David Moyes: Manchester United's true scapegoat

Moyes has been targeted by some supposed fans this season

Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley recently stated in an interview with the Mirror that he was being made a scapegoat for his teams misfortunes this season. I completely disagree with the player. David Moyes is Manchester United’s true fall guy this season. The Scot is facing the difficult task of replicating Sir Alex’s success at Old Trafford and hasn’t been successful so far, winning just the Community Shield this season. Moyes is to blame for some of the teams misfortunes but the entire blame should not fall on the manager.

Some people may argue that Sir Alex inherited a weakened squad when he took over as manager but in reality his successor inherited an extremely imperfect squad too. Experienced team players like Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Ashley Young were beginning to show signs of wane last season and have completely broken down this season. In fact one of the reasons why Sir Alex purchased Alexander Buttner was to reduce the pressure on Patrice Evra who was extremely fatigued due to taking part in every one of United’s fixtures.

Critics have stated that Sir Alex more successful than Moyes before he took over as United manager as he won numerous trophies with Aberdeen including the UEFA Cup against Real Madrid in 1983. People are forgetting that the English Premier League is extremely competitive and not every manager can survive it for so long. Moyes did it for a decade with Everton and even managed to get them within the top 5 in recent years. The Scot was really unlucky not to win the FA Cup with the Toffees in 2009 but that’s just fate.

Some of the young players like Tom Cleverley and Rafael Da Silva have really let down Moyes this season. Rafael was brilliant last season but hasn’t done much to impress this term. The Brazilian was out with injury for quite some time but didn’t improve his game as much when he was fully fit. Cleverley too has been horrendous this season in spite of completing 90.1% of his passes, the second highest in the team.

The poor manager doesn’t have too many other options in the midfield and is forced to use whatever he has available. Moyes officially took the reigns of the club on the 1st of July last year giving him little time to scout for targets as he had to get familiar with the team and get them through their pre-season tour. United chief executive Ed Woodward was the main architect of the team’s failures in the transfer market last season due to his mediocre negotiation skills which caused the club to overpay for record signing Marouane Fellaini. Woodward redeemed himself a bit when he helped Moyes to buy Juan Mata and convince Wayne Rooney and Adnan Januzaj to sign new contracts. The chief executive will have to really work hard this summer as he has to help Moyes buy at least 3 world class players.

Moyes must have been made aware of the criticism he is receiving on Twitter but he shouldn’t worry. The clubs true fans have listened to Sir Alex Ferguson and have backed David Moyes this term. Slogans like ‘The Chosen One’ and chants in support of David Moyes have been heard quite often this season. Whenever the team performed badly the fans booed the players and not their manager. United fans have a marriage like commitment to the club and stick with them through thick and thin, in good form and in bad form- until death parts them.

Manchester United’s board have stuck to their manager which is a big form of support. Moyes has the backing of Sir Alex and legendary player Sir Bobby Charlton who are convinced he will come good. Sir Alex knows what Moyes is going through as the legendary manager went through hell in his first 3 years as United boss before becoming a success. Sir Alex himself had the backing of legendary manager Sir Matt Busby.

Busby was a truly amazing person as he rebuilt his broken team and led them to European Cup glory in spite of meeting with terrible heartbreak in 1958- the year of the Munich Air Disaster which claimed 21 lives including those of 8 Manchester United players. Busby could have easily given up but stuck to his guns and made a team which consisted of Denis Law and George Best who helped Manchester United conquer Europe in 1968 . Busby extended a helping hand to Sir Alex who in turn is doing the same thing with Moyes.

The difficulties of his first season are sure to make Moyes a better manager. He does not have the commanding presence of Sir Alex yet but that’s a gifted obtained with time. The only thing left to do is get through this season with as many wins as possible and seriously start rebuilding the team in the summer. Moyes should turn a deaf hear to his critics but pay attention to the supporters who continue to chant his name as they will help him win his first major trophy at the Theater Of Dreams.