It is now time to switch to a new Money AM football blog as the world cup is now over and we all look to the future.....World cup 2010 is over, Bravo Espana, and Forlan, once again and bring on the new season !.....I never expected the last thread to be such a success...thanks all.... so this new one might go on for years without the need to edit the title...we shall see...

Why Moyes failed at both Man Utd and Everton
By Dom Ashton 23/04/2014 Comments (11) jump
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I'm partly writing this to exercise a few demons as a less-than-perfect Blue, partly as a way to draw a line personally under the whole Moyes saga so that I can move on from it, and finally, hopefully to offer a little bit of insight into one reason Moyes failed, at Everton as well as Manchester United, and how we can understand that reason to move onwards and upwards as a club going forward.

Like many Blues, I've been basking in Schadenfreude since last Sunday: each day, the cathartic feeling of vindication and justice done growing stronger and stronger – feelings that have building slowly all season, growing in intensity with each Manc humiliation – until a certain peak was reached reading about Moyes's "shock and disappointment" over his sacking in the papers today. Are these the "better things" you had moved onto, Dear David?

My dissatisfaction with Moyes started – having been a supporter of the status quo up until that point – the very moment it was announced that he was to be the new Man Utd manager, and yet Everton were to allow him to remain as boss for the last games of the season. "Unbelievable," I thought; I was enraged. "Let me get this straight," I thought incredulously, "he is now the manager of an enemy club, yet we are going to allow him continued access to our club secrets, players, and facilities, so that he can most effectively begin his new chapter by tapping up our players and staff, and sowing a few seeds of damage at a now rival club? You have to be joking!" And all that while giving him a send off that almost rivalled the one given by the Mancs to the all conquering Ferguson – despite the fact that he had never won anything with us!

This emotion started a chain of self-reflection that exposed a lot of guilt, and turned into not a bit of bitterness, but would also evolve into a lot of resolve and optimism over the next few months.

Firstly, I started to see how I had been part of this culture of acceptance of mediocrity as a Blue. At 33 years old, I've pretty much grown up with Everton being shite. (Although, Ironically, I first started going the match during the cup winning run of ’95.) Although I'd read about Everton's history as a lad, and so knew full well what a big club we are, somehow the emotional turmoil of the relegation scrapes of the 90s had conditioned me to dread each new season, and to be content to reach 40 points each year so that we could live to fight another day. In my head, there was a vague idea that maybe one day investment would come, and from there we'd maybe be back to the elite, but until then we just needed to survive.

I was so passionless, so emasculated, that I even remember wishing Rooney well when we sold him to Manchester United, as I felt he deserved his chance to play with the “big boys” in the Champions League. I even used to cheer for Man Utd in that competition, partly because of national pride, partly as English club success would ensure more places for the Premier League, and partly because I had an unhealthy case of Stockholm syndrome, being happy with the Manc dominance just as long as they kept Liverpool off their perch. Also, most of the lads at the school I went to were either Everton or Liverpool, with only one Manc fan (ironically from Norway), so I never got into arguments with Mancs, only ever Kopites, whom, I couldn’t fail but notice, could be wound up quite easily by invoking the achievements of Alex Ferguson and his red machine. So I often did. (How ashamed I feel now.)

It even got to the point, dear readers, where I allowed my own son to become a Man Utd fan. Again, passive acceptance was the root cause. Living in Japan now, and with my lad half Japanese, United were the only club shown on TV, and with Kagawa a big star out here, how could he support anyone else, I thought?

That was the low point... but then left Moyes, and along came Bobby. Thanks to my rage and self-reflection, and with the refreshing optimism and philosophy of Bobby, I woke up as if from a decade-long coma. I finally saw how Everton, and me as a fan, had been taken for a ride for so long. I finally saw the depth of insult at Man Utd cast off Phil “Top 10 is a massive achievement” Neville having ever been captain of our great club. I saw that Moyes and Ferguson had been using us as a feeder club and an apprenticeship for over 10 years, like some national daily’s editor’s nephew getting fixed up at the local paper before moving on to the big time when a job became available.

I think of it now, the cast off players that came from United, and it seems Ferguson was throwing Moyes a bone or two to help out his development. And of course, there was Rooney going the other way... I wonder how hard Moyes fought to prevent that transfer? I wonder how much unspoken understanding or agreements there were between the two fellow countrymen even back then?

