Moyes Out as Head of Manchester United
David Moyes, who was supposed to be the long-term successor to Alex Ferguson as manager at Manchester United, was fired Tuesday morning after less than one season in charge of the soccer club.
The club announced the move in a two-sentence statement on its website. 'Manchester United has announced that David Moyes has left the Club,' the team said in the statement. 'The Club would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role.'
When Moyes was hired last May, it was expected to be a case of one veteran Scottish manager passing control to his handpicked heir. But after a calamitous season that saw United heading toward its worst finish in the Premier League since 1990, Moyes failed to last even until the summer.
It was a stunning turn for a club that has long preached continuity and stability. With United languishing in seventh place in the Premier League and eliminated from all cup competitions, the club's patience with Moyes ran out.
Speculation about Moyes's fate at United has lingered since his first loss, but it ramped up after this weekend's 2-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park - the club, coincidentally, where Moyes had some measure of success before being tapped to replace Ferguson.
'The job is to win football matches,' Moyes said on United's website after the Everton loss. 'There is a lot talked about style, but it's more important to win, and we didn't do that.'
Ryan Giggs, a veteran midfielder for the club, will serve as interim manager, and the identity of the next United coach is already a hot topic in England. Top coaches such as Borussia Dortmund's Jürgen Klopp, Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti and Atlético Madrid's Diego Simeone have seen their names put forward by pundits and analysts, though Simeone - at a news conference in Madrid ahead of Tuesday's Champions League semifinal against Chelsea - refused to discuss the topic.
'With all due respect, the match tomorrow is very important for us and I do not think about anything that is not the match tomorrow and my players,' he said.
Manchester United is expected to spend heavily during this summer's transfer period, so whoever is in charge will almost surely have a large war chest with which to make moves.
Neutrals might note that such a spending spree spoke to the difficulty of the situation Moyes inherited. For all of Ferguson's successes, including his 13th and final Premier League title in his farewell season, he left behind a team that was aging and lacking depth. Of course, critics of Moyes would point out that, with only 27 wins in his first 51 games, there was little, if any, improvement.
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