David Moyes: The chosen one.
Well, only because Pep Guardiola wasn’t available. And Mourinho. And Klopp. And even Louis van Gaal.
Alex Ferguson has lifted the lid on how Manchester United ended up with David Moyes as his successor and, whilst he stands by the fact that it was the right call, he let slip that the club were looking at other options. And they just weren’t available.
Fergie is promoting his new book, Leading, and has been forced to rake over old graves in press conferences for its launch. And he has has explained himself – once and for all – about how and why he brought his fellow Scotsman in to fill his sizeable shoes.
“I made a decision in October after Cathy’s sister died. I told her I was going to retire but how would I convey that to the Glazer family? I knew what it meant to them, winning the title,” he said.
“I was ready to tell them in March and then David Gill tells me he’s going to retire. That was a serious blow. What did I do now? But I’d made my mind up. It was the right decision.
“Once I’d conveyed it to the Glazers, then the process started of looking for successors. We chose David Moyes. He had been consistent in his job at Everton, had a good spell there — 11 years and showed appetite. No one knew apart from the Glazers, David Gill and myself. When we appointed him, the press were enthusiastic for a British manager. Unfortunately, somehow it didn’t work out for David. The process was perfect. It was a good process.”
But it was a process that seemingly wasn’t straightforward and one that was dictated by circumstances elsewhere. Because Pep Guardiola was on Fergie’s radar too.
“I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club but he didn’t and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013,” it reads in Ferguson’s book. “We established that several very desirable candidates were unavailable.
“It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid. We also knew Jurgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract. Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup.”
But we were still thrilled to have Moyesy…
Now, though, Fergie is watching his old team under the stewardship of Louis van Gaal. A man whose press conferences he just loves. Don’t we all?
“Louis has got a great background: Bayern Munich, Barcelona – he’s got the pedigree, no doubt about that.
“And I love his press conferences, I mean they are brilliant. I can see some of the press guys twitch in their seats when he answers some of the questions. And he’s got the confidence to deal with that.”
