David Moyes will make his first competitive return to Old Trafford on Boxing Day reflecting on what might have been.
Sacked by Manchester United in April 2014 and now in charge of Sunderland, the Scot has revealed that things went awry once his plans to begin life after Sir Alex Ferguson by signing Gareth Bale, Cesc Fàbregas, Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos were thwarted.
Had Moyes succeeded in signing that quartet he would quite possibly still be United’s manager rather than being engaged in a desperate struggle to keep the Wearsiders in the Premier League, but the passing of time has left him increasingly sanguine about events at Old Trafford.
“When I first went in to United my real target was Gareth Bale,” said the 53-year-old, who did not last a full season in Manchester. “I felt all along that Gareth Bale was a Manchester United player and I fought to get him [from Tottenham] right up until the last minute. We actually offered him a bigger deal than Real Madrid but Gareth had his mind made up on going to Madrid. He was, though, in my mind, the player I really wanted.
“The other one I came really close to getting was Cesc Fàbregas, who we thought we would get [from Barcelona] right up until the last minute. And Sir Alex [Ferguson] had told me there was always a chance Ronaldo might come back from Real Madrid.”
If that prospective deal never really got off the ground, Moyes had arranged to sign Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich before his sacking, with that transfer falling through when Louis van Gaal, his successor, opted against buying the player. “Toni Kroos had agreed to come in the summer,” Moyes said. “I’d agreed it with Toni himself and his agent. It was a done deal, so that was the level I was targeting – but sometimes you don’t get deals done; the Cesc one was disappointing, it was very close. I don’t know if those signings would have made the difference but I would have hoped that, given time, I would have been working with a successful Manchester United team now.”
As Van Gaal would discover, succeeding Ferguson was always going to be tricky and even United’s current manager, José Mourinho, has endured his fair share of sticky moments. “Most people, looking back, would now say that whoever took over from Sir Alex wouldn’t have had an easy ride,” Moyes said.
“Whether it was José, Carlo Ancelotti, Jürgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola, it would have been a difficult job. It has taken a while for Manchester United to start to get back to where people think they should be and where the club would like to be.
“My time there was too short but you have to win games and I didn’t win enough games. I would also say that, as Louis and now José have found, managing Manchester United is a different animal from managing other clubs.”
Given his time over again Moyes would still say yes to United, though. “One hundred per cent,” he said. “Very few people are offered the job and I was honoured. You have to be half decent to get the job.”
He is adamant Mourinho must be given time to put things right. “I believed I had longer than nine months,” Moyes said. “I was given plenty of assurances to that effect but I think that whoever took over from Sir Alex would have found it incredibly difficult. There were top players coming near the end of their career who had to be moved on – and that’s not easy.
“Before going to United you think you know what it’s like at the very top – at Old Trafford you find out what it’s really like. Two very different successful, very good, managers have gone in since me in Louis and José and you can see how tough they’ve found the job as well.”
United are often accused of having sacrificed their soul for cold corporatism in recent years but Moyes demurs. “There was a classy moment this week, which I think reflects Manchester United more than anything. My wife got a call from Norma Charlton, Bobby Charlton’s wife, to ask her to go to the game on Boxing Day. That’s the Manchester United way. That’s class – and it was very much appreciated.”
