Why David Moyes is fighting a losing battle

Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography has understandably gathered quite the buzz with the choice blurbs that the publishers have chosen to release beforehand.

The appetizers, which are the talk of the town today, have been strategically released to wet the appetite of the rumor mongers who revel in the behind-the-scenes drama of it all.

But the common theme that rings all the way through every explosive allegation and accusation is this – the great man had an aura about him that no man has been able to challenge, at least successfully anyway.

And it is here that David Moyes has found the United hot-seat burning through his expensively tailored pants. For all his qualities as a manager, Moyes does not command respect from his players.

Simply because he has not earned that authority yet. And not, as many have suggested umpteen times this season, because he is not deserving of the chance.

The predicament United supporters find themselves in is new, raw and quite unpleasant. They have seen rival managers come and go, never once bothering to give much more than a condescending sneer in the distasteful ways of the new money that had taken over the game.

Through all the billions splashed around everywhere, their red-faced Scot had steered their ship further than any man before him. But today he is perfectly happy as a well-wisher, waving them a fond goodbye from the safe shores as an altogether unconvinced crew looks to an even more petrified Moyes to charter them through the untested waters before them.

That they expected the sailing to be just as smooth now is an insult to what Sir Alex has accomplished at this football club. Comprehend what the great man has been doing for his 26 years at the club, and you will see just how treacherous the untested waters before you truly are.

Rene Meulensteen’s departure brought into sharp focus Sir Alex’s pivotal role at the club – here was the manager, not the coach. This is not to say the great man did not have a keen eye for the little details that make the big difference out there on the pitch. But that his job was that of the boss, the man who kept a bunch of volatile youths in line.

It takes a certain someone to perform that role, and every man who ever put on a United jersey found that out from day 1. The boss’s authority was unchallenged, and rightly so.

What would you rather have? The team run by the whims and fancies of a group of young men, whose only qualification was having been blessed by God-given talent? Ferguson understood this better than anyone else, as a number of incidents in his time there have shown.

Ever wondered how the whole Cristiano Ronaldo saga looked like from inside the hallowed walls of Old Trafford? Through the eyes of the man who, despite helping his protégé to his only Ballon d’Or to date, had to watch him succumb to that inexplicable desire to become a Galactico?

Well, don’t let my words mislead you – the man was all business and looking at the interests of the club, as always. Not for him was the emotional baggage that only served to project weakness – no, that was for lesser mortals.

But to touch his pride, and his authority – that to him was sacrilege. Not because of any personal sense of ego or false pride, but because being the man at England’s most successful football club demanded it.

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.