David Moyes - all reaction here

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http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/27/manchester-united-plane-message-david-moyes-sacked

Manchester United fans planning fly-past calling for Moyes to be sacked
• Banner to carry 'Wrong One - Moyes Out' message
• Plane due to fly over Aston Villa home game on Saturday

Daniel Taylor
theguardian.com, Thursday 27 March 2014 09.25 GMT

David Moyes's problems at Manchester United have intensified after it emerged supporters are planning to send a plane over Old Trafford during their game against Aston Villa on Saturday pulling a banner calling for him to be sacked.

Arrangements are being made for the plane to carry a message "Wrong One - Moyes Out" as a response to the "Chosen One" banner that has hung inside the stadium since the former Everton manager was appointed as Sir Alex Ferguson's successor.

If it goes ahead, the stunt will be the first concerted effort by fans to remove Moyes from his position in a season that has seen the runaway champions last year slump to seventh, 18 points off the top and guaranteed their worst-ever return in the Premier League era.

While United maintain that they remain fully supportive of Moyes, the 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester City on Tuesday finished with isolated incidents inside the ground, including a steward having to usher one fan away from the dugout area. Ferguson, sitting in the directors' box, was also abused, having identified Moyes for the job, and it is clear that whatever support there was for Moyes is slowly draining away.

Supporters have clubbed together through the Red Issue website to raise almost £1,000 for the planned flyover while Moyes's first season in charge has been so ignominious the usually supportive Manchester Evening News has taken to lampooning him, running an "excuses generator" from his nine months in office.


The biggest problem that Utd have isn't their manager, or their players, or their board. It's their fanbase - they've been spoilt for so long and got their own way for so long, that they simply don't know how to react to being crap. The idea of actual 'support' appears alien to them. I mean, we got beat 4-0 in the Anfield derby. And we've been well beaten by LFC several times in recent years. But you didn't see us flying planes over the ground. We might have all been a bit (or very) upset, but it didn't last, we just got back to supporting the team through thick and thin.

This is all great entertainment for everyone else of course, but if their fans think Moyes going will magically restore their club to how it was, well, I think they're going to be massively disappointed.
 
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/27/manchester-united-plane-message-david-moyes-sacked


The biggest problem that Utd have isn't their manager, or their players, or their board. It's their fanbase - they've been spoilt for so long and got their own way for so long, that they simply don't know how to react to being crap. The idea of actual 'support' appears alien to them. I mean, we got beat 4-0 in the Anfield derby. And we've been well beaten by LFC several times in recent years. But you didn't see us flying planes over the ground. We might have all been a bit (or very) upset, but it didn't last, we just got back to supporting the team through thick and thin.

This is all great entertainment for everyone else of course, but if their fans think Moyes going will magically restore their club to how it was, well, I think they're going to be massively disappointed.

This wouldn't have happened if they'd just let them take the banner down

They would have put it back up after a week or two

Now they've got this to worry about
 
The club were never going to allow anyone to take down the 'Chosen One' banner before the end of the season, because it would be a public smack in the face to Moyes and would fly in the face of all they've publicly said thus far about how they will be backing him.

I guarantee you though, even if he stays for next season (unlikely I know), the banner will be taken down in the close season. They'll come up with some B.S. excuse such as 'stadium remodelling' or something.
 
- Aging players

- Too many passengers

- Two genuinely world class players in Rooney and RVP

- SAF gone

- Moyes arrives

- His one transfer (Fellaini) has a very poor season

- Injuries at the worst time

- No leadership on the pitch (Keane or someone like him)


All of this in my opinion combined to create the perfect storm for United.


There are only three players I'd take in Everton's squad now in RVP, Rooney, and Januzaj (No, I wouldn't take DeGea over Howard, at least on current form, before you start asking).


Sure, Moyes is responsible for a good portion of this but to suggest it's all on him is just being willfully ignorant. You could have brought in (insert "name" coach here) and they might be good for what, three to six points more?


In addition, the other clubs around them strengthened which just magnified their deficiencies. This squad was doomed the minute they hoisted the league trophy last season and I think SAF knew that and got out while the "time was right." What's worse. How many players, regardless of the money they can throw at the problem, will join them knowing there won't be any European football for them next season? I'm talking world class players, not second rate players like they have now in Kagawa, Cleverley, Jones, Smalling, Rafael, etc....


I think what angers me the most is that the media and their fan base for the most part wants to put the bulk of this on Moyes if not all of it and that just doesn't wash.


They're in a bit of a downward spiral right now and will need to arrest the slide. My guess is that Moyes will be given until the start of next season, see how things go in the transfer market, and if things look the same after the first four or five games, they'll cut ties with him. But make no mistake. Manchester United isn't gonna pop right up next year. I think this is going to take longer than their supporters could possibly imagine.



...and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.


Didn't Jurgen Klopp say that Kagawa was one of the World's best players and it makes him sad that Utd don't play him properly? You don't think he'd be a better option than Naismith or Pienaar in our squad?


I think you're giving Moyes too much credit there to be honest. United weren't a side in freefall when he took over, they'd just won the league by 11 points. You could say it was a poor side that won it and other sides threw it away but they still won it by 11 points. That's quite a margin.


Add to that Utd aren't the only side to change their manager this season and Moyes has been given over £70m to add to the squad, which he spent on 2 'marquee' players, do you not think people should expect them to be doing better than they are?


United's main problem is actually appointing Moyes. I used to laugh at people when they said he'd be the new Utd manager, he doesn't tick any of the right boxes, but I was almost celebrating like winning a derby when he left us, after the initial shock of course. When he took Round, Woods and co with him that was the icing on the cake. Moyes had been holding us back for years with his knives to gunfights and glass ceilings.


