Most of you know I'm an advocate for time ( as Godcubed would say, perhaps guilty of too much time) when many were calling for him to go December, I was arguably one of his fiercest proponents, because I believe in seeing the full picture, and that the picture would decide itself. I'm going to put aside all the tactical stuff, because Moyes infinitely better than what he has shown, we've seen the evidence for 11 years. I'm going to focus two things: the player's belief in him, and more importantly his belief in himself. The most important thing he had to do was believe in himself, that he was good enough to take the chair, that he DESERVED to be in the chair. Forget the fans, forget the media and what they say about him. He needs/needed to wake up every day KNOWING he was the Manchester United manager.
From day one I don't believe he has felt that way, that he has had that self belief. Most of all, he has not picked it up. When you dont have it, the senior players will be wary, rightly or wrongly. It happens. And its acceptable at the start. But when you don't grasp it, you start to drown. And once you get to that stage you have to learn to sink or swim. The reason I talk about it, is that above all else, self belief is at the core of everything Manchester United. We take backs losing games we shouldn't, we beat teams we shouldnt, we win Leagues and Cups we should, we set history when we shouldn't, because we believe we can, right until the whistle goes and the season ends.
Players can be fickle, spoilt and surly, and not believe in a manager and there is no doubt too many players have hidden, and that is unacceptable from them, and they are shipped out, they can have no complaints. But you CANNOT manager this club without believing in yourself, if you do not, it will crush you. Moyes has been hamstrung in many areas, and a lot of things have not been his fault, and he has been desperately unlucky with injuries. But too often it feels like games have passed him by, with him feeling unable to stem the tide, and when he has got it right, he hasn'y been unable to ride that, and maintain it. Too many one step forwards, and three steps back.
David Moyes is by all accounts a truly decent man, honest and full of integrity, the kind of manager I want nothing more than to succeed, in a world where managers like Mourinho are fawned over for character assassinating people left right and centre. But by every reasonable expectation, he has fallen short. Now that perhaps, is something than can be stomached, even with falling out with senior players. But whats more damning is that a season on, you wonder, can you see him learning from it for the next season? Make no mistake, there is no room for error next season, for whoever is in charge. I always like a manger to get two years, but I look at and I know the way things are, I must be reasonably sure that he can hit the necessary targets next year, and I'm not. I'm not even close to being sure.
What's hard for me to take is not that he hasn't risen to "United" standards, but rather he hasn't hit his own Everton standards. His every touch has deserted him on and off the pitch. His excellent reactive ability, has totally gone. His strong analysis and reading of the game, as gone. His ability to make a side hard to beat, and then press you out has gone. Everything he needed to steady the ship first season, in order to build on that, has fallen away from him.
And perhaps the final straw, is that he is losing the younger players. Danny Welbeck, as described by Joe Hart is "a United fan first, and United footballer second" that is how much the club means to him, when your relationship breaks down so far as to alienate him into wanting to leave, (and it goes beyond wanting more football), you're on the wrong course. Now you could survive one of these major failings, but all at once? It's too much. I long for the day when managers like Moyes are at the top again, straight talking and none of this crazy paranoia (and even that has slipped from him), but I cannot see it being this day, at this club. And it saddens me. Even now, I don't actually want him to go, but the sad truth his, I feel he has to. David Moyes has given it his best, and its just not been good enough.