Despite stating he would stay with them next season, David Moyes called time on his Sunderland career on May 22nd – resigning without compensation.
It was an unmitigated disaster of a season for the North East club, and the fans lost all faith in their side towards the end of the 2016/17 campaign. Much of the blame was pointed at the manager. Every team he has managed since his 11 years at Everton have been unsuccessful, so has the Scot lost his touch?
When Moyes left Everton in 2013, he was leaving for new pastures in what can only be described as a dream job; Manchester United.
However, it was not an enjoyable experience at The Red Devils for anyone involved as Moyes lost the fans, the board and ultimately lost his job. He did not see the year out even though he signed a six-year deal.
There is a myth that Sir Alex Ferguson left him a weak and ageing squad that were on the way out. Admittedly players such as Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were getting older, but in the youth ranks, they had Michael Keane (currently linked with a return) who was on loan as well as Jesse Lingard and Wilfred Zaha; who have now become real talents in the Premier League.
Ultimately, his time at the then champions was filled with mistake after mistake leading to United replacing him with interim player-manager Ryan Giggs.
Moyes moved to Spain and took management with Real Sociedad, He took charge on the 10th of November 2014 and was sacked just a day short of his one year anniversary with the club due to increased pressure from the fans.
It showed how tactically inept he was during his spell with Txuriurdi and how his own management style failed with the players. He left the club bottom of La Liga with just two wins in the 2015/16 season.
Finally, he was convinced back to the Premier League to join up with Sunderland, following Sam Allardyce’s brief move to the Three Lions. Just one season in charge and again it has been horrific.
Ending the season with just 24 points, six wins overall, 2nd lowest amount of goals scored, 3rd highest number of goals conceded, the most amount of losses and just three home wins in the league…shall I continue? The fans turned against him with banners, boos and bemoaning about how he was ruining the club – his resignation was expected.
I cannot imagine the faithful fans of The Black Cats will miss Moyes.
One of the fundamental problems Moyes has faced since leaving Everton has been the acquisition of players; he has spent poorly. At Manchester United, he shipped out £27.5 million for Marouane Fellaini and gave Wayne Rooney a five-and-a-half-year deal worth £300,000 a week in 2013.
At Real Sociedad, he was again trusted with an enormous amount of funding but again failed to bring in the right players. Then with Sunderland, he, admittedly, was restricted with funds but brought in ex-Everton players on the cheap as if he was playing Football Manager. Players such as Darron Gibson, Bryan Oviedo and Steven Pienaar are not the types of players who can keep a side up.
Having been linked with the Scotland job, if anything happens to Gordon Strachan, it could be a while before David Moyes returns to management.
These last three jobs will have left him bereft of confidence and will have damaged his reputation significantly. Having gained disdain from fans everywhere, it will be hard for him to get another job in Premier League football. Just imagine this; David Moyes would be going into his fifth season at Old Trafford if he had stayed. Scary stuff.
And how did Van Gaal do with that Man U team? Both Louis and Mou have had an open checkbook. It was unfair Woodward left the same time Fergie did, that’s why the transfer business was poor. While you are bashing his moves though, Fellaini just won the Europa League Final as man of the match thereby securing Champions League Football so not a bad investment after all was it? As you alluded too as well, he arrived late to Sunderland and was restricted. He bought players he knew on the cheap from Everton, I suspect others might have done the same with the owner not willing to spend and wanting to sell the team. The misjudgment from Moyes was to take the Sunderland job in the first place.
Thanks John. Very insightful comment indeed