“After ten months of fighting against the inevitable, David Moyes cleared his belongings from his desk at Carrington, which Internet memes have consistently sought to show he didn’t look quite right sitting at from the very start. Given the long-standing success of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Scot always seemed doomed to fail, but his sacking will only temporarily damage the image of Manchester United football club. The resounding silence from Old Trafford despite media reports telling of Moyes’ dismissal lacked class on a human level, but the Red Devils’ managerial hotseat now represents a good opportunity for a top class coach, as opposed to an untenable position where David Moyes wittingly rested himself half-knowing the eventual consequence of his decision.” simonhfootball

“The floodlights are blinding. This is after all, a stadium of light and its illumination is searing. There is no place for me to hide my nakedness from its hostile radiance. Beads of sweat weep down my furrowed brow but I cannot mop them. My hands have been nailed. Flesh sandwiched between metal and wood. Bones shattered, blood spattered, a mortal man broken and left to slowly rot on this very public cross as spectators, both faithful and non, jeer my every pained movement. I stretch every sinew to delay the inevitable feasting of the scavengers on my still-beating heart.” Dispatches From A Football Sofa

“The worst aspect for Manchester United was that — yet again — nobody could say it had not been coming. Three times in the last 10 minutes, Swansea attempted the same move, which saw Wayne Routledge run at stand-in right-back, Darren Fletcher, before crossing, specifically trying to pick out Wilfried Bony. Despite the warnings, United were powerless to do anything about the forward’s 90th-minute goal, which secured a 2-1 win for the Swans. United manager David Moyes, meanwhile, seems powerless to solve so many of the issues at Old Trafford that are increasingly evident. Were it not for the manner in which impressive upsets like Swansea’s restore some energy to the competition, it could be argued that the current United reflect the FA Cup itself: a fading institution that has lost its magic and is seemingly being overtaken by circumstance.” ESPN

Man Utd 1 – 2 Swansea
“Swansea won for the first time in their history at Old Trafford as Wilfried Bony’s 90th minute winner knocked 10-man Manchester United out of the FA Cup. The Ivory Coast striker, who had caused anxiety in the United defence for most of the game, headed in Wayne Routledge’s cross to book a fourth-round spot against Birmingham, Bristol Rovers or Crawley Town. The game looked like it was heading for a replay as the hosts held on following Fabio Da Silva’s red card 10 minutes from the end after he had scythed down Jose Canas.” BBC

“Sixth in the league, six wins in a row, sixth in the form table and six months on, David Moyes’ time as manager of Manchester United could be summed up in many ways – Indifferent. Underwhelming. Inept. