Moyes did a lot of good things for the club and was the right man for the job. End of the day though is he's a bottler that plays bottling tactics. His faults were magnified at United. He was never going to take us forward. We all know he did well in the market for the most part and some of his players are still in the team. Martinez himself in his first season was in constant praise at the level of talent he had at his disposal.
That said, the three loans in Martinez's first season immediately showed me intent (and savvy for a club on a budget)...well two of them anyway. I thought the Barry loan was a waste...I was wrong. But Lukaku and Deulofeu were names that I don't think
Moyes would have ever considered. Barry maybe. The biggest thing that Martinez gave me in that first season was hope...something that was painfully absent in the Moyes era. Even making the Cup final the only hope was that 'I hope we don't bottle this'...and we did. When we won 8 on the bounce, it was well and truly on that we might actually break into Sky 4 land....sadly it fizzled out, but I don't think it was down to bottling, but rather down to the size of the roster.
I believe that Moyes did stabilize the club and was exactly what the doctor ordered. That said, he was never going to take us forward. Last season was a rough one for us, but I think a perfect storm of circumstances were in play. We were in Europe with a squad that was injured all over the show. Rom had a huge transfer fee on his back, Barkley was being touted as the next Gazza, and our manager had never handled a European campaign. He stabilized the rot though, and we did make it to the quarterfinals of Europe. Something we hadn't done in 7 years.
TL;DR I know. His behavior after he left also leaves quite a bad taste in my mouth.
