Not that I'm unhappy to see Moyes go as the football has been dire, but I was all for giving him more time to settle in and at least the summer transfer window and up until Christmas to show that we were capable of moving forward under him. I do feel genuinely sorry for him as much of his undoing has come from within our dressing room and I would not envy the next manager to step into the job.
Moyes arrived in very strange and tricky circumstances, he had the biggest shoes in football to fill which should have made him uneasy but he also had a squad who were champions and had done everything for their previous manager which in theory should have made his job easier. That they set about undermining him from very early in his tenure is, IMO, unforgivable and I am beginning to wonder how hard the axe will be swung by whoever takes over this summer.
The new arrival, unlike Moyes, will be forced to remember the words of George Graham on starting as manager at a new club "when you walk in the dressing room for the 1st time,these are the bastards who cost the last guy his job". If I were walking into that job tomorrow there's a very, very short list of players who I would not be looking at with a great degree of mistrust:
De Gea and Lindegard have done everything asked of them all season. Januzaj stood out as one of the few good things to have happened all year. Smalling, Jones, Evans, Buttner and Rafael have got on with being chopped and changed all season and tried to fill in for more senior players who had gone walkabout or quit the club whilst still taking the paycheck and wearing the armband. Fletcher has done well to break back into the team and gave 100% every time he was called on while Mata and Fellaini must have been more shocked than Moyes at the circus they'd joined even if some of Fellaini's performances and haircut suggest he'd be better suited to a circus. For his longevity, for what he means to the club and for the simple fact that not relying more on his experience and winning him over early probably cost Moyes more dearly than even the results, I'd be treating Giggs like a trusted deputy and listening to his every word, but I'd also not be turning my back on the bastard any time soon.
Every other one of the overpaid, preening, under-performing, twittering primadonnas at the club would be potentially heading for the door unless they could prove to me immediately that they were willing to give me 110% and that they would fight for their positions. The new manager might have a far less enviable task than the one Moyes took on 10 months ago but the players should be shitting themselves because if the new manager is good enough for the job then many of them will be called on to pay for their treachery this season.