YESTERDAY morning Manchester United supporters awoke to the news their manager David Moyes had been sacked.
Some may have been relieved, but all have been reeling from what has been a disastrous ten months for their club where they have seen rivals overtake them, late goals fly in the other end at Old Trafford and the aura of Ferguson broken.
We spoke to Chairman of the Kerry Manchester United Supporters Club Francis Boyle to gauge the mood of the fans in what is the most troubling juncture in the clubs recent history.
Francis began by telling us what his first thoughts were after the announcement.
When asked what were the root causes of Moyes’s failure Francis said “Ferguson left him a very poor team” and the departure of Ferguson’s “right hand man” and former Chief Executive David Gill left the Scotsman unable to get the players he wanted last summer.
One of the main criticism of Moyes’s tenure was the signing of former Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini. Francis says it wasn’t helped by the Belgian coming to “a bad midfield”.
“I honestly believe Micheal Carrick is not up to being a Man United player,” he said.
Some of the managers mooted for the job have been Jurgen Kloop, Pep Guardiola and the bookies favourite former Ajax, Holland and Barcelona boss Louis Van Gaal.
Francis was passionate speaking about the club’s much maligned current owners. “The Glazers will have to turn around and give the new manager two hundred million. It’s about time the Glazers put their money up. We’re sick of them taking the money out of the club and back to America,” said Francis.
One of the more difficult aspects of the saga for United supporters has been the part played by former manager and club legend Alex Ferguson’s who appointed David Moyes as his successor.
Francis says at the time of the appointment he was “delighted”.
“Ferguson wanted him their for the long haul, that’s why they gave him a six year contract. The club has to take a lot of the blame, everyone knew the team had to be rebuilt,” he said.
The only criticism Francis had of Moyes was the style of play he brought to Old Trafford which was “Defensive” and not “Manchester United football”
“Its going to be a long stage of transition. If United can’t get four or five top class players, then next season its going to be the same again.”
Thankfully Francis kept his cool unlike this United fan outside Old Trafford last month after the Manchester City defeat.