Troubled Manchester United manager David Moyes hit a new low yesterday as he found himself mocked by the city’s daily newspaper.
The champions were thrashed 3-0 by local rivals Manchester City on Tuesday night leaving further question marks over the ‘Chosen One’s’ future.
Yesterday’s Manchester Evening News responded by unveiling an ostensibly light-hearted online game mocking the beleaguered boss.
The ‘Random Moyes Excuse Generator’ – designed by publisher Trinity Mirror’s new digital innovation team – will come up with an excuse for any problem typed in by readers.
Said the paper: “We’ve all been there, trapped in an uncomfortable situation of our own making and desperately searching for a viable excuse to get us out of trouble.
“Manchester United manager David Moyes has found himself in need of an excuse or two this season, and the chances of whatever he comes up with going unnoticed are slim given the eyes of the football world are on him.
“He has produced a fair few during his short stint at the Reds helm, and we figured we would enlist his help for anyone out there in need of an excuse.
“Simply type in your problem, and see what our digital David comes up with to get you out of your situation.
The development was being seen by national football pundits as a demonstration of the shifting mood among United fans.
Writing on MailOnline Ian Ladyman said: “On Wednesday morning in Manchester, Moyes was being openly lampooned by the local paper, the Manchester Evening News.
“Bullied and – in his later years – totally ignored by Ferguson, some may feel that the MEN (as it is known) is simply getting its own back on a club with which it has a peculiar relationship.
“There does, though, appear to be more to it than that. Any local paper worth the ink it uses attempts to be reflective of its readership’s mood and the MEN would appear to have done that. Again, it feels like a landmark moment.”
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
Nothing wrong with what the MEN are doing – good topical stuff driven my the fans distress.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
David Meek must be sad at the way his club are now being lampooned.
Report this comment
Nowt wrong with mocking your manager. However, the big problem with this excuse generator is that it’s a load of rubbish and not something to boast about.
Example – my problem was ‘I am late for work.’ My random excuse was: “I felt as if the players looked in good shape and good fettle going into it but we just didn’t get to the standards that were required.”
What a load of piffle – surely it should be selecting quotes that can be applied to every day situations, otherwise the whole exercise is pointless.
Maybe I’ve just got too much time on my hands.
Report this comment
Look wjho’s got the same idea!
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/david-moyes-excuse-generator-6878036
Another step towards a universal Trinity Mirror evening paper?
Report this comment
See Moyes’s uncanny impression of Pellegrini here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O-WJEiSMcQ
Report this comment
Words fail me on this character Moyes.A tactical numptie.The only transition is from champions to non-entities and in that area the Moyes regime is succeeding.Well done SAF,well done Charlton and well done Manchester United.
O.K. we beat a couple of restaurant teams.One from Greece and one from London.But Bayern are better than City,Liverpool and Chelsea.It could be a sad,sad night.
A devastating night.
Please do not put this man in charge of the team against the Germans.Everton will probably get the 4th slot.How ironic will that be.
BRING GARY NEVILLE AND THE LAST BACKROOM STAFF IN NOW.SACK MOYES AND ROUND…….I AM FEELING ILL AND FULL OF FOREBODING…….SACK HIM NOW!
Report this comment
I don’t know who seems the more desperate….David Moyes or the Manchester Evening News. Not a great advert for either of them.
Report this comment
It’s a bit of fun. Good on the MEN and the Echo for giving it a go and trying to make stories more engaging. Look on Twitter and Facebook and you can’t help but see people sharing it.
Too many people too quick to knock things on here, while at the same time doing very little themselves
Report this comment
What a sad, sad demise of one of the great Manchester institutions. No, not United; I mean the MEN. This totally ridiculous, attention-seeking, bar-lowering mumbo-jumbo tells us much. The paper clearly has no relationship with the club, no insider ‘tipping the wink’, no gravitas to make it’s view heard and lead the debate about the future of the club. Instead, a silly media equivalent of the novelty trinket sold to tourists in tacky seaside resorts, Here today, gone tomorrow ‘Aldi journalism’. You’d think they’d want to keep a lid on it; not tell the whole world how peripheral the paper has become. Pathetic.
Report this comment
*sighs* It’s an its typo above…
Report this comment
I don’t know why we just don’t have porn and casinos on our sites and be done with it.
Report this comment
Agree with Bagless vacuum. It’s a long time since the MEN broke a story of significance about either City or United. They don’t have the inside track any more. Gimmicks like this will not work with their core audience. The City fans are already boycotting the paper now they will lose the local United fans. It’s juvenile rubbish instead of proper journalism. There is a story happening at United today behind the scenes but it won’t be in the MEN.
Report this comment
I’m sure Moyes is less than thrilled to be mocked by the MEN but it’s pushing it a bit to suggest that this is a new low. I’m sure he has a thicker skin than that.
Report this comment