Of course, this collusion would become obvious when Dear David refused to sign a new contract – giggling to himself, no doubt, when he fed the media cryptic comments about “wanting to manage in Germany” – all the while confident of taking over the Old Trafford hot seat, and free to cruise through his last season at Everton thinking more about how he was going to succeed with Man Utd rather than caring about “little Everton” and their, to him, trivial desires for a lowly bit of silverware such as the FA Cup. How could these deluded fans expect to win anything on such a limited budget anyway? And here is where we get to Moyes’s big weakness.

Read about any managerial success story, and in all cases we will see that it is invariably achieved against the odds, and against the consensus opinion of the day. Can you imagine the contemporary versions of Robbie Savage or Alan Hansen predicting Nottingham Forest winning the league or European Cup at the time of failed Leeds United manager Brian Clough’s appointment back in 1975? But if you read biographies of him now you can get hints of where his success would come from. For me, it was the story of he and Peter Taylor being willing to paint the fences and drive the team coach at Hartlepool United. Or read about Fergie at St Mirren, driving around in a van fitted with a loud speaker in an attempt to exhort the locals to turn out for games.

As far as I can see, in any examples of success, whether they be in sport or business, or as far as I have learned through my own experience in life, the common denominators are that it is (a) never predicted by the consensus opinion of the ignorant masses; (b) thus taking all of the supposed “experts” by surprise; (c) engineered by free-thinking iconoclastic individuals with confidence in their own opinions, and the determination to drive through their vision in the face of jeers, cliche, and derision, from the Robbie Savages and other misinformed, dull, idiotic mouthpieces of the day; and (d) they do this by being absolutely focussed on the end goal of success and a willingness to do whatever it take to get there, whether that means painting fences or soliciting for fans through a loud speaker.

Now, it is easy for someone to come along and make big promises. The difference between a bullshitter and a winner is that the winner will break the promise down into actionable tasks. So, in the cases above, Fergie will promise to improve St Mirren. To do this, he knows he’ll need better players. To get them, he knows he needs more money. To get more money, he knows he needs more gate receipts. To get them, he goes out one day with a loud speaker and prospects for fans.

It is a principle that was put succinctly to me once by a successful nightclub owner in Roppongi, who explained that his business was each day to “turn one dollar into two”. It is the principle of investment and is the driving force behind any successful enterprise in life. “How can we turn one dollar into two?”. And the next day, “two dollars into four”. We can see how the effect is exponential, and this is the secret of its power. Because with this principle, one dollar can become a fortune, or in the case of a football team, Aberdeen can dominate the Old Firm, Nottingham Forest can become the best team in Europe, or Manchester United can go from being an under-achieving laughing stock to the most successful club in English football after just over two decades. And it is this very principle that the hapless Moyes did not understand.

In his 11 years at Everton, he brought stability to the club, it has to be said. He even employed the principle of turning “one dollar into two”, and them some, with the acquisition of such gems as Seamus Coleman. But he never understood the full potential of this way of thinking, nor his own potential, nor the potential of Everton Football Club. He was no iconoclast, no free thinker. He was as conventional as a bingo night down at the local conservative club. He was absolutely in tune with the cacophony of hackneyed drivel fed to us by the “expert” pundits and the media. And why not? It was all very flattering of him.

Brave, honest Dave struggling to keep the hapless Everton in the Premier League. Miracle worker Dave, working his magic in that old creaking stadium with nothing but a shoestring and a few moths in his pocket. When is Dave going to get his shot at a “big club”? Ungrateful, impoverished Everton are just holding him back...

Forget the fact that we plucked him from obscurity and gave him his big chance. Forget the fact that we backed him through thick and thin and more than a few bitter disappointments. Forget the fact that we made him one of the highest paid coaches in world sport. Forget that we made him famous and made him rich. And in return, he left us with not a single pot in the formally bulging Everton trophy cabinet. In an era in which teams like Wigan and Portsmouth won the FA Cup, and Swansea, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Tottenham have won the League Cup, David Moyes could not lead the 4th most successful English club of all time to a single major honour. In 11 years. How can this man even sleep at night?

But again, that is the root of his problem. He never understood that success has to be made, always, against the odds. He thought that Everton was just a stepping stone, that Everton was too small a vehicle to deliver his ambition, but that once he’d made the step up to “better things” the success would flow. Sorry David, life just doesn’t work like that.

