Tag: David Moyes

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5 Men Who Could Replace Ronny Deila

by Johnny Connelly – @hitthebyline

An uninspiring 2-2 draw for Celtic at Tynecastle has kept Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership title race, and further added to the moans and groans from the Celtic support with regard to the leadership qualities of current manager, Ronny Deila. 

Osman Sow’s late strike secured a point for Robbie Neilson’s Hearts side, as Celtic blew the chance to go 3 points clear of Aberdeen in 2nd place. This latest disappointment means the Bhoys have won just 3 of their last 9 matches in all competitions, with growing discontent at the style of play on show.

It’d be naive to think Celtic aren’t sizing up potential replacements for Deila. In the event that Ronny fails to get the Parkhead club back on track, here are 5 men who could potentially be his successor…

David Moyes

David Moyes

Just a few seasons ago, David Moyes was one of the emerging talents in European football management. His no-nonsense style was well respected in the English Premiership after a successful spell at Everton. When Sir Alex Ferguson hand-picked Moyes as his successor at Manchester United, it looked as though the Scotsman was on the verge of becoming a blue-chip manager of sorts.

Moyes fell victim to a transitional period of low resource and high expectation at United. He was dismissed less than a season in, despite having a better record both domestically, and in Europe than Louis Van Gaal (with considerably less money spent on transfers).

A shock move to Real Sociedad was next for Moyes. He took the reins with the club in 15th place in La Liga. After an initial upturn in fortunes at the club, form began to stagnate. Communication was touted as a problem by those at the club, with Moyes not being able to speak Spanish.

With Sociedad sitting comfortably in mid-table, Moyes was relieved of his duties. A win % ratio of just 28% at the Basque club was deemed unacceptable.

Gary McAllister

Gary McAllister

Something of a surprise addition to the list of candidates, the former Motherwell midfielder has yet to set the heather alight in his management career, but has gained enough experience to be a contender for the Parkhead hot seat across various management positions.

With a working knowledge of the Scottish game, international experience, and connections south of the border, McAllister is the polar opposite of current Hoops boss Ronny Deila. This shift in focus could be appealing for the club, particularly to boost the opportunities in the transfer market.

McAllister’s first stint in management came back in 2002 when he was appointed player-manager of Coventry City. He lasted just over a year and a half in the job, before resigning to spend more time with his family.

A four year sabbatical ensued, before he returned to management on a temporary basis as Leeds United manager. With the club then playing in the third tier of English football, McAllister turned things around magnificently, taking the Yorkshire club from 8th, all the way to the playoff final. A poor start to the following season led to his departure in December 2008.

Since then, he’s taken up various coaching positions, at Middlesbrough (working alongside former Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan), as Assistant Manager at Aston Villa (under Gerard Houllier), and First Team Coach at Liverpool (as part of Brendan Rodgers’ coaching staff).

Ian Holloway

Ian Holloway

Another potentially surprising name to be thrown into the hat, Iain Holloway would certainly liven things up at Celtic Park. His relentless attacking style has brought him mixed fortunes in management, but would at least win favour among the fans at Celtic.

The majority of Holloway’s career has been spent managing clubs in the English Championship, with his most famous success being when he propelled relegation-touted Blackpool to the dizzy heights of promotion to the English Premier League in 2010. After a whirlwind adventure on a shoestring budget, Holloway’s side went down fighting on the last day of the season.

The outspoken manager almost pulled off the impossible again the following season, taking Blackpool to the playoffs, and narrowly missing out on promotion back to the Premiership.

After Blackpool, Holloway took over at Crystal Palace in 2012. Things started well with a 5-0 win over Ipswich, and continued to go smoothly as he again managed to promote the club to the English Premier League. Things turned sour quickly after just 8 matches in the Premiership. Holloway came under pressure from the fans after amassing just 3 points in this time, and left by mutual consent.

His latest managerial position came in January 2014 when he signed a 2 and a half year deal to become Millwall manager. He was initially tasked with saving the club from relegation from the Championship, which he achieved by finishing 19th, 4 points above the drop zone. The 2014-15 season didn’t go so well, and Holloway was sacked for the first time in his career in March 2015.

Henrik Larsson

Henrik Larsson

Never far from the hearts and minds of the Celtic fans, Henrik Larsson will forever be idolised at the club. A section of the support backed Larsson for the Celtic manager’s job before Deila took over, and you can bet that should Deila be relieved of his duties, the super Swede’s name would be mentioned again.

Sentimental appointments rarely work out in modern football, but rarely do we see a player idolised so exclusively as the way Larsson is at Celtic. Larsson’s appointment would certainly unite the fans and bring back a buzz straight off the bat. The respect he’d command in the dressing room could only be a good thing, and his reputation across Europe could open doors in the transfer market.

