Manchester United announced on May 9 that 50-year-old David Moyes has been hired as the new manager of the English Premier League soccer club.Moyes will take over on July 1 for Alex Ferguson, who had announced just 24 hours earlier that he was retiring. Moyes, who is currently the manager of Premier League team Everton FC, has agreed to a six-year deal with United. Financial details of the contract weren’t released.
The 71-year-old Ferguson has been with the club since 1986 and will take a director’s role with United next season. Moyes, like Ferguson, also hails from Scotland and has been in charge of Everton for the past 11 seasons.
However, unlike Ferguson, Moyes has yet to win a single trophy during his managerial career. Ferguson has managed to hoist 38 of them over his head, including this season’s Premier League title.
Ferguson has won 13 league titles along with five FA Cups, four League Cups, a World Club Championship and two Champions League titles as well as numerous others. The best Moyes has done in his career is to lead Everton to a fourth-place finish one season and to earn a berth in the Europa League on three occasions. When Everton managed to finish fourth in 2005-06, the team earned a spot in the qualifying rounds of the European Champions League, but failed to advance.
Moyes released a statement which said it’s certainly a fantastic honor to be offered the job of Manchester United’s next manager and thanked Ferguson for recommending him. He added that it will be hard to follow what Ferguson has achieved for the club, but he will give it his best effort and is looking forward to starting as soon as his current contract expires.
Ferguson said he discussed possible replacements for the position with Manchester United’s hierarchy and they felt Moyes was the best candidate. He said Moyes has a lot of integrity and also possesses a wonderful work ethic. He added that he even spoke to his fellow countryman back in 1998 to see if he was interested in joining United as an assistant manager.
Moyes, who played pro soccer at Glasgow Celtic in Scotland, started his managerial career that same year with Preston North End in England. He helped the team earn promotion to the Championship League, England’s second tier, two years later.
Moyes took over as Everton boss in 2002 and has been there ever since. Ferguson said Moyes has everything needed to be successful at Manchester, especially since he’s leaving the new manager with a championship-winning squad.
However, there could be big changes ahead at the club during the upcoming off-season. English striker Wayne Rooney has asked to be transferred, but his request has been denied. It’s still quite possible that he eventually leaved the club, though. In addition, there are reports circling around that former United star Cristiano Ronaldo may be headed back to the team. Ronaldo, a Portuguese striker, used to play for Ferguson at United before joining Spanish club Real Madrid.
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