I have to laugh now reading about him being seen, in his final days at Manchester United, with self-help books such as “Good to Great”. This is the kind of book middle managers at banks and small time entrepreneurs read, convinced that the key to success is some esoteric secret that once they grasp will allow them to take over the world. It’s sad, like some alchemist mixing nostrums in some futile effort to turn lead to gold. How did he last 11 years at a club like Everton without knowing that success is as simple as starting each day better off than you were the day before, and not ever stopping to do that until you achieve your goal of being the very best? How did we tolerate this middling, bumbling fool for so long?

But it’s over now. It’s really, really over now that he’s left United. This season has been not only the season that I’ve woken up to reality, but a season of such excitement, as Roberto Martinez has shown Everton the value of looking at positives instead of negatives, of raising expectations rather than lowering them, and of doing whatever it takes to achieve success, even when it rubs the cosy consensus the wrong way. (like using the loan system to bring in better players…).

This is the season I finally understood what it means to be a Blue. I feel like I’ve almost gone through a religious conversion: I’m a born-again Blue. I finally understand the meaning of “Nil Satis Nisi Optimum”. It really does mean “Nothing but the best”. It means we can, and should, aim to be the best, and that nothing else is acceptable. Being a Blue means aiming to win every game, and every competition we enter, and to do it in a style that will make us the envy of world football. Yes, there is a long way and a long struggle to get there, and yes, there are many challenges that we must face on the way, but as long as we as a club – manager, board, players, and fans – focus on “turning one dollar into two”; focus on continuous investment in improving our club, and as long as we ignore the ignorant consensus, believe in ourselves, and keep doing the right thing every day, then I believe that we will get there, and that the journey will be most satisfying.

Some other good news to finish is that I managed to get to a couple of games over the Christmas period, while I was back, and took my boy to the Old Lady for the first time. Anyway, it seems like his soul might be saved, as although he played it cool at the time, and in spite of the fact his first game was the 1-0 loss against Sunderland, recently he has started to wear his royal blue Everton replica kit exclusively at footy practise on the weekends, and he has learned the names of nearly all of our first team squad, with Barkley seemingly replacing Kagawa and Barca’s Messi as his favourite football player. It may be only one additional Blue in my little family, but there are two of us today, where as yesterday there was only one.

Up the Toffees!

@BlueDomAsh

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Gary Reeves
793 Posted 23/04/2014 at 07:41:55 What was it that did for OFM at Man Utd? Was it the dour demeanour, the big-match bottling, the transfer dithering, playing people out of position? Well it was all nailed on, really, wasn’t it.
But for me his defining moment was at Carrington before the Olympiacos game. Obviously aware of rumblings of discontent, he invited the media into a training session to display their "unity". The players were doing one of those drills where a circle passes the ball around, whilst a couple try to intercept. And it became obvious in that moment that our Davey was completely out of his natural habitat – gurning like Forrest Gump whilst Internationals ’megged him for fun.

Yes, it has to be said he should only be at Carrington or Finch Farm if he’s looking through the fence. If I was you Davey I’d have the Summer off, then I’d get on the phone to Stenhousemuir!

Rob Teo
924 Posted 23/04/2014 at 15:47:10 One talking point that has emerged from Moyes's sacking is the Glazers' reluctance to hand over a 150 million pound transfer kitty to a man who's unable to motivate his players. Over the past 10 months, Moyes has also consistently highlighted the need to overhaul the Man Utd squad with new players – something he often alluded to as Everton boss when he would compare our players to Marks and Spencer and use that as an excuse/reason for our inability to finish above 7th/6th.
To his credit, Moyes is great at unearthing cheap bargains and generating profits from player sales to fund new purchases. On the flip side, it's well-documented that Moyes has seldom been able to get the most out of any player purchase above £5M (except perhaps for Baines and arguably Fellaini).

Now, what if the reason Blue Bill and the rest of the Everton board have been withholding from Moyes a huge transfer kitty because they knew long ago that Moyes wasn't the man to spend it on the right players? What if they saw Moyes as an excellent bargain-hunter that he was, but not the astute marquee-signing manager who could be trusted to spend well on a huge transfer kitty (like how the Glazers are now realising)?

It would be interesting to see if Roberto is given significant funding should he take us to the Champions League, and if so, would that make Blue Bill an astute chairman and good judge of managers?

