Manchester United Balls: Moyes Sacking Proves Spurs Reject AVB Was Right About Media Bias
MANCHESTER United fan Gary Neville points out that giving a man a six-year contract, such as the one the United board gave David Moyes, and then sacking him after 10 months is odd. Neville has been consistent. But what of Martin Samuel, who wrote in the Mail when Andre Villas-Boas was being shown the door at Spurs:
Villas-Boas wondered why nobody turned an invasive spotlight on David Moyes’s struggles at Manchester United, yet he was considered under pressure as Tottenham floMANCHESTER United fan Gary Neville points out that giving a man a six-year contract, such as the one the United board gave David Moyes, and then sacking him after 10 months is odd.
Neville has been consistent. But what of Martin Samuel, who wrote in the Mail when Andre Villas-Boas was being shown the door at Spurs: undered. He hinted that good old British managers received different treatment to young foreign ones. He never understood that it is the clubs that set these agendas, not the critics.
It’s not AVB’s critics. And there were plenty of them at the Mail.
Samuel added:
Villas-Boas could never fathom the difference between United handing Moyes a six-year contract on the recommendation of Sir Alex Ferguson, and his arrival as Tottenham’s fifth manager in eight years.
And on went Samuel, the man who ghost wrote Harry Redknapp’s autobiography – who was, of course, AVB’s predecessor at Spurs:
He became very stubborn and took on the wrong targets. The assassin was always going to be within at White Hart Lane. He leaves English football, for now, none the wiser. Tottenham, Chelsea, these are clubs in a hurry, where success is demanded, and managers are jettisoned at the first sign of weakness.
And the difference between United and Spurs, the one that Daily Mail Aunt Sally AVB could not fathom was:
…Manchester United’s culture is to afford time and support to the manager. Tottenham do not even have a manager. They have a head coach and a director of football…
United were the model. As Samuel wrote on May 9 2013:
Forget the Special One, Moyes is the right one for United
So is the Steady Eddie who produced this team, often the antithesis of the risk-takers and game-makers of Manchester United, the man to succeed Ferguson at Old Trafford? Yes, he is; of course he is.
For what would it say if United simply went out and appointed one of the marquee names that flit between the elite clubs of Europe: Carlo Ancelotti (AC Milan, Juventus, Chelsea, Paris St-Germain) or Mourinho (Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid)? What would it say if, Roman Abramovich-style, they hurled a fortune at the latest flavour of the month in Europe, 2013’s equivalent of Andre Villas-Boas?
Samuel told readers that Moyes is British – and British is best:
United would be saying that English football doesn’t matter. That building a team doesn’t matter. That investing in youth is irrelevant. That consistency is bunk. That learning, personal development and loyalty are of no consequence. These are the traits Moyes has brought to Everton over the last 11 seasons and are, coincidentally, the values that Sir Alex Ferguson instilled at Manchester United. So what United would be saying is that Ferguson did not matter, either.
And on he went:
So Moyes it is, and Moyes it should be. If transforming a club, if being the best and most consistent manager outside of the highest echelon in England, if producing good young players and identifying the premium talent available for the budget, does not prepare a man for Manchester United, what does?
It is not just that Moyes deserves this appointment, English football deserves it, too. It deserves to be taken seriously. It deserves to matter. United are saying that what happens at Everton is significant. The alternative was not to reject one man, but the worth of the entire game in this country.
And then on April 21m 2014, being foreign and not so Steady Eddie became a good thing:
It is pointless pretending Moyes carries the same clout as his contemporaries at the major European clubs. He couldn’t entice Leighton Baines from Everton and they had worked together for six years. Ancelotti, or Louis van Gaal, would bring a contacts book and a gold standard reputation. Their presence shows a club has intent, their track records increase expectation of success. Moyes’s next trophy will be his first.
And:
Ancelotti is a calming presence, a healer, but Jurgen Klopp is a German heavy metal fan with a nose for mischief, and Jose Mourinho learned many of his confrontational skills from Van Gaal, now believed to be the leading candidate.
Unlike managing a football club, being a writer is not all about consistency. Good job, too.
Posted: 22nd, April 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