That said, Larsson is relatively new to the management game, and his inexperience could be a major risk.

In December 2009, Larsson took his first management role, at Swedish 2nd Division outfit Landskrona. In his first season, he took the club to the brink of promotion, finishing 5th, and adopting an attractive 4-3-3 attacking style of play. His 2nd season was something of a disappointment, with the club sitting bottom of the league more than halfway through the season. A positive run of results propelled the club up to 10th, but the fans had expected promotion. Larsson stayed for a third season, but could only manage a 6th placed finish, and resigned shortly afterwards.

A short stint at newly promoted Falkenbergs in the Swedish top flight followed. Larsson managed to keep the club in the top division, but left after one season to take the top job at his former club, Helsingborgs, where he remains to this day.

Larsson has previously admitted that he would like to return to Celtic some day as manager, but whether or not that day will be anytime soon remains to be seen.

Michael O’Neill

Michael O'Neill

One of this year’s biggest stories in international football is the rise and rise of Northern Ireland under Michael O’Neill. The former Hibs player has transformed his home nation from footballing minnows, to a formidable force who qualified comfortably for the Euro 2016.

O’Neill has a great working knowledge of Scottish football, having played for Dundee United, Hibs, Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Clydebank, and Ayr United.

With Celtic being unable to attract a blue-chip or English Premier League manager, rising stars like O’Neill could be the club’s best bet to delivering sustainable success.

The Northern Irishman’s managerial CV is a short one, with just over a season at Brechin City under his belt, he left for Shamrock Rovers in 2009, where a modicum of success ensued. O’Neill took the Rovers to 2nd place in the league in his first season, and won the league in his second season. Another league title ensued in 2011. He also guided the team to win the Setanta Sports Cup in 2011, and recorded a notable victory over Partizan Belgrade that same year.

O’Neill’s biggest achievement by far has been the work he’s done as manager of Northern Ireland. With an average group of players at his disposal, he’s taken the nation to their first major tournament in 30 years by qualifying for Euro 2016. They topped a group containing the likes of Romania, Greece, and Finland, losing just 1 match in the process.

O’Neill’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed, with several English Championship clubs sniffing around him already. He’ll clearly want to reap the rewards of his efforts by managing the Northern Irish side at the finals in France in the summer, but beyond that, it’s expected that he’ll move on while his stock is high.

With O’Neill being potentially unavailable until the summer, the timescale could work out well for Celtic, as Ronny Deila would still have enough time to prove himself as a success. Deila will continue to come under fire until Celtic start to win, and win in style. The next few months could be crucial for the club either way. Time for Ronny to shape up or ship out.

 

 

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Was David Moyes Doomed from Day 1?

By Johnny Connelly
David Moyes during his time at Manchester United

Moyes – Down and Out

 

Any last lingering doubts that David Moyes would continue as manager of Manchester United were quashed in one fell swoop, as the news broke this morning that the Scotsman would be relieved of his duties, just 10 months into a 6 year contract.

United fans were quietly confident when Moyes replaced the seemingly untouchable Sir Alex Ferguson less than a year ago. Since then, pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong; but to what extent can David Moyes be held directly responsible for what has been a catastrophic season?

There were several key factors that made this season the worst in Manchester United’s Premiership history, not least of all, the tired looking squad of players that David Moyes inherited. From back to front, the Manchester United squad of August 2013 was weak. Both De Gea and Lindegaard look unconvincing in big games, while the back 4 continued to rely on players like Evra, Vidic and Ferdinand, who are well past their peak. Their famous midfield, once boasting the likes of a youthful Giggs, Keane, Scholes and Beckham; fell from grace, turning to Cleverly, Young, Nani and an ageing Carrick. In the striking department, they now cling to a want-away Van Persie, a hot & cold Rooney, and a bang average Danny Welbeck.

To think that Sir Alex Ferguson guided that ailing squad to the Premiership title by a margin of 11 points isn’t so much impressive as it is miraculous. Had Fergie stayed on another season, would he be able to replicate this feat? I sincerely doubt it. United had been on the decline for several years, arguably since around 2009 when world-beaters like Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez opted for pastures new. Any big signings since then (such as Van Persie) seemed to come out of desperation rather than as part of any great master-plan.

David Moyes took the reins after around five years of chronic under-investment. His first summer transfer window needed to be a whirlwind of inbound activity. Perhaps around five or six world-class players on the right side of 30 were required to inject new life into United; but as we all know, it didn’t pan out that way. Leighton Baines, Cesc Fabregas, Mesut Ozil and Robert Lewandowski were all targeted, but Moyes’ United couldn’t table a bid enough close enough to wrestle these top players away from their respective clubs. Was this the fault of Moyes? Or did the Manchester United hierarchy believe that Moyes could continue to run Fergie’s threadbare squad on fumes?