Chris Morris
931 Posted 23/04/2014 at 16:23:27 He failed because he's shit when it matters most
Brin Williams
932 Posted 23/04/2014 at 16:24:48 Well you sure as hell 'exercised' those demons - now try exorcising them.
Shane Corcoran
933 Posted 23/04/2014 at 16:27:54 So, anyone looking forward to the game at the weekend or are we all too worn out laughing at/getting over/exorcising all things related to David Moyes and his many aliases?
Lee Gray
935 Posted 23/04/2014 at 16:31:44 Sometimes in life you get shafted, sometimes in life you get what you deserve... David Moyes got both.
Heard the song? "You can fool some people sometimes".....A heartfelt thanks Sir Alex.

Steavey Buckley
938 Posted 23/04/2014 at 16:32:58 Biggest problem with Moyes he is a very cautious man when it comes to managing football clubs. He is aware that the opposition can score at any time, so, sets up his teams to prevent them. When Everton were crying out for more creativeness from mid-field last season, by over looking the immensely talented Ross Barkley, he kept playing Osman and Phil Neville. Neville was so bad in the end, he retired at the end of last season. Osman has somehow been rejuvenated by playing in a more advanced free role this season, when everyone should recognise he is a liability when tracking back with his unlikely pass backs.
Mike Byrne
942 Posted 23/04/2014 at 16:15:25 Makes me wonder who the 'marque' names supposedly offered to Moyes but turned down over recent years were.
Nigel Gregson
946 Posted 23/04/2014 at 17:01:15 @BlueDomAsh Top top article. I sent something in along very very similar lines, but slight less articulate and slightly more colourful language (probably why it didnt get published). My points very similar to yours. Congratulations on your boy finally seeing the right path.
Phil Bellis
950 Posted 23/04/2014 at 16:55:50 Firstly, I DO understand why many younger fans bought into the "plucky liitle Everton"
I've been told so many times that
it's all about money
it's a different world now
Clough couldn't do it nowadays
you need a billionaire
it's not a level playing field
and so on and so on

My counter-argument has been based around a belief that the right man with vision, ambition, tenacity and nous could take a group of good players and mould them into a team in excess of the ability of its individuals
Yes, a decent stating position and some cash will accelerate the process

Throughout our history, our success has been sporadic and cyclic; us believers in Nil Satis may have become a dying breed but, through all the bad times, I rertained hope that our day would come again; if too late for me, then for the generation who have never seen great Everton sides

Illogical? So, what has being an Evertonian got to do with logic?

Hopefully, Roberto is the man and we'll get there
He said the other day, "success in football just doesn't "occur", you have to have a dream, a vision"

by the by...Nobody celebrates like Evertonians - nobody (have a look at the Pathe 66 Final clips and homecoming on YouTube)

Trevor Thompson
954 Posted 23/04/2014 at 17:34:26 Moyes is a cautious manager; he'd rather go for a draw than try to win but lose.
I can't remember what year but Liverp**l had a player sent off and instead of going for it he still got us playing cautiously. He famously said we'd do well to get out of Manchester alive; It sums the man up in my opinion.

Strange Chris but you were all over Moyes only 10 months ago. Best thing since sliced bread according to you, sucking up to him. Threads full of it.

Wonder how you will treat Martinez when he as a mediocre season next season.

Dont you worry 95% of all premiership managers(including Martinez) would give their right arm to be UTD manager, the other 5% dont have the balls.

Why are people knocking Moyes so much ?....Old Fergie must have felt that this latest generation would turn out to be not as good as the previous squads and decided it was probably a good time to move on....he was one the greatest if not the best manager of all time along with Brian Clough ......they are very cunning....David Moyes is a little unlucky not to have been left a very good squad !...he has made some blunders I must say...but still a little unfortunate not to have inherited the best ManU...

Players let him down.
2517

Problem with you GF is you excel in speaking shite!

12 Mar 2013 Post-1659 of 2868

Your'e obviously not an Evertonian then skinny? Getting beat 3-0 at home by Wigan in a FA Cup quarter final is hard to take mate trust me. Dread to think where Neville will be playing against City on Saturday knowing that fuck wit Moyes Centre Forward wouldn't surprise me.

Post-1661 of 2868

3-0 down, Wigan win a corner 10 blue shirts in the box defending, no outlet, sums up moyes tactical genius. Fuck Off Now!


And the rest is history. "THE CHOSEN ONE" ROFLMAF!

Very childish behaviour Chris.

