United did not learn the valuable lessons of the Scot's dismal season in charge and continue to make the same mistakes that haunted him
No one with any connection to Manchester United, or indeed with any interest in football, will ever forget David Moyes' ill-fated season at Old Trafford. The Glaswegian's descent from being 'The Chosen One' asked to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson to a figure of ridicule was sharp. His side lost 11 Premier League matches and finished seventh, their worst showing in 24 years, while they were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round. Moyes' side also had the worst home record of any United team since 1978, while they averaged just 1.64 goals per game.
Moyes' previous 11 years in charge of Everton had created an image of a steady pair of hands, but after his nightmare spell at United, he was considered damaged goods. He had brief and unsuccessful spells with Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham, and it was only when he steered the Irons into Europe in 2021 during his second spell at the London Stadium that he started to be respected again.
His reputation grew further when he took West Ham to the Europa League semi-finals in 2022, and subsequently to Conference League glory in 2023. Still, his departure from east London last summer underlined his lack of aura and the sense that what happened at Old Trafford had changed him forever. And yet all of a sudden, Moyes is back in vogue, leading a truly stunning revival with Everton. Now, next up for the 61-year-old whose career has been rejuvenated is a showdown with United on Saturday…
Getty Images SportAs many wins as Amorim
With the Toffees winning four of their last five Premier League matches while frustrating Liverpool in an unforgettable final derby at Goodison Park, it feels like the last 12 years never happened and Moyes is the cream of the managerial crop once more, just as when he was anointed as Ferguson's successor in 2013. And what's more, United are losing games at such a fast rate that Moyes is no longer regarded as the worst manager in the Red Devils' modern history.
Ruben Amorim has lost eight of his 14 Premier League games in charge of United, who are on track for their worst campaign since being relegated in 1974. They are also enduring their worst run of results at home since 1894. And no, that's not a typo. This is their worst run of home form in 131 years, when the club was called Newton Heath and played at a stadium called Bank Street.
Amorim was tasked with radically transforming United's style of play when he succeeded Erik ten Hag in November, but he cannot get a tune out of his players. And yet he is hellbent on sticking with his 3-4-3 formation, despite growing discontent in the dressing room with his tactical plan.
Amorim's struggles to imprint his particular style on United is in great contrast to the success Moyes has had with Everton while going back to basics. The Scot has accumulated 13 points in six games back in charge of the Toffees – just one fewer than Amorim has in 14 Premier League matches while matching his four wins. Moyes inherited an even bigger mess at Goodison than Amorim did when he got the keys to Old Trafford, as Everton were just one point above the relegation zone when he replaced the sacked Sean Dyche, but they are now 13 points clear of the drop and have climbed above United in the standings.
AdvertisementGetty Lessons not learned
This, however, is not a revisionist rewriting of history when it comes to Moyes' time at United. The team's current struggles do not change the fact that he was unquestionably the wrong man at the wrong time to take charge of the Red Devils. There is no hiding from the fact that he took a serial-winning squad and turned them into an ordinary team that the likes of West Brom and Stoke City could comfortably beat.
What history has shown is that United failed to learn the lessons from Moyes' torrid time in charge. His hapless spell should have highlighted the club's problems in the transfer market and its willingness to indulge players who did not pull their weight and questioned the manager. Instead, United became obsessed with trying to copy what other top clubs had done years before, appointing serial-winning figures like Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho whose methods were already out of date by the time they rocked up at Old Trafford.
GettyBungling the transfer window
Moyes' time in charge of United got off to the worst possible start, as the club dithered in the summer transfer window just after appointing him. Despite being linked with some of the best players in the world, they ended up only adding Marouane Fellaini from Everton on deadline day for £27.5m ($34m), paying an extra £4m as they waited until his release clause had expired. United had had the cheek earlier in the summer to make a joint-bid of £28m for Fellaini and Toffees left-back Leighton Baines. That offer was understandably rejected by Moyes' former club, and it was far from the only attempted transfer he and United failed to pull off.
Moyes was set on signing Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona and Gareth Bale from Tottenham, but the former opted to stay at the Camp Nou for another season while the Wales star had his heart set on Real Madrid, despite United offering Spurs more money. As deadline day approached, United got more and more desperate, making last-ditch moves for Daniele De Rossi from Roma and Sami Khedira from Madrid.
A frustrating transfer window for United culminated in farcical circumstances when they attempted to sign Ander Herrera the day the window was due to shut, failing to understand that Athletic Club would only sell him if the Red Devils paid his £30m release clause and deposited it at the head offices of La Liga. It was an impossible move to pull off in 24 hours and just underlined how out-of-depth the club was in the transfer market without the personality of Ferguson and the expertise of David Gill, the club's long-running chief executive who had stepped down at the same time as the manager.
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Lack of leadership
The natural response to such an embarrassing transfer window would have been to follow what most self-respecting clubs at the time were doing and appoint an experienced sporting director to take care of player recruitment. But United's newly-appointed chief executive Ed Woodward, an accountant by trade, continued to do most of United's work in the transfer market even after Moyes was sacked.
Woodward gave his next manager, Van Gaal, a £160m transfer war chest the following year, the type of support Moyes would have killed for. But there was no coherence to the signings. United picked up Radamel Falcao for a hefty loan fee and signed Victor Valdes after both players had endured lengthy periods out with serious knee injuries. They spent £60m on Angel Di Maria, who had no real interest in joining United and fell out with Van Gaal, leaving for Paris Saint-Germain after one hugely disappointing season.
The following year more mistakes were made as £42m was spent on a 19-year-old Anthony Martial and £35m splashed out on Morgan Schneiderlin. Bastian Schweinsteiger arrived for £9m, but the German was on huge wages and his physical powers were fading. It was rinse and repeat until United finally appointed their first ever sporting director in 2021, but rather than hiring a renowned transfer expert, they decided to promote John Murtough from within. Murtough had joined the club from Everton with Moyes.