to the former manager about the attitude that the senior squad had towards him. All will be clearer by dinner time tomorrow night.
Onwards and Upwards!
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