Do the toffees do supplementary courses in anger behaviour management. You should sign on.

Lets face it your never EVER going to see a Everton team win a champions League or for that fact a Premiership again.

Class is permanent, form is temporary.

Half way house team next season for the toffees. Got lucky this time and next season best players will be on their way out.

Better odds for EFC playing in Champions League next season than Man U though eh GF :O)

Cheer up mate, Fergie has offered his services in choice of your new manager LOL!

No no no Chris, you still dont get it do you and I can understand.

You see backstreet clubs like Everton only think of the present, when it comes to a great club well the biggest in the World ie, United its a totaly different mind set where we think of the long term.

Day to day affairs and wondering and worrying if we can pay the players wages dont bother trully greats like us.

Its a trully different world, make no wonder Martinez as secretly sent us a CV and a SAE to his home address.

Impossible to predict the Euro semifinals outcome.....shame that Chelsea did not get an away goal which would have helped, but their 0-0 result is not bad but they will have to defend as well as they did in the first leg and really go for it once they cross the halfway line without leaving themselves exposed at the back.....who knows what will happen ?...at least they know that a win qualifies them....Bayern have a difficult task of overturning the 1-0....if... Real get an away goal ....ouch !...

Who's crying now?
Premier League table 2013-14
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HOME AWAY
Pos. Team P W D L GF GA W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 LiverpoolLiverpool 35 15 1 1 51 15 10 4 4 45 29 52 80
2 ChelseaChelsea 35 15 2 1 43 11 8 4 5 24 15 41 75
3 Man CityMan City 34 15 1 1 57 13 8 4 5 34 22 56 74
4 ArsenalArsenal 35 11 5 1 32 11 10 2 6 30 30 21 70
5 EvertonEverton 35 13 3 2 36 16 7 6 4 21 18 23 69
6 TottenhamTottenham 35 10 3 5 27 23 9 3 5 24 26 2 63
7 Man UtdMan Utd 34 7 3 6 22 19 10 3 5 34 21 16 57
8 SouthamptonSouthampton 35 7 5 5 29 22 6 5 7 21 23 5 49
9 NewcastleNewcastle 35 7 3 8 20 28 7 1 9 19 26 -15 46
10 StokeStoke 35 9 6 2 23 15 2 5 11 16 34 -10 44
11 Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace 35 8 2 7 15 18 5 2 11 13 23 -13 43
12 West HamWest Ham 35 6 3 9 23 26 4 4 9 15 22 -10 37
13 SwanseaSwansea 35 5 5 7 29 24 4 4 10 18 27 -4 36
14 HullHull 34 7 4 7 20 19 3 2 11 14 24 -9 36
15 Aston VillaAston Villa 34 5 3 10 19 28 4 5 7 16 21 -14 35
16 West BromWest Brom 34 3 9 5 22 25 3 6 8 19 29 -13 33
17 NorwichNorwich 35 6 6 6 17 16 2 2 13 11 40 -28 32
18 CardiffCardiff 35 5 5 8 19 33 2 4 11 12 32 -34 30
19 FulhamFulham 35 5 1 11 20 34 4 2 12 15 43 -42 30
20 SunderlandSunderland 34 3 3 10 14 24 4 5 9 19 33 -24 29

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I reckon that Chelsea might sacrifice the sunday game if Liverpool get on top early,.. thinking about wednesday crucial return leg against Atletico...anyway ....the Reds deserve a premiership win at long last !.....might be good news for England with Gerrard going into a world cup on a high...really pumped up !....(would make all the difference in midfield) ...

Might be shagged out as usual aswel (Gerrard) but I agree Id like to see Liverpool win the Premiership, would give UTD then next year some decent opposition for a change.

Its got really boring winning everything ever year.

Since when has 10 months been long term ? Thought United were different? How much has the appointment and subsequent sacking of Moyes cost the club again? How much have the Glaziers already taken out of the club? How are season ticket sales going for next season (sorry forgot begging letters signed by THE CHOSEN ONE, you couldn't make it up.)

Season ticket sales are in line with expectatations what are you on about. ?

And the manager is just a little wheel in the whole cog.

I said earlier you back street boys werent on the same wave length as the great clubs like UTD.

Think small and youl deliver small, remember that Chris.

1 year in the life of the great Manchester United is but a tiny pimple on your big fat ass.

