May 11, 2013
| Andy West is a sports writer originally from the UK and now living in Barcelona. He has worked in professional football since 1998 and specialises in the Spanish Primera Division and the English Premier League. Follow him on Twitter at @andywest01. |
MAY 11 — I've got a good David Moyes story. Well, it makes me chuckle anyway.
It was February 2000 and I was working at Reading Football Club. Despite being near the relegation zone in third-tier League One, we were in confident mood, buoyed by manager Alan Pardew's recent appointment of an exuberant and unconventional new assistant, "Mad Dog" Martin Allen.
We travelled to play Preston North End, who were riding high at the top of the division under the leadership of a young Scotsman who was just starting to make his way in the managerial world, having taken charge of Preston a couple of years earlier: David Moyes.
Allen was nicknamed Mad Dog for good reason — he was as mad as a dog. He particularly enjoyed winding up opposition players and coaches with a variety of confrontational tactics, and on this occasion he ordered Reading's players to go out early before the game and conduct their pre-match warm-up... in the Preston half.
When the Preston players came out to find their opponents already occupying the half of the field they always used for the warm-up, they assumed some kind of mistake had been made: Reading's players couldn't have known it was "their" end. But Allen soon made it clear that it was deliberate and that his players weren't moving, despite growing complaints from the home team players, staff and fans.
Eventually, Preston's young manager Moyes came over to remonstrate with Allen, who scornfully looked him up and down before barking: "Who are you? David Moyes...?! Never heard of you! Clear off!" (Well, maybe the exact word he used wasn't "clear", but you get the idea). Allen then laughed, dismissively turned his back on Moyes and stormed away.
And now one of those men is manager of Manchester United, while the other is at Gillingham. Who's laughing now?
One thing the story does is dispel the notion, much repeated by many concerned Manchester United fans in the last few days, that Moyes "has never won anything." Yes he has, because Preston proceeded to win the title by a considerable distance that season, which was just Moyes' second full campaign in management.
Preston were, if you like, the Manchester United of the division. They had the most famous history, one of the biggest stadia and some of the best-known and best-paid players. They were expected to do well and, under Moyes' management, they did, winning the league by seven points.
You can debate how relevant that experience is to his new task at Old Trafford. It was a long time ago and it wasn't the Premier League but, even so, it demonstrates that Moyes does indeed have a past history of taking a good team and meeting expectations by leading them to the title.
Moyes' early days in management also remind us that he has prior experience of making a big professional jump. When he left Preston to take over Everton in 2002, he was entering a completely new world. He left behind a second-tier team to take over a famous and well-established Premier League club.
The public profile, pressure and weight of expectation were entirely different from anything he'd encountered before, especially as Everton were threatened by relegation at the time. Yet he made the transition with ease, looking like the proverbial duck to water as he sparked an improved run of form that saw the Toffees eventually avoid the drop with relative comfort.
The jump from Preston to Everton is similar in magnitude to the leap he'll now have to take from Everton to Manchester United. Again, it will be an entirely new world. Everton are a big club and Moyes' decade in charge at Goodison Park was spent under the constant gaze of the media spotlight, but that was nothing compared to the task that faces him in replacing the near-mythical figure of Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford in one of sport's most pressurised roles.
Having already proven that he's capable of adapting to new and more demanding working environment, though, there's no reason why he won't be able to do it again.
The fact that he didn't win any trophies with Everton doesn't matter too much. Just because he's never won the Premier League before doesn't mean that he won't be able to now; in the same way, just because Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti have, it doesn't mean they would have done again if they'd been appointed instead of Moyes.
Past achievements only count for a certain amount, as Real Madrid have found out to their cost with the appointment of Mourinho, who was recruited on the back of his past Champions League triumphs with the specific aim of leading the Spanish club to European glory. When it came to the crunch, though, Mourinho's past successes with Porto and Inter counted for nothing and he failed with Madrid.
Winning trophies depends on many circumstances, many of which are beyond the control of the manager, and the truth is that during his time at Everton, Moyes never worked in an environment where claiming silverware was a realistic task.
One man who did repeatedly craft title-winning teams over a sustained period of time was, of course, the departing Ferguson, and his ability to win, dismantle, rebuild and win again, and then go through that process time and time again, was astonishing.
After lifting the Premier League trophy for the first time in 1993, the longest gap Ferguson endured without claiming the title was just four years — between 2003 and 2007. But then he bounced back and won it three times in a row. His relentless ability to continually recycle his squad and keep on coming back for more was remarkable and unprecedented, and we will probably never see anything like it again.
Stepping into his shoes would be a near-impossible task for any manager. I completely understand why many United fans would have felt more comfortable with a new man boasting a trophy-laden CV, but that would have brought no guarantees. With Moyes' experience, his determination and his knowledge, he has as big a chance of succeeding as anyone else.
After all, he's survived the madness of Martin Allen. Having done that, Manchester United will be child's play.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
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