Why David Moyes is fighting a losing battle

Ramon Calderon, then president of Real Madrid, found this out the hard way. His much-publicized overtures toward United’s star player irked the Scot, and this is what he says about the whole debacle in his autobiography – ‘You can’t go this year, not after the way Calderon has approached the issue’.

‘I know you want to go to Real Madrid. But I’d rather shoot you than sell you to that guy now. If you perform, don’t mess us about, and someone comes and offers a world record fee, then we will let you go.’

“I did well to calm him down. I told him that the reason I was refusing to sell him that year was because of Calderon. I said, ‘If I do that, all my honor gone, everything’s gone for me, and I don’t care if you have to sit in the stands. I know it won’t come to that, but I just have to tell you I will not let you leave this year’.”

Ronaldo made his world record move to Real Madrid a year later, smiling for the cameras in the presence of club legend Alfredo Di Stefano – and reinstated club president Fiorentino Perez.

There is not one other manager who could’ve got away with that. As much as my heart aches to say it, not even Arsene Wenger, as Gooners watched favorites switch allegiances with increasing regularity over the years.

The Arsenal of today is what it is because of the wholehearted trust in Wenger’s ways – and that is what Manchester United will lack in the years to come.

It is why Moyes has looked to Fellaini, and is eying Leighton Baines as well. Fantastic players that they are, their increasing influence in the team would’ve rubbed off on their mates, and the other players would’ve started to respond too.

It is why he made the ill-advised decision to bring in his own team, doing away with a team that had just won the league title. A team that had, prominently, worked out a regime for Van Persie that kept him primed for match-day; and one that had seen David De Gea have his most productive season yet.

In trying to be his own man Moyes has erred by changing too much, too fast. This change would’ve been warranted, if Sir Alex’s last season had given a second title to their hated neighbors. Not now, when the old hero has walked into the sunset in a blaze of glory and victory.

Moyes’ biggest folly has been trying to escape from the shadows of Sir Alex Ferguson. United supporters nodded in agreement when he said that he was taking the place of a man whom he could never equal. And yet, in saying so, in his first press conference as United manager, he showed that it was all that was on his mind. And his actions have reflected that.

Sir Alex’s aura is everywhere in this celebrated stadium. It is in the Sir Alex Ferguson stand, in his statue just outside, in the very office Moyes inhabits today. It is in the chants of the faithful as they crowd into the stands, desperate for a return to old glories. It is in the minds of his players as they line up in the tunnel before every game.

In the way they almost wistfully look at the touchline, eyes searching for a gum-chomping ball of energy.

If only Moyes would look within, and learn to cherish the great man’s legacy, instead of trying to rid Old Trafford of the memories. He would find that every United supporter was on his side. It would certainly make his job a lot easier.