Fergie took time to get results, truth is if the players don't want to play for you you're toast. Many in that UTD (that's a joke) team are so full of their own importance, they didn't like Moyes so conspired to get rid, and it worked.
2517

Think you have a good point their George, we the fans knew Rooney was the ring leader.

Anyway watch for anti Glazier protests at the next home game.

I hear Martinez has made Tom Cleverley his number 1 transfer target for the new season.

Replacement by all accounts for Berkley going the other way. ROT is already setting in over at Goodison.

What do you think of Martinez now Chris??.

GF - Meanwhile back in the real world :O)
Jim White By Jim White8:19PM BST 23 Apr 2014 Comments18 Comments
There is a mood of optimism around Old Trafford. The grumpy, tetchy gloom has lifted; the fug of incompetence has been cleared; the hapless and the hopeless have been expunged.
David Moyes, a man so far out of his depth he needed an aqualung as he floundered in the technical area, has been put out of his – and everyone else’s – misery. A nice guy, but it is best for all concerned he has gone. And taken his mates with him.
Now, with the Class of ’92 in temporary charge the club are back in the hands of those who understand them. And with Louis van Gaal or Carlo Ancelotti on the horizon, once more Manchester United are to be steered by those who are not scared of the club’s scale, who will not shrink in furthering traditions.
After a traumatic season to forget, all is well again in the red quarters of Manchester. Problems are a thing of the past now the Chosen One has been deselected.
If you believe that, then you presumably believe that Kevin Pietersen is a team player, that Mike Riley enjoys weekly kitchen suppers round at Jose Mourinho’s place and that Formula One is purely a test of driving skill.
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For all his mistakes – and he made more than a few – the reason United are not in contention at the point of the season that the destination of trophies is decided is not entirely due to Moyes’s stewardship.
More to the point, the issues that ultimately cost him his job are still extant: in his 10 months in charge he did nothing to resolve the problems threatening to consume the club.
It is true that Moyes inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson a squad which had just won the title. But it was also a squad coming to the end of its cycle, a squad in which old stalwarts had not been adequately replaced, in which the holes caused by corporate parsimony were glaringly obvious.
With a back four ageing simultaneously, with a giant hole where central midfield should be, with the second-rate and the over-promoted masquerading as the next generation, it had been driven way beyond its potential by the genius of the man in charge.
Blessed with a full season of fitness from Robin van Persie, in his last season Ferguson had given new definition to the term papering over the cracks. The moment he stood down, his successor fell helplessly through the now-exposed fissures.
It was evident in United’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich how serious were the issues facing Moyes. The truth is, since the moment Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid, the club have been in steady decline.
Just compare the United team that won the Champions League in 2008 to the one that played against Bayern, and precipitous slippage is evident in every position. The 2008 team trip off the tongue; the 2014 team tripped over their own laces.
Apart from the goalkeeper there is not a single player in 2014 who is as good as those in 2008. And that includes the six players who featured in both matches. Six years older, six years less hungry, six years more comfortable, all of them are a shadow of what they once were.
Football is a cyclical business, teams dip and soar. But United’s direction of travel since 2008 has been in one direction. From a team set to dominate the game, a team to destroy all comers, they have slipped to also-rans. That did not begin under Moyes’s watch. That did not happen suddenly. That had been coming.
For a business which is financially absolutely dependent on the perpetuation of success, that needs trophies to attract official potato chip manufacturing and road haulage partners, United’s slip has been reckless in its scale.
In their misplaced assumption that things would somehow continue at the highest level without proper investment, the owning family have starved the club of the resources required to maintain their prominence, preferring to use the staggering profits to prop up a crumbling empire elsewhere.
Since 2008, the money was found just the once for an unequivocally excellent new recruit, when Van Persie was bought from Arsenal. Otherwise the buying since Ronaldo departed has been of players of lesser scale: never mind Marouane Fellaini, how many of Dimitar Berbatov, Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Nani, Alexander Buttner, Wilfried Zaha and Antonio Valencia would make it into Munich’s first team? It is not just Tottenham where the buying has not matched the selling.
This is the issue that will face whoever replaces Moyes: he too will inherit a squad that has been allowed to slip so far behind the elite it will need major surgery.
Moreover, that surgery will now have to be conducted without the lure of Champions League football. In order to reclaim their position at the top of the game, United need absolute quality. But absolute quality tends to restrict itself to clubs in the Champions League.
A vicious cycle threatens which could well consume any incumbent. But hey, now’s not the time to cavil. David Moyes has gone. The real United are back.

