Anyone who is a Manchester United fan, or who has watched the Old Trafford club either in person or on TV this season, will be all too familiar with one chant that erupts from the United end seemingly each and every week.
“So c’mon David Moyes, play like Fergie’s Boys, we go wild, wild, wild. We go wild, wild, wild”.
Sung to the tune of ‘Cum On Feel The Noise’ by Slade (it’s the song they did that isn’t the Christmas one, if that helps).
Ignore the fact that the ‘we go wild, wild, wild’ bit doesn’t really mean anything, it’s just there to tie in with the rest of the song. What we have here is quite a strong statement from the United fans. What they want is the United of old, the United of Sir Alex Ferguson.
The fact that the chant can only be heard when United are under-performing would lend credence to this. But perhaps if the United fans (or at least a large section of them) hold their former manager in such high esteem then maybe they should respect his wishes.
“I’d like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me. Your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important.”
That’s Sir Alex, speaking after his final game at Old Trafford in May. He’s right, incidentally. Sir Alex was given the full backing of the club and the supporters. Even when things weren’t going so smoothly Ferguson kept his job and ultimately that proved to be the right decision. It’s the story that is now brought up anytime someone wants to justify a manager being given more time.
‘Sir Alex was one game from the sack and look what happened to him’, people say. Whether you believe Ferguson would have been sacked after that faithful FA Cup game in 1990 against Nottingham Forest depends on if you believe the press speculation at the time. But like we have seen all too often in recent years the tabloids will heap pressure on any manager who is struggling. And there is no doubt that Ferguson was under increasing pressure at the time.
They kept faith and it paid dividends. Sir Alex has been quick to admit that if he had been on a similar run today he would have lost his job weeks earlier. David Moyes is on a similar run and there has definitely been a vocal part of the United support who have questioned whether he is the right man for the job. To keep it short, he probably is the right man for the job.
David Moyes spent 10 years as a top class manager in the Premier League. He has not become a bad manager overnight. He is however a manager who is paying the price for the success of his predecessor. Sir Alex truly worked miracles with United, especially during the last couple of seasons of his tenure.
David Moyes has technically inherited a title winning squad but this United team truly overachieved to win the league. Now they have a squad which is not as strong as Man City’s, Chelsea’s, Arsenal’s or even Liverpool’s.
Part of the reason for that is that United had a poor summer where they missed out on many of their top targets. But regardless, a new manager will not build his own team overnight. David Moyes’ role at United was never going to be simply keeping the ship going in the right direction. David Moyes is his own man with his own ideas. Given time he will implement these ideas at United.
United fans, for all intents and purposes, have been spoilt. Never before in the Premier League era has their club had to go through this rebuilding period under a new manager. If they were fans of Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle, Villa or practically anyone else they would know this feeling all too well. But, such was the longevity of Ferguson that many of their fans were born with him already at the helm.
United’s fans are learning the hard way what it’s like to support another club. They’re probably not enjoying it very much. But one thing is for certain, if they don’t like this transitional spell then they certainly wouldn’t want to go through it again a year from now when their vocal lack of support of Moyes has helped rid him of his job.
No, what United and their fan base need to do now is get behind Moyes and support him and their team. To their credit, the club already seem to be behind Moyes, it’s time now for the fans to catch up.