A regional daily has published an impassioned open letter to Manchester United manager David Moyes as he comes under increasing pressure following his side’s disastrous season to date.
Manchester Evening News football writer Stuart Mathieson penned the letter to the under-fire boss on the back of United’s dismal defeat to Greek side Olympiakos in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
It was the latest setback for the former Everton manager who has suffered a torrid run since taking over at Old Trafford in the summer, having picked up just 45 points from 27 premier league games so far.
MEN editor Rob Irvine tweeted that the letter had been the most popular piece on the MEN website yesterday morning.
David Moyes remains under fire as Manchester United manager
In the letter, Stuart warns Moyes that a drastic improvement is needed if he is to save his job.
Wrote Stuart: “If your skin has got thicker over the last eight months then I suspect you are going to need grow another heavy layer quickly so that the latest bombardment of flak doesn’t penetrate and wound you fatally.
“Tuesday night in Greece was as embarrassing as it gets and it is becoming increasingly hard to find some comfort in that a new team is developing.
“You fronted up the press conference in the Karaikakis Stadium and took responsibility for an abysmal display that ranks as arguably the worst in United’s Champions League history.”
United are currently sixth in the league and face an uphill task if they are to qualify for the lucrative Champions League next season.
The letter also criticises United’s players for shunning media duties in the aftermath of the defeat.
“They should have been explaining to the fans who travelled all the way to Greece to witness such a shambles just why they were so bad,” wrote Stuart.
“It is only to be hoped they were shell-shocked and stunned from the tirade you presumably delivered in the dressing room.”
However the letter concludes on a more positive note calling for a strong end to the season and for Mr Moyes to be decisive in the next transfer window.
“By all accounts you are going to get the time to implement all the plans you have drawn up for this colossal rebuilding job,” added Stuart.
“But for goodness sake let’s see something in the final weeks of this torrid season to show that in the future the dissenting voices starting to grow might look as stupid in years to come as those who flew the ‘Ta ra Fergie’ banner in 1989.”
It is the second time Stuart has written an open letter to the Manchester United boss having penned a more upbeat note when he took the job in June.
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Reporter was spot on. It wasnt so much that they lost, any side can do that. united were a disgrace to the memory of Duncan Edwards, George Best and the rest with one of the most inept, gutless and cowardly displays ever seen in a United shirt. Moyes could not motivate them. It needed to be said. I hope I never see such a pitiful display from highly paid pros again .
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Yawn
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Well done to the reporter if he got folk to read his copy, but he is wrong.
It’s not that Manchester United played badly in Greece against Olympiakos FC of Piraeus.
It’s that Olympiakos played particularly well — united, motivated, hungry and effective.
Let’s not forget that Olympiakos has some good players, and they also had an extremely hungry Campbell, on loan from Arsenal.
If anyone’s to blame, it’s not Moyes but the prima donna players at MUFC. It is against the players that this reporter should have directed his venom, not the manager.
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MEN reporter Stuart Mathieson writes: ‘Tuesday night in Greece was as embarrassing as it gets …’.
Have a bit of perspective man. I’m old enough to remember when United were in the old second division. Quite frankly, it’s Mathieson’s partisan and totally over the top article that is ‘as embarrassing as it gets’. Even with crowds of 75,000 at Old Trafford, Man Utd do not have a divine right to always win the League and reach the Champions League final and as a journalist Mathieson should have been the first to point this out.
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