David Moyes will rise again

Poor David Moyes. Wherever your loyalties lie, whether you're a gleeful Liverpool supporter or a disappointed United fan (or indeed, the other way round, given the implications of this managerial change), it's hard not to feel sorry for the man.

This was the chance he had worked for tirelessly, taking his coaching badges at 22, rising up through the ranks, earning his shot at the big time. And now his life’s work, his dreams and his ambitions lie in tatters all around him. And it's all his fault. And he probably knows it.

And it's his birthday on Friday.

You only have to look at Moyes to see what this job has done to him. When Sir Matt Busby's ill-fated successor Wilf McGuinness struggled in the limelight, he lost his hair in clumps with the stress of it all. Moyes has kept his hair but there's little left of the original colour. His face is drawn and haggard, his blue eyes stand out like Gollum's at the window of a jewellery shop.

This is the man who once clashed with Roberto Mancini on the touchline, responding to the Italian's petulant shove by striding toward him, head lowered, ready for war. Now he looks so beaten that he'd probably back away from his own shadow.

much about Moyes has changed this season but after time away to reflect and recover, he'll come back to the game and be just fine.

Look at the pictures of him when he landed the United job. He looks 10 years younger. Having secured his exit from Everton, he skips down the stairs from Bill Kenwright's office like a man who's just received a particularly saucy text message and can't get himself in the taxi quick enough. There's a fire in his eyes. That fire has long since gone out.

It's hard to entirely comprehend the scale of what has just happened to him. He now has one of the most recognisable faces in world sport and hiding places will be few and far between. This is a truly global fail. Others on these pages will explain the reasons Moyes fell short, but only he will have to live with the festering regret. When Graham Taylor was sacked by England in 1993 he became a social recluse, hiding himself away in his home. One of his former players, Carlton Palmer, eventually paid him a visit, telling him that he hadn't killed anyone and that he should return.

Moyes should draw strength from Taylor's subsequent comeback. While his first job at Wolves lasted only 18 months, he went on to disprove the old adage that you should never go back by returning to his old job at Watford and taking the Hornets from the third division to the top flight in successive seasons. He even ended his career with a second spell at Aston Villa, steadying the ship in 2002. Now a respected and admired co-commentator, the misery of his England tenure seems a lifetime away.


When assessing Moyes' reign it must be recalled that he did not win the United job in a raffle. The immediate and consuming nature of the news cycle can invite revisionism, but Moyes is not a chump. He's an experienced and proven football manager. He can come back from this.

While Jose Mourinho always seemed the wiser, stronger choice, there were perfectly logical reasons to believe that Moyes would have something to offer United. For starters, few managers had a better record at bringing young players through the ranks, something of which the United hierarchy, possibly with one eye on that debt repayment plan, certainly approved.

David Moyes looked so happy at the beginning of his Man Utd tenure but despite failure, he can find happiness again elsewhere.

Nor were his Everton teams as drab or unconvincing as his United team proved to be. Regulars at Goodison Park used to bristle at the suggestion that their team were mere "dogs of war" and would quickly point to the neat interplay of their more gifted players. The charge of over-caution in clashes with superior teams stuck like glue, but there was no reason for him to take that attitude with him to Old Trafford.

Sadly for Moyes, old habits died harder than his prospects of a second season.

With a reported payoff of 4.5 million pounds -- and let's hope that one of the lessons he takes from all of this is to read the small print of his contracts in the future -- Moyes should be able to afford a decent holiday, preferably in one of the few remaining territories where the English Premier League goes unwatched. North Korea, perhaps. Or Narnia.

But when he's had a chance to rest and recover, when his batteries are recharged, when he can get through the night without waking up dripping in sweat and screaming "Why did you forsake me Marouane?!" then it will be time to come back.

This doesn't have to be the end. David Moyes is better than that.