Sacked Manchester United Manager David Moyes Attacks Club, Insists ‘Great Traditions’ Have Gone

David Moyes has launched a scathing attack on Manchester United just before his new side Sunderland take on his former team at Old Trafford on December 26.

Moyes was sacked as Manchester United manager just nine months after being appointed as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor. While Ferguson had led Manchester United to the Premier League title in his final season in charge, Moyes struggled to get the best out of his squad, and they ultimately finished in seventh place in the league. Moyes was sacked in April, 2014, with his final game in charge a 2-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park.

The Scottish manager still believes that he should have been given more time with Manchester United, and in the press conference ahead of his first return to Old Trafford with Sunderland he insisted that the “great traditions” have now “gone.” Moyes noted that Manchester United previously “tended to pick British managers” and didn’t need to spend much money in the transfer market.

In the seasons since David Moyes was sacked, they’ve appointed the Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal, and their current manager is Jose Mourinho, who hails from Portugal. They’ve also spent £480 ($590) million since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. They even broke the world transfer record when they bought Paul Pogba from Juventus for £89 ($110) million back in August. According to the BBC David Moyes remarked,

“I can say that’s gone. There have been a few changes at Manchester United but that’s the way they have chosen to go. They were a football club who enjoyed traditions with the way they spent. They didn’t try to compete with all the other clubs. They did what they thought was the right thing to do and spent the right way. Maybe that has had to change because of the current situation. [But] Sir Alex [Ferguson] went out and bought wisely and correctly in the transfer market and what he thought he needed to do.”

David Moyes also opened up about the transfers that he had aimed to make when he arrived at Manchester United, insisting that he’d targeted Gareth Bale as his first purchase. The Welsh winger was plying his trade for Tottenham Hotspur when David Moyes was appointed, and he eventually went on to sign for Real Madrid that summer for £85.1 ($105) million. David Moyes explained as follows.

“When I first went in my real target was Gareth Bale. I felt all along that Gareth Bale was a Manchester United player. I fought right until the last minute. We actually offered a bigger deal than Real Madrid. But Gareth had his mind made up on going to Real Madrid. That was, in my mind, the player I really wanted to bring to Manchester United… Gareth Bale, we were probably behind all along, Real Madrid were well in for it.”

David Moyes had his eyes on various other transfer targets, too. The Scot insisted that Sir Alex Ferguson had informed him that “there was a chance” Cristiano Ronaldo, who previously played for Manchester United between 2003 and 2009 before moving to Real Madrid, could return to United.

Meanwhile, David Moyes also pinpointed Cesc Fabregas as an ideal signing from Barcelona, and even revealed that United were very close to signing the Spaniard. Moyes remarked as follows.

“The other one was Cesc Fabregas, who we thought we would get right up until the last minute… The Cesc one was disappointing. It was very close.”

David Moyes noted that Manchester United were close to signing Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich, too, and that they’d agreed a deal in principle for the German to join in the summer. Unfortunately for Moyes, he was sacked before it could be confirmed, and Louis Van Gaal decided against purchasing Kroos, who eventually joined Real Madrid in July, 2014. David Moyes concluded by remarking,

“So that was the level we were targeting. I was not going out to bring in seven, eight players, because we had a squad which had just won the league… A lot of players come into Manchester United and have not necessarily made the difference. But I think that, given time and having got to this period, I would have hoped I would be working with a successful team now.”

[Featured Image by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images]