Yesterday, David Moyes resigned as manager of Sunderland, and immediately there were sighs of relief across Celtic cyberspace that we had got Brendan Rodgers instead. I agreed with that sentiment. I had Rodgers ahead of Moyes in my article on who the manager should be when Ronny resigned. Brendan, in fact, was my first choice.
David Moyes was my second choice, in spite of his travails at Manchester United and at Real Sociedad. I would have been delighted had we got him.
So, has Celtic cyberspace been unfair to him?
Would Moyes have worked a miracle at Celtic Park?
Would he have motivated our players and made it happen?
Would we have won a double? Gone unbeaten? Would we have improved in Europe?
Let’s start from his time at Everton.
How good was Moyes, back then?
Everton are a club who modern side peaked in the 80’s, when they were a fantastic team who won titles and cups and a European trophy.
(They famously beat the Rapid Vienna team who cheated us in the same competition. A lot of our fans attended the final and they and the Everton fans sung Hail Hail the Celts are here throughout the match.)
By 2002, when Moyes took over, they were a mess.
Worst of all, he was appointed and immediately tasked with the cleaning up the atrocious mess Scottish media darling and “legned” Walter Smith had made of things. They were in serious danger of being relegated when Moyes arrived from Preston. He secured 15th spot, a major victory.
His next two years saw the club make giant strides; they finished seventh in his first full season in charge and in the second they challenged for a Champions League spot. But the third season was disastrous, they finished 17th, which was the worst league performance in their history. The board kept the faith with him. It was rewarded the following season when they finished fourth and got themselves into the Champions League.
Their form was up and down over the years that followed, yet more often than not they qualified for European football. He turned them into a solidly mid-table team, encumbered by the financial constraints on them, and ultimately unable to challenge for top honours against those clubs who had greater resources. Moyes was rated highly around Europe, but I don’t think anyone had expected Ferguson to choose him as his successor at Old Trafford.
There were reasons to be concerned.
His away record was terrible.
His European record was abysmal.
In eleven seasons at Everton, for all the hype, he never won a major trophy, with only his third tier title at Preston to show for his career. This should have worried Ferguson more than it did. One of the reasons I knew O’Neill would be a success was that he had won things with Leicester. It’s not essential – Brendan hadn’t won an honour either, but he challenged for a league title – but a decade at one club should have delivered at least one major honour.
His single season at Old Trafford (or part season) has been described in apocalyptic terms.
He took over a title winning team. By the time he left they were seventh. His firing was harsh; how can a club judge a manger in less than a full campaign? But no-one felt sorry for him. His six year contract was worth a fortune, and he was certainly well compensated.
Going to Sociedad was a dreadful idea. Their club was never likely to be one where Moyes restored his reputation. He needed something more, something better. A move to Spain probably had its attractions but it was a step down and he didn’t need that.
It was inevitable that he would fail there, and put another black mark on his CV. Then, as if he hadn’t done his career enough damage, he made a worse decision than that. He went to a club where there was simply no prospect of success at all.
Sunderland was an awful move for David Moyes. What the Hell was he thinking parking his backside in that electric chair? That club has been floundering for years now, and was absolutely the wrong one for him. There is no rebuilding a reputation from that sort of place, and that he took the job in the first place was another huge step backwards.
There was talk that Moyes had turned down a concrete offer from us last summer; I don’t believe that for a moment. He didn’t turn down Celtic to move to Sunderland. That would have been a suicidal move, one bound to end in disaster.
I like Moyes and always have. At Everton he exceeded expectations and although people will point to his European record, he never had the players to really make a splash. He overachieved at that club. In an era of big spending he was outgunned, but managed to be amongst the Best of the Rest, clubs not playing for Champions League places, year on year.
Moyes moved to Manchester United on the recommendation of Alex Ferguson. That man was rarely wrong about anything in his life; I don’t believe he was here. Moyes would have done a job at United if given time. He took over an ageing team which Ferguson had managed to squeeze one last year of quality out of. The task he left behind was impossible, and it wasn’t made better by a dressing room faction that never wanted Moyes as boss in the first place.
The arrogance of that is astounding, and it undoubtedly factored into his failure there.
Some of his signing decisions were poor, the most widely mocked being the purchase of Maroaune Fellani.
I understood that one though.
Which manager, surrounded by players who didn’t like him and who he couldn’t trust could be blamed for turning to someone he knew and respected?
Management is a lonely enough job without being surrounded by enemies.
It was a difficult year for him, labouring under the weight of sudden expectation and a lot of inner hostility. Most managers would have crumbled, and when you measure his time there against that of his predecessors, Van Gaal and Mourinho, it doesn’t looks as bad.
Van Gaal got two years and didn’t come close to a title challenge. Mourinho hasn’t qualified for the Champions League, although if he wins the Europa League he will get there and all the credit that goes with having led the club to a European trophy.
The Old Trafford experience dented his confidence, and the media firestorm damaged his reputation to the point where he knew he’d struggle to get a top team. But the move to Spain was just a dire decision, one that was never going to work out well. The Sunderland move was born out of sheer desperation not to be too long outside the sport lest his stock dwindle even further, but if there was a job in the EPL destined to accomplish that anyway it was this one.
Moyes is a good manager. He may even prove, eventually, to be a great one if he can get his career back on the rails. But he has to pick the right club next time, because his choices since Old Trafford have been dreadful. He would have been given the time and space at Celtic Park to get his philosophy across, to bed in, to assemble something.
It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that Brendan is a better manager. Moyes could never have done this, never have led us to an unbeaten league season and put us on the cusp of a treble without losing a domestic match. He has been incredible.
But Moyes would have stabilised us, and provided leadership. He is a long-term thinker, which is the tragedy of his three jobs since departing Goodison. Brendan was the better choice; in that sense, yes, it was a great escape. We could have appointed Moyes and this season would not have been so special. But nor would it have been a disaster.
David Moyes will find himself on the big stage again, at a club where he has room and time to work. He is too good a manager not to. There are mitigating factors in all three of the jobs he’s lost since he left Everton. Doubts remain. Of course they do. They’ve been amplified in light of the setbacks he has suffered in the last three campaigns.
But he understands the fundamentals.
He’s just not been at the right club.
Celtic would made him.
And he would have been good for us.
The trouble is, Ronny was good for us in many ways.
We’re at a point right now where we’re looking farther ahead.
It was greatness we were after.
Good just wasn’t good enough.