I WON'T JUDGE THE MAN

I WON'T JUDGE THE MAN.

I believe it is safe to say that a sports person or establishment lives and dies by the media. The same weapon that is effective for propaganda can in one second assassinate the character of even established greats.

I have stated times without number that David Moyes would never have been in my shortlist to replace Sir Alex Ferguson when he chose to throw in the towel. I felt the best United needed at that time was someone from within, somebody who understood the scaffolds and the cosmetics enough to rebuild the team. It had become clear to me that the great SAF himself couldn't psyche his team beyond being relevant in the English Premier League race. He had endured 3 years of failing to win the league due to the dominance of the 'invincible' arsenal and the arrival of Jose to manage the millions at Chelsea. His then No. 9 couldn't hold the ball upfront to save his life and everything else revolved around a master poacher in Ruud Van Nistelrooy. His big money signing centre-back looked like a school boy in a 4:0 bashing at Middlesbrough and when O'shea started to feature regularly, many questioned why so much was spent on the former Leeds man. A big money signing of the sporting Lisbon youngster was already looking like wasted investment with his many needless dribbles and wayward crosses. He looked like another Pobosky-esque waste of the highly revered No. 7 jersey. SAF also brought in the highly gifted boxer from Liverpool, the lad could take on every type of defender and clap himself to a red card. He was simply uncontrollable and so was the entire squad.

Fergie started to take the League cup more seriously and noticed a marked improvement in the coordination of his  No. 9 while he played alongside the highly promising captain of the United youth squad, Guiseppi Rossi. SAF chose to continue with Saha even till the final against Wigan at the expense of the indispensable RVN, a move that perhaps led to his sale  to Real Madrid. United moved on and started the next season in electric fashion putting 5 past Fulham in the opening game with devastating counter attacks. The team that endured failure for a few years was finally coming together. United now had a steady No. 1, far better than the eccentric Fabian Barthez, the porous Tiabi and the stimulated former villa stopper Mark  Bosnic. Edwin Van Der Sar was about 7years too late and would have most definitely saved united from humiliation at the hands of Deportivo a few years earlier. The back four of Evra, Rio, Vidic and Garry were formidable and were ably supported by Heinze, Wesley Brown and John O'shea. Michael Carrick was brought in from Spurs after Mikel tore up the contract he initially signed with United, he had a reputation  of having the ability to play a range of passes from midfield. There was the energizer bunny from south Korea and the ever reliable old heads from the glory days in the 90's. The young guns upfront were firing on all cylinders and were outpacing defences with ease, they put 7 past a good Roma team to reverse a 2:1 first leg deficit. The rest of the squad were far better than mediocre and only a major injury crises led to their exit in the UEFA Champions League to Milan.

A few 'ins and outs' later, United were champions league winners and regularly featured in the latter stages of the competition including 2 finals. The very experienced squad had started to fade and one of the stars earned United an eighty million pound windfall that seemed to follow the wind to America.

That was the last great team that SAF built. The recurring tendinitis experienced by Hargreaves wiped the ink from any contract renewal, VDS was suddenly 40 and his wife almost died. Nani flattered to deceive more often than not and Anderson spent most of the season injured. The battery from Korea had become slow and the brave heart from Glasgow had intestinal trouble. Gary never recovered from his devastating knee injury, Fergie recalled his premature loanee to Sunderland and promoted him to the no. 6 jersey after he sold Brown and O'shea in the other direction. Fergie was still capable of making genius signings like that of the 'little pea' from Mexico as well as the strange signings like the 7million quid paid for a certain Portuguese winger.

The financial fair play rule and the need to increase the local content in the squad must have led to the purchase of Smalling, Jones and Young. Rooney finally got his top striker position and the 2011/2012 witnessed the exit of the highly gifted Berbatov and the retirements of VDS and Scholes led to a few new faces and promotions.

2011/12 started with a bang, Cleverly made Scholes look  really old school and the new signing hit the ground running until the opposition realised that the new United goalie had a fear of heights. The 8:2 bashing of arsenal quickly became stale when the likes of Basel almost embarrassed united at Old Trafford. Things were clearly falling apart and the retired Scholes was somehow persuaded to return  before January and steady the ship. The shambles at Manchester city, the home loss to Blackburn and a 1:0 loss at Wigan in a must win match contributed in no small measure to United losing the title by goals difference despite having at least a 6 point gap with only a few games left. This was perhaps less embarrassing than the feeble exits in the UCL group stage and the subsequent dismantling at the hands of Athletico Bilbao in the Europa league.

