Of Course Manchester United Acted Unprofessionally

Oldtrafford

The LMA (League Managers Association) have came out and taken a swipe at Manchester United and how they have handled the sacking of David Moyes.

Richard Bevan, the LMA chief executive, had this to say in his statement about the affair…

“The LMA is very disappointed with the nature of David’s departure from Manchester United, and to read extensive reports in the press confirming David’s sacking before David himself had been spoken to officially by the club,” 

“Throughout his time at United, David, as he always does, has conducted himself with integrity and professionalism, values that he believes in and that have been strongly associated with the club and its rich tradition.”

“It is therefore sad to see the end of David’s tenure at United being handled in an unprofessional manner.”

Manchester United have came out and refuted those claims. They instead suggest that the decision wasn’t made until late Monday night and that previous press speculation was premature as no decision had been made.

I don’t buy it.

Listen if it had all been started on Twitter or Facebook then fair enough, we see such hoaxes on such social media platforms that it could be possible for coincidences to happen.

But that wasn’t what we saw on Monday. We had national newspapers lead on their online websites with headlines such as ‘Moyes Sacked! Could be gone by end of the day’ and others doing a rolling page with journalists keeping readers informed with what was happening at Old Trafford. The news on TV also made a big deal about the ‘on-going’ story.

Very, and I mean very rarely would the mainstream media lead with such a story based on a mere hunch or because of unfounded tweets. The news was clearly leaked by someone within United’s hierarchy who knew exactly what was about to happen.

Man United have had a terrible problem with leaks all season. Whether its been from players, members of staff or past employees, the press have had far too much information during Moyes tenure. It helped in his downfall and United need to deal with it now as it’s still happening.

The fact that Man United’s press team decided to leave the question open when asked about Moyes future also spoke volumes. It was obviously common knowledge that Moyes was on his way out.

Sky Sports News on Wednesday lead with the story that David Moyes had ‘lost support’ from his players. This was given to them by Sky sources and lets face it those sources likely come from within the corridors of Old Trafford.

If Man United are to regain control of the situation then they need to settle up with Moyes and let his era go without anymore words from them. Then they need to launch an investigation into who keeps releasing stuff to the media and deal with the culprits appropriately. Remember the saying ‘no one person is bigger than the club!’.

More questions need to be asked of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward. He, like Moyes. is new to his current role and responsibilities. But it seems he is being given more time to adapt to his new job. He failed to give his manager the best possible start at Old Trafford by getting important signings across the line last summer. He chased a lot of players and only managed to complete a deal done for Marouane Fellaini. That deal too, shows weaknesses in Woodward as he overspent big time on the Belgian international. If the day to day runnings of the football club lie at Woodward’s door, then he too needs to take on the responsibility for United failing this term.

Was enough done by Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill in helping the new recruits settle in to their new roles at Man Utd? Only they will know if they could have done more.

When announcing the sacking of David Moyes, they thanked him for his honesty and his dignity. Can those involved in running Manchester United really say they handled that decision with honesty and dignity? The evidence suggests that they didn’t. That is why the LMA used the word ‘unprofessional’. It was used correctly and it was given after a lot of thought. United may try and deny it but it still looks undeniable.

The club need to move on and learn from the errors the made during this debacle.

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