What chance did the “Chosen One” have in filling the boots of the football manager of the millennium? It was on the cards that David Moyes would get the boot at Manchester United, which is not only one of the English Premier League’s most successful teams but also a money-spinner to be reckoned with in world pro sport. Anyone would have suffered in comparison to the legendary Alex Ferguson, but what killed Moyes was the short fuse on which modern sports fans and clubs live with the demands on instant results becoming an ogre not easily sated.
The role of a soccer manager defines the very title of supremo best. Man-management may be a nebulous concept outside the world of business, trade and industry. In sport, particularly football, player management is not exactly a science. As they weave tales of sporting excellence in team games over an extended period, the successful managers make it appear magical. Not every coach can hope to live up to the standards that people like Ferguson and Jose Mourinho set. And then there is del Bosque who has won laurels with Spanish league clubs as well as in the last World Cup. Moyes never stood a realistic chance and the fates seemed loaded against him as the famous Red Devils plummeted in defence of their league title to such a low as to lose to bottom-placed Everton too. Not having won anything in Merseyside, Moyes was a disaster waiting to happen at Old Trafford. But such is the power of Ferguson that although he chose his immediate successor, the famous ManU manager is being entrusted the task once again.