2012/13 was looking bleak with no significant signing in sight. Fergie had found it difficult to attract new and young talent to United. He found it rather easier to tease English players from lower rated clubs. Samir Nasri, Lucas Moura, Eden Hazard, and even the 5million rated  Aaron Ramsey were well documented failed pursuits as well as the non-conversion of Tevez's loan deal to a permanent one due to third party ownership. It was like an earthquake when reports filtered in that SAF had somehow convinced Wenger to give him his injury prone but lethal striker, RVP. Robin had a great season in 2011/12 earning the player of the year award especially with the number of goals he scored for the arsenal and particularly the sheer audacity of a few of those goals. That was more or less his only injury free season and he was yet to win the EPL. A move to United was a no-brainer and he promptly slotted in, bursting the onion bag on a regular while United somehow won games they had no business winning, a few while benefiting from controversial refereeing decisions. United won the league without significant contributions from Rooney and the perpetually injured captain, Vidic. RVP's goals contributed a great deal as well as the internal crisis within Manchester city especially with respect to then striker Balotelli. One of the games lost by City last term was the away game at Everton. Everton beat Mancini's men 2:0 despite Steven Pienaar receiving a red card in the first half. David moyes was the toast of the press and many clamored for him to get his shot at one of the big teams in England. Moyes had started the season by decisively beating Manchester united 1:0 with an emphatic header by Felliani. It was not just about the goal but the manner in which Everton overpowered United. I think that was the moment SAF thought he had found his successor.

Moyes' Everton finished 6th above Liverpool and generally impressed with their style of play. Steven Gerrard frustrated after drawing with Everton accused them of not keeping the ball on the ground. He soon retracted his statement and apologised for the inaccurate stereotype after he realised that it was actually Liverpool that had the ball in the air for most of the game.

Why did Moyes fail at United ?

1. He overrated the team he inherited. Only a person who followed the league last season  exclusively on social media would be using the 11 point gap over city as a debating point. United had 89 points, the same total when losing on goals difference the season prior. They didn't really improve, the challengers simply imploded or didn't have the squad, patience and experience to sustain a challenge.  A good number had aged and become considerably slower, one striker in particular didn't have a good sense of the location of the goal post and could only muster one league goal all season. Many say Mr Mourinho would have still achieved with the same squad but i beg to disagree. He would not have used this crop of players, not a chance. Mr Mourinho would not be caught playing Johnny Evans at centre back and he would surely have found a spot at Middlesbrough for Cleverly and Wellbeck. Mr Mourinho doesn't even play his trusted ally Ashley Cole at left back, he instead entrusts that position to Azpiliicueta while he sent the reserve left back, Bertrand on loan to Villa.

2. They did nothing in the transfer windows: The summer window would have been put to better use if a proper assessment of the squad had been done. I insist that the likes of Mata and Ozil are not worth their price tags. United didn't necessarily need mega names but young, dynamic players to cover the deficiencies in midfield and the full back positions.

3. The back room staff: Part of overrating the squad manifested in the overhaul of the backroom crew. He changed virtually all the guys who had figured out how to prepare the suspect players for key games and how to do damage limitation especially against the top sides. United had in some way become a slow and lethargic team only able to up the ante when it mattered most, against the big teams in the first half or when chasing a game. The players knew their roles and supported RVP well in his task. Moyes thought he could bring in his own crew to get the champions to play combative football but they just didn't have the legs.

4. The players: They just are not good enough. It told in pre-season, they struggled and could not even win games. A good squad could still make the worst of managers look reasonably good. Too many average, lazy and faded players who despite a nearly 2 week break could not muster anything against a team that played only a few days earlier. Couldn't they just play for themselves even if they couldn't play for the manager?

5. He wanted to become a top manager overnight: It may be safe to say he was not himself, he must have assumed the natural thing to do as the manager of a big club was to start chasing bigger names and dangling huge wads of cash. He got the likes of Mirralas, Baines and Distin to Everton. He got Donovan on successful short term loans on two occasions and did well even when he had only the Australian midfielder as his only option upfront. He would have done much better if he managed the way he knew how to.

6. The press: I believe the emphasis on many of the exhumed records and stats were absolutely irrelevant and in bad taste. Listening to commentators saying that Mata was stuck to the wings even when they saw him drifting across the frontline was laughable. I even heard the commentators of the Everton-Palace game describe how remarkably attack minded Martinez had made Baines and Coleman. What were they doing when Moyes coached Everton?. The same press heap heavy praise on Martinez forgetting that he constantly wallowed in relegation waters with Wigan before eventually drowning last season. How has he suddenly become a top 6 manager? He inherited a solid squad from Moyes. Whatever he has achieved should not be exclusive of Moyes. It would be totally unfair to wipe his memory from Everton and ridicule him because Martinez has gotten 66 points. The same Martinez was snubbed after a failed audition for the Liverpool job, would we say now that Liverpool were right to pick Rodgers ahead of him?

Moyes has failed this season and I believed he deserved another season at least to try again. To tag him as clueless and archaic is over the top. The man has insulted no one, he may not have been tactful during his press conferences but I don't believe he played any player he was not supposed to or that he did not play the ones he was meant to play. The press have done him injustice by allowing the blame of this season's debacle to fall solely on him. He has his part in the mess, I'm sure he knows it. At least Welbeck may be going to the world cup and many are jostling for a Kosovo player. To smear his name and reputation is unfair, the man won 53% of his games and got to the quarter final of the UCL. Free the man and let him move on with his career. The problems with Manchester United have not suddenly departed, sacking Moyes alone is not the answer. Dead wood and  very old cargo have to be cleared out. One United.