Manchester United: Be careful what you wish for

David Moyes

Finding themselves in the unheralded territory of 8th in the league and languishing 8 points behind the leaders, supporters of Manchester United may be expected to be unhappy with how the season has progressed so far. The Moyes era has certainly begun as a bit of a damp squib.

Confusion over selection – an unsettled central defensive partnership, rotation on the wings and the uncertainty of how to fit Shinji Kagawa into any recognisable system have all posed the new man big problems. Performances at Anfield and at City were reminiscent of many during the Ferguson era, lacking in passion and spirit, but as such not a big stick to beat Moyes with. After all, even the most blinkered of Ferguson fan would accept that his teams had regularly gone away to their biggest rivals and failed to perform. What has been more surprising were the lacklustre performances against West Brom, Sunderland, Chelsea and even a 10 man Crystal Palace. The logical thought process with appointing Moyes was that being so familiar with the league, he would be able to oversee a successful transition from Ferguson as seamlessly as possible. Thus far, this has not yet been seen.

And yet the reaction from the United support, has been in many cases massively over the top. A United fan born in 1984 will have only ever known success under Ferguson (assuming they remember the 1990 Cup Final onwards). What this obviously means is that any United fan under the age of 30 is currently entering unchartered territory. Having been part of the most successful football cycle under one manager in football history, they now know how all other supporters have felt and how fellow United fans felt before. The reaction on social media, online and the dreaded football phone-ins reflect that this change is not going down well. The constant sniping, whingeing and criticism of Moyes suggests that it may not be long before these emotions will be expressed within the stadium should results continue. Let it be remembered that it took more than 3 years before the infamous ‘Fergie Out’ banner appeared in 1989 during the course of a defeat to Crystal Palace, who would bet against a similar ‘Moyes Out’ banner appearing within 3 months of his appointment?

Ferguson survived the criticism – the first example of Fergie Time? Courtesy of Seanpaune.

Even before the season started properly, murmurings were being heard predominantly due to United’s naive/comedic transfer policy. Some even suggested that it was ‘the worst ever transfer summer’, conveniently forgetting the glory of 1988, when United bought Mark Hughes (club legend, no complaint from me there) and the awesome trio of Jim Leighton, Mal Donaghy and the legendary Ralph Milne. Again, those of us who lived through those times shook their head with a wry smile, when hearing of the criticisms of the summer.

That is not to say that it is only the younger element of the United support who are sticking the boot into the new manager. As someone pointed out on Red Issue recently “Any United supporter under the age of 35 criticising the new manager should have a serious look at themselves”. It seems even some of the more ‘hardcore’ element, who frankly should know better, have started getting stuck into Moyes, clearly forgetting that football has always been cyclical and that we’ve just been lucky to have been on the longest cycle known to anyone. Do the same people forget the early (and even the mid) Fergie years? Some of the results under Atkinson? Sexton? It appears that they do.

Ferguson’s legacy looms over Moyes. Courtesy of Duncan Hull.

There is a distinction to be drawn here, between wanting success for your club, which is natural and displaying a brattish, must win at all cost attitude. Every fan wants there club to succeed, but with that comes a general acceptance that this will not always happen (sometimes never). What made the Ferguson era so enjoyable, was having been through such painful events as Anfield ’92, the 5-1 and the whole 88-89 season was the feeling of being through the bad times to appreciate the good ones. The wish to continue that is obvious, but there must be some realism here. United were never going to dominate at the top forever, however good the going would get. By all means support the team and make constructive criticism, but wishing a manager to be sacked after barely a dozen games is frankly ridiculous and serves as a poor reflection on the United support as a whole.

I wrote previously that the title winning side of last season was not a great team and were driven to success by the willpower of Sir Alex Ferguson. The side in its current form is in need of considerable change. The efforts to sign a left back during the summer suggest that Moyes has correctly identified that Patrice Evra is on his last legs. The futures of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand must both be in doubt, seeing that their contracts expire this summer and Evans, Smalling and Jones await an opportunity to cement a regular place. Midfield is still a problem area, Nani appears to be being given an overdue opportunity on the right and the emergence of Adnan Januzaj can be rightly pointed to as a positive mark for Moyes.

That Ashley Young and Anderson have been sidelined is welcome and one hopes that between Carrick, Fellaini and Cleverley a central midfield partnership can emerge. How the likes of Rooney, van Persie, Kagawa, Hernandez and Welbeck combine to form a potent attacking force seems to be where Moyes is having the most difficulty. Whilst being the 2 biggest names, the partnership of van Persie and Rooney is currently not working and having put his eggs in the Rooney basked during the summer, that leaves Moyes in a difficult position. Does he change his stance on Rooney or does he stick with him and hope it comes good?

Not for the first time, Rooney is causing Moyes problems. Courtesy of the BBC

What is undeniable is that this is a team in transition. The transition from the van Nistelrooy/Keane heyday of 2003 to the Rooney/Ronaldo led success of 2006 was an awkward one for a manager as skilled as Ferguson. This transition for David Moyes promises to be a difficult one to oversee, but it is one that Moyes needs to be given the chance to do. So called supporters behaving like spoiled children in various guises and on various forums does nothing for the club.

They would be wise to remember that Manchester United has been through far worse in its history and even a few years without success would not be the end of the world. It is worth remembering that when the club was still a PLC, the idea of the club going a few years without success was actually thought of as a positive thing – lose the glory hunters, more and cheaper tickets for locals and those driven away by price rises – sadly I fear that the United support has become too dispersed for various reasons for this to occur now, but it remains an interesting way of viewing some potential barren times.

In conclusion, David Moyes needs the support of the fans. That may sound like an obvious statement but it is one worth re-iterating for all concerned. While we may not agree with all his decisions – the substitutions against Southampton were indeed questionable, but lets be honest it was a much improved team performance. The fans must accept that no club has a divine right to success, Manchester United have no more right to win a game or the league than anyone else.

In falling into the mistake of getting on the manager’s back, the fans are not helping the club move forwards. Moyes should be given at least 3 seasons to build and mould his own team, with his own players and style, then and only then can he be truly judged and opinion be passed on whether or not he has been a success. To do anything else would be making the same managerial mistakes that have been made and mocked at Chelsea, and it is a road that United should be keen to avoid at all costs.