I was one of the earliest anti Moyes supporters and the reason to that were various. First of all I saw United as a ticking time bomb. The old guard was exceptional however it was old and the players brought in was nowhere near in terms of quality. SAF's ability in keeping it in shape was an act of brilliance, possibly the biggest masterpiece in terms of management he had ever did. Someone so inexperienced in winning as Moyes would never going to be able to do so. Secondly complacency had set in deep within the club. A substantial number of players were kept not because of their present performance but because of their past achievements or because they are 'fun'. Also a number of players had been here, they grew old in the club and despite their age they weren't being properly challenged (ex Rio and Vidic). That tend to inflate egos and give players the impression that maybe, they are irreplaceable. Complacency had set in not just over the first team but also in the reserves and coaching team. Chief scouts were employed not because of their CV or ability in spotting talent but because they are 'family' and youth players were used as an incentives for certain clubs to employ certain people only to for the plug to be pulled once those people aren't employed anymore. That's certainly not the way you manage a club.
Some say that SAF went to 'skint' mode because he wanted to leave load of cash for his successor to spend. I think that insults the great man's intelligence. First of all, no manager would be able to replace half a squad and win at the same time. Often such strategy is the prelude to a disaster (ex Spurs aftermath to selling Bale or Liverpool this season). Also it gives the impression that SAF didn't cared enough for leaving a solid side behind or didn't believed in his ability in leaving a side which can adapt to a quality manager new ideas. In both cases its seriously not the case. I accused SAF of nepotism in a numerous occasions and I stick to it. However I have absolutely no doubt that he loved this club and wanted to leave this team in the best shape possible. Anyway even if someone do believe that, well, our transfer market suggest otherwise. DDG, Smalling, Jones, Zaha, Powell, Ando, Kagawa, the Da Silva twins, Hernandez....this was a man who was busy building the foundations for a next great side. It turned out that for the first time in his magnificent career (which saw the building up of at least 3 great sides, a record in football) the man's plan for the 4th great side well....failed.
So what went wrong? Well there's a number of things. Some players let him down (Ando and Cleverley for example), others vanished in the treatment room (the Da Silva twins and Fletcher) never to appear again and we also had a share of bad buys. However the root of the problem was that the old man was getting too emotional and too stubborn for leading the monster he created. The man was closing an eye as geniuses like Kershaw and Harrison were retiring and being replaced them with well......showmen (Meulesteen), yes men and family. Thats kind of dangerous especially at a time when the man was growing old and couldn't oversee everything as he used to. Such attitude was happening also on the pitch. There's no way a young and hungry SAF would have allowed Ando to produce absolutely nothing for half a decade and still remain to the club. He would have kicked his fat ass out of the club.
Stubborness was the second problem I've mentioned. Its kind of unfair because in many ways SAF was right to be stubborn. For example its ridiculous how agents had grew so powerful in football and young players demand to be played. However that's football today, you either adapt or you will lose opportunities, some of which too great to miss (Hazard, Pogba etc). I shiver at the thought of what United would have been with players like that in the team.
Its only fair to end up with Moyes as this is his thread. As said the man was not good enough, the final product of a flawed and outdated strategy which brought us into this sorry state. I still remember how many of us laughed at him when he blamed the quality of the squad for United's dip in quality. However the fact that we were only able to nick the 4th place despite spending over 100m and bringing one of the finest managers in the world, kinds of vindicate him. Not to forget other minor issues like Rio/Vidic failing badly at QPR/Inter and the defense/midfield close to a major revamp.
