When David lost to Goliath

The last time I wrote about David Moyes, I had extended skeptical and conditional support to him, on behalf of the rational and sane Manchester United fans through an open letter. Between then and now, not a lot of good happened and just as I was contemplating another open letter, the Glazers just made me rethink the content of this piece. Honestly, I don’t think I need to change much for my open letter would’ve exhorted him to gracefully walk away instead of inflicting additional humiliation on himself and agony on the fans.

Like I have said before, we did not have irrational expectations from Moyes in the first season. We didn’t expect trebles and unbeaten runs or undefeated home matches. What we surely expected was the team to fight for Europe. We gave him money, time and freedom to overhaul the system. Despite this, we saw no hint of positive change. Nowhere am I saying we expected to see the end result; but I am surely saying that I expected to see glimpses of what he promised and that was not to be. After breaking all the wrong records and hitting one rock bottom after the other, Moyes ran out of idea, excuses, reasons, support and player loyalty. There could be nothing more depressing for any sports enthusiast – let alone a Manchester United fan – to watch the Everton match. The team just did not turn up and this has happened on way too many occasions.

History will bear witness that dressing room discontent is unacceptable on the CV of any manager in any sport and Moyes has that glaringly put up on his Manchester United CV. Moyes’ biggest curse was the inadvertent comparison of his actions to that of his predecessors. How much ever I may try, it is rather difficult to not indulge in such comparisons; so please allow me some liberties. Ferguson’s teams also went through phases of unrest. Players revolted, sulked and spoke out of turn. But Ferguson nipped it in the bud. During Ferguson’s times, the rotten apple was left to rot outside the basket. During Moyes’ times, the rotten apple spread the rot to the orchard. No Roy Keane, Jaap Stam or Ruud Van Nistelrooij could arm-twist Ferguson! On the other hand, even Danny Welbeck threatens to quite Old Trafford and that speaks volumes.

Whether it be true or not, I am not to say – but there have been too many muffled voices about Moyes’ training methods, man management and tactics. When a team complains of all facets of a manager’s job, there isn’t much that can save him except a Godfather. In this case, even the Godfather turned his back on his own protégé. It may be premature to conclude that Moyes is a bad manaer for his record at Preston and Everton are certainly notable and praiseworthy. Nonetheless, he may have found his level there and should’ve realized. Another comparison may serve well here. Tony Pulis has miraculously pulled out Crystal Palace from the doldrums and has extended their lease in the premier league. And that is about it. You don’t pick up Tony Pulis and put him in charge of Tottenham. To remind Moyes, no Manchester United manager has ever spoken of making it difficult for Newcastle to travel to Old Trafford.

Personally, I am inclined to believe that Moyes was the man to turn this around and deserved time. Personally, I am still inclined to believe that the board acted in haste and also due to non-footballing considerations. Personally, I believe that he bit more than he could swallow.

If we were to even look at Moyes’ sacking purely from the footballing perspective, there is still a very strong case that justifies his sacking. As pointed out, team unrest, change of backroom staff, coaching methods and others have played their roles in bringing about this eventuality. Also, Moyes’ transfer market dealings have failed to inspire. Not many will hurriedly forget the manner in which we signed Marouane Fellaini for stratospheric wages by paying more than his release clause. How much ever the fickle United fans may have been exited with the signing of Juan Mata, there honestly is nothing much to cheer about. We’d rather have played Kagawa in a position he excels in instead of buy a costlier version. The only difference between Kagawa and Mata is that the latter was sold by Chelsea and cost Manchester United a bomb whereas the former was a steal from Dortmund. And this is not it. The preposterous contract given to Wayne Rooney tops it all. For a player past his prime and who sulks once every 3 years about leaving the club, paying 14 million pounds a year in wages is absurd!

To compound these gaffes, no player is willing to risk his career under Moyes. In a situation where the club plans to spend anywhere between 150 to 200 million pounds this year, the questions always was – can Moyes be trusted? Given that Moyes did himself continual disservice to this end by his naivety and immaturity in the transfer market the answer was clear “NO”. After creating a buzz about the transfer dealings, it is unacceptable that one is unable to sign not even one of those players.

As I write this, The Daily Mail has carried an article about how Moyes was openly and brazenly defied and insubordinated by the United players. Whether there is any truth to those histrionics is a matter of belief but what is surely disturbing is that every player in the team has had an uncomfortable altercation with Moyes. Whether this is down to his abrasive style or the fact that he had a less illustrious CV is of no relevance, since it is the manager’s job to either get his team to buy into his philosophy or adapt his to what the team believes in. There cannot be an obstinate impasse that hurts the club as a whole.

In addition to all of this, there are also the commercial losses that have been staring into the face of the Glazers. All said and done, Manchester United is a club that has lot of commercial deals riding on it and these make the club huge money only when the club performs. Despite being a hardcore United fan, it’ll be foolish for me to deny that we are driven much more by commercial considerations as compared to Arsenal or Liverpool. In a situation where we have millions of pounds of revenue in con deals (read GM and Nike), not playing in the Champions League is unacceptable. How else will the Glazers service their debt? Though none of this may be directly the sole responsibility, his inability to perform on the field had collateral repercussions elsewhere.

In my previous blog, I had alluded to my apprehensions that Moyes was a case study of Peter’s principle. In this piece, I will admit that he has proven himself to be one.

To be fair to Moyes, I will concede that the owners and the CEO will have to take their share of the blame. Further, this fiasco may also make Ed Woodward’s position as CEO increasingly untenable. Maybe the Glazers could have persuaded David Gill to stay on for couple of seasons more for the dealings in the transfer market would’ve been less shambolic than they were under Woodward.

In hindsight, maybe the club could’ve and should’ve done many things different. Nonetheless, they’ve decided to do things different with some foresight.