Ferguson advised him to stick with the coaching set up he already had in place at Old Trafford and Moyes ignored him. That was his first big mistake. There are some big ego's at United and players like Van Persie had a personal relationship with certain coaches as well. You could argue the coaching set up they had, helped the players to over-achieve (if you believe like you said their squad was rubbish), so for Moyes to bin all of the coaches and then bring in the Everton ones, you have to admit as a player you'd be scratching your head thinking how this new management team without a trophy between them was going to work, and feeling bad that people you enjoyed a close working relationship with had been let go. Ferguson commanded instant respect for his achievements alone, never mind his personality. Moyes has neither of those things, no matter how much he tries to emulate Sir Alex.


Sir Alex had built a squad that was made to attack. He knew it had limitations and the centre of his midfield was poor, so he bombarded teams and forced them on the back foot. He used pace out wide to get behind sides and they had a never say die attitude. He always said about this recent side, that while some sides might win more of the bigger games, Utd were better at beating everyone else. That's because of the way he set them up. Sides would go to Old Trafford and 'just be happy to get out of there alive'.


Fast forward to this season and sides have been turning up at Old Trafford and realising that Utd no longer played on the front foot, instead they were more cautious, lacked pace in wide areas and sat back. So teams opened up to attack them and suddenly sides were coming away with results. Momentum builds and Utd suddenly lose confidence, in not just themselves but also the management team (who admitted to over training key players, who then ended up injured).


The job was far too big for Moyes, he'd used the media to create a positive image of himself while at Everton and because no one is really that arsed about us in the media, no one really looked any deeper. Perhaps in his last season a few voices outside of Everton fans started to question what a lot of fans had been saying for a while. But by this point he was already best mates with Fergie waiting on the day his new job would be announced.


While he has always had a way he likes his teams to set up, he has never really deviated from that style and has never been a tactical manager. His Everton side basically picked itself, work hard and hopefully a bit of magic from someone will change a tight game. He was so scared of change that he gave out long lucrative contracts to players so that his squad didn't change too much. There were no egos just a group of hard working professionals, as anyone who didn't fit the mould was quickly despatched.


At United he started talking about how they are known to play with width etc. but in truth Moyes has never played with width at Everton. Always central midfield players in wide positions to tuck in and pack the midfield, making the side difficult to beat. His style of football doesn’t create good chances to win games, it's almost a war of attrition. How many times did he bemoan 'missed chances' as the reason for not winning games, if only he could break that glass ceiling and have money to spend on better players. If you can't compete with someone then find another way to win. He couldn't.


So now at United he's forced to play with width which is almost alien to him. He begins with the pacey wide players but he asks them to pull inside and have the full backs overlap, which is his Everton instructions. But neither the wide players or the full backs are suited to this, and the centre of the midfield is physically too slow to pick up the pieces. So he changes it and tries more technical players out wide, who don't have the pace. But because of that lack of pace, they aren't able to tuck in quick enough when they don't have the ball. The side now has no identity and no confidence. People are no longer afraid to play Utd because they know how vulnerable they are. All of those records that have been broken at Old Trafford this season would not have been broken had Fergie still been there. No chance.


His failure in the transfer market in the Summer forced his hand with Fellaini. Moyes always thought that more money would mean he could attract better players, but in truth players have options these days. Like when Bryan Robson was at Boro, some players tend to choose the managers they want to work with rather than just the clubs. So Utd failed to get any of their top targets and were made to look foolish in paying over the odds for Fellaini. Fellaini was doomed from the start for that very reason. In January, Mourinho played Moyes perfectly. Moyes knew he had to bring in a big 'marquee player' to show that he was able to attract them. Mourinho made it be known publicly that Mata was surplus to requirements. The media put 2+2 together and suddenly Moyes has his big chance. He pays over the odds for Mata. And just like in his time at Everton when he signed players with no real idea of how they would fit in to his system (mostly with strikers granted) he was left with a small, slow technically very gifted no. 10 player to compete for a starting place with Wayne Rooney, arguably the one player who was still trying to perform at United. So Moyes tries to turn Mata in to Steven Pienaar. Just like Martinez said about Barkley, we focus on what he can do rather than the things he isn't as good at, Moyes does exactly the opposite. Square pegs - round holes.


Given Utd aren't in the Man City league of riches and every penny needs to count. Would you give Moyes big money to spend this Summer, given that he's already paid £70m+ for players who don't really fit in to the system or are what they need, and who gave Nani a 5 year contract extension and then barely played him, then let Vidic, Evra and Ferdinand leave for nothing? No chance, he'll be lucky to last the season. United will be looking to recruit Jurgen Klopp in the Summer in the hope that he can bring with him some of his best Dortmund players, before Bayern snap them all up. Klopp must be after a new challenge and United just might suit him, as obviously they have massive potential.


Some United fans have already turned their attention to Fergie for his part in this, it won’t be long before that turns to the board as well, and that will only highlight the financial model of their ownership and everything that entails. The Glazer’s won’t want that, easier to just bring in a new charismatic manager and give him some money to rebuild the squad.
 
The club were never going to allow anyone to take down the 'Chosen One' banner before the end of the season, because it would be a public smack in the face to Moyes and would fly in the face of all they've publicly said thus far about how they will be backing him.

I guarantee you though, even if he stays for next season (unlikely I know), the banner will be taken down in the close season. They'll come up with some B.S. excuse such as 'stadium remodelling' or something.
The club don't own it. The banners are supplied and paid for by a fans group. They've said they'll leave it up for the Villa game and the Bayern match, but have made no promises beyond that.
 
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