David Moyes reveals what he REALLY thought when he replaced Sir Alex Ferguson at Man United in 2013 – and opens up on ‘impossible’ challenge facing the incoming Ruben Amorim

David Moyes has claimed he knew it would take years to revive Manchester United when he succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.

The Scot was handed the keys to the Old Trafford kingdom after they won the title in Fergie’s swan song season, but was sacked just ten months into a seven-year contract.

United were an aging side when they won their last title and needed an overhaul, but Moyes, picked by Sir Alex to succeed him, was not given a long blow.

More than a decade later, and with Ruben Amorim set to become United’s seventh permanent boss since Ferguson retired, Moyes fears it is an ‘impossible’ job for the Portuguese. The reset that United fans have been longing for is yet to come.

‘I had a feeling it would take a long time to solve the problem [Manchester United] but I couldn’t come out and say it’s going to take six years to solve the problem,” Moyes told the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky bet.

‘The team had just won the Premier League and I was thrilled to take over. I loved this, but it was also a team that was on the verge of having to change.

‘The players had a great loyalty to Sir Alex Ferguson regardless of who came in, which is amicable, but I did feel it would take longer to turn things around.

‘I had a great relationship with Sir Alex and David Gill – we’d meet once a month for dinner and talk about things.

‘I hear people talking about Manchester United a lot and I think to myself: Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho might be in the top ten managers worldwide that you would want to have as manager of your team, and they found it impossible. to get what they want. It can go deeper than that [the issues at Manchester United].

Moyes was sacked on 22 April 2014 after a 2–0 defeat to his former team Everton.

While Ryan Giggs continued as player-manager for the rest of the season, the Red Devils finished seventh and missed out on European football – still the only time that has happened to United since Ferguson qualified them for the 1990-91 Cup Winners’ Cup. a European ban on English clubs was lifted.

Moyes did send them to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, although they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich.

‘We lost 2-0 in Olympiacos in the last 16 of the Champions League and won the next match 3-0 at home, but then I felt the pressure. I came back to the media, they were all waiting for me and the pressure was building at that point,” Moyes admitted.

‘The main thing they said at the time was that if I didn’t qualify for the Champions League I would lose my job at Manchester United. Do you think about that today, that wouldn’t be the norm now, the standard has dropped.

‘I don’t regret it, I learned so much from the players, the level of fight they gave you – the dressing room was tough and they called each other on, there was no fuss in the months I was there.

‘I admired them enormously and could understand why they had been at the top, but the quality and age were declining. They had the strength and ability to dig each other out, which is sorely lacking in the modern game.”

Part of Moyes’ failure at United stemmed from a difficult summer transfer window in which they denied two of their top transfer targets.

While they secured the services of Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini, they missed out on two potentially transformative men: Tottenham’s Gareth Bale and Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas.

Moyes once revealed that United had a helicopter ready to take Bale to Old Trafford, but his heart was set on Real Madrid, while Fabregas remained at Camp Nou for another year before joining Chelsea.

‘My plans [at Manchester United] I wouldn’t do anything different to what Sir Alex Ferguson did, but I couldn’t be Alex, I couldn’t make it like him. “I wasn’t going to change the philosophy of Manchester United, I was just going to continue with everything I thought he had done well,” Moyes said.

‘I remember meeting Sir Alex at the time. He asked if I was interested in Cesc Fabregas, and I said, “Absolutely.” That was probably the most important signing we were trying to bring in this summer and I had spoken to Cesc and he had said that if he started the first game for Barcelona he wouldn’t come, but if he didn’t he would he does. come. So I’d have to wait until then to find out.

‘Gareth Bale was the other [we were trying to sign]. My interpretation at Manchester United was that they had great wingers, great wide players with the traditions of George Best, you name them over the years.

‘So I thought Gareth Bale would be the one and to be fair to the club they had offered more money and tried to get him but he had his sights set on Real Madrid. We had gone to the wire to get him.

‘I didn’t have a backup for what I wanted after those two players, but I brought in Marouane Fellaini, he was the only one who came in.

‘My thought with Marouane was because I think they go to Stoke City and play those kinds of games. And to be fair, he had a good career at United.

‘We also tried to bring in Leighton Baines as a back-up for Patrice [Evra] at the time, which we didn’t get.’

David Moyes spoke on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky bet.