By Mark Ogden11:18PM BST 23 Apr 2014 Comments225 Comments
Ryan Giggs declared that “we will go back to playing like Manchester United” during his first team-talk to the club’s players after being appointed interim manager in place of the sacked David Moyes.
The 40-year-old, who will take charge of United for the first time against Norwich City at Old Trafford on Saturday, has been told by Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, that he will not be considered for the manager’s job on a permanent basis, with Carlo Ancelotti, Louis van Gaal and Diego Simeone the favoured candidates to succeed Moyes.
Van Gaal, who has informed the Dutch football association of his decision to leave his post following the World Cup finals in the summer, is on holiday in the Portuguese resort of Vale do Lobo and available for talks before the tournament in Brazil.
Giggs, having been marginalised in his player-coach role by Moyes in recent months, has challenged United’s failing players to restore the club’s pride over the final four games of a disastrous season which is likely to end with the fallen champions finishing in seventh position.

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Januzaj snub for England 23 Apr 2014
Ancelotti perfect fit for United 23 Apr 2014
Making Ryder Cup history Standard Life
Debut: Ryan Giggs will take charge of Manchester United for the first time against Norwich on Saturday
In a move which highlighted Giggs’s determination to restore United’s traditions, the former midfielder Paul Scholes overlooked for a position by Moyes, was invited back to the club on Wednesday to assist with first-team training.
With Giggs left to oversee playing matters until the end of the campaign, United’s owners, the Glazer family, are due to fly into Manchester before the weekend to hold talks with Woodward, Sir Alex Ferguson and other senior figures in order to hone plans to recruit Moyes’s successor.
The Glazers are also due to discuss United’s summer transfer budget, with £150 million set aside for moves for the likes of Southampton’s Luke Shaw and Paris St-Germain’s Edinson Cavani. Cesc Fabregas, the Barcelona midfielder, is another under consideration, despite rejecting United’s advances last summer.
United are understood to have held talks with Cavani’s advisers in the French capital last week in an effort to persuade the Uruguayan forward – rated at £60 million by PSG – to agree to a pre-World Cup move.
Attempts to bolster United’s squad will continue during the process of recruiting a new manager, with candidates advised of the club’s targets and offered the chance to veto any moves should they secure the job.
With Woodward and the Glazers due to consider their strategy in the coming days, United could yet hold talks with figures on their short-list should they secure permission from their current employers.
Reports in Ireland on Wednesday suggested that Van Gaal would be keen to recruit Roy Keane, the former United captain, as his assistant should he be appointed as manager.
With Ferguson a key member of the group advising Woodward and the Glazers in their manager search, the prospect of the Scot being comfortable with Keane returning to United following the ugly breakdown of their relationship is one that is regarded as hypothetical by senior figures at the club.
United are aware of the need to avoid a repeat of the mistake last year in appointing a manager without trophy-winning pedigree, which is why their short-list on this occasion centres only on those regarded as being capable of ensuring the club challenge for the Premier League title next season.
Although Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp have been ruled out due to their public commitment to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively, there is a belief that Ancelotti and Simeone could be prised from their current employers should they be identified as the chosen candidate to succeed Moyes.
Moyes’s fractured relationship with his United squad was borne out on Wednesday with the Scot failing to acknowledge the players in a statement issued via the League Managers Association.
Moyes, who celebrates his 51st birthday on Friday, thanked the staff and supporters at Old Trafford, but conspicuously overlooked the players he had worked with since succeeding Ferguson last summer.
None of the United players on Twitter have so far tweeted about Moyes’s departure, with sources close to a group of the club’s squad suggesting that the former manager’s statement was greeted with ambivalence within the dressing room.
Giggs has urged his squad to focus on putting the Moyes era behind them as the team attempt to close the six-point gap behind Tottenham Hotspur to claim sixth place and Europa League qualification.
The players have been coached by Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, with Giggs overseeing the sessions, since Tuesday. Fringe players overlooked by Moyes, such as Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck, are likely to return to the starting line-up against Norwich, with Moyes’s signings, Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini, at risk of being dropped to the substitutes’ bench.

Whats all that guff above about.

Its a fact, turn BBC1 ceefax on, page 302 Cleverly is Martinez transfer target.

He must be of his rocker.

Cant have much in the way of a footbal brain going for that duffer.