On transfer deadline day, Moyes delved into the transfer market to panic buy Marouane Fellani. In what proved to be a sign of things to come, the transfer was an expensive disaster. Fellani had served Moyes well at Everton, but since his £27.5m switch to Old Trafford, he’s looked clumsy, cumbersome, and out of his depth. Moyes could argue that if he’d been allocated a proper war-chest to turn the club around, he could have secured some of his A-list targets; but I doubt there’s anything he could say to defend the procurement of his one-paced afro-headed Belgian midfielder.

With the first transfer window being written off as a failure in the eyes of the concerned fan-base, the next judge of Moyes’ credentials would be his choice in players to trust and invest in. Moyes came under fire throughout the first half of the season for not giving Shinji Kagawa a regular start, particularly when Van Persie picked up an injury. An ever-changing back four also seemed to lead to a lack of stability, so much so that the team’s form began to suffer. Perhaps the club’s main sellable asset, Wayne Rooney, was misfiring too. He struggled for fitness, made noises about leaving the club, and managed a haul of just 17 goals across the whole season (just 1 goal off his worst ever for United). Rooney could have been sold. It’d have been no surprise if he commanded a transfer fee of £30-40m, which could have been used to fund a bid to secure a striker on the way up.

Instead, Rooney was offered a new 5-year contract, on a reported wage of £300,000 per week. Rooney understandably signed the contract, but his form didn’t noticeably improve. Instead of a waning Rooney on £300,000 per week, would the club’s needs have been better served by securing three top players on around £100,000 per week? Was Moyes in control during the Rooney contract talks? It’s hard to tell.

One thing Moyes didn’t have (because let’s face it, only one man does), was the Fergie factor. Sir Alex’s uncanny ability to turn average players into world beaters, to upset the most astronomical of odds, and to make players fight for him with every fibre of their being is what makes him arguably the greatest football manager ever. Moyes was never going to live up to Ferguson’s legacy, but the manner in which he failed in terms of getting his players to fight for him verged on embarrassing.

For whatever reason, Manchester United’s big players didn’t fight for Moyes in the same manner as they fought for his predecessor. Anytime a United side under Sir Alex lost, they’d go down with a roar. Under Moyes, all too often this season, they’ve gone down with a whimper.

As the manager of such an illustrious club, Moyes must shoulder some of the blame for losing 11 times in the league, but Gary Neville poignantly defended him today when he referred back to his own playing days.

Neville said: “When I think back to any time we lost a match at United, never once did I come off and think (about Sir Alex) ‘You lost us that one boss’.”

True enough, matches are won and lost with players, not managers. United’s sluggish squad can have few complaints about finishing behind Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal; but they should be asking serious questions of themselves when it comes to some of the losses they suffered against ‘lesser’ clubs.

With all due respect to these clubs, should Everton (home and away), Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Spurs, Newcastle, and West Brom all be recording fairly straightforward wins over the Champions of England? Manchester United are stronger than all of these sides on paper, but they’ve all beaten United this year. Either the manager has been wildly inept with his tactics, the players in red shirts were failing to give 100% for the team, or a combination of both.

The romantic notion of Manchester United staying true to the legacy of their most successful manager by allowing him to select another fiery Scottish manager as his replacement hasn’t panned out as planned, but in retrospect, it’s possible that Moyes’ sacking could be a mistake.

The United hierarchy gained many a plaudit for choosing Moyes over a big name foreigner, and were also praised for repeatedly defending Moyes’ disastrous run of results by alluding to the fact the club were going through a reconstructive period. Where now for that patience from the board?

It was only a year or so ago that Brendan Rodgers was being touted for the sack, now look at the transformation in his Liverpool side. The older Red Devils fans will remember Sir Alex’s woeful first season. Fergie’s neck was saved by a late goal to win the F.A Cup, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Would it have taken something as frivolous as an F.A Cup win to save Moyes? Could he have gone on to rack up 20 years or so of glory? We’ll never know now.

During his farewell speech Sir Alex famously addressed the fans, saying: “Your job now is to back our new manager…”

10 months on, it turns out that the fans, the players, and the hierarchy have all disobeyed Fergie’s instructions.

Today not only signals the end of David Moyes’ woeful time in the Old Trafford dugout; but it also signals the end of Manchester United’s long reign as the shining light of football clubs in Europe. The end of Moyes’ tenure will forever be pinpointed as the landmark moment when United steered away from the moralistic crusade of legacy building; and conformed to the hollow pursuit of financial gain through unscrupulous performances in bloated competitions where the wishes of the fans ebb ever further away from the ethos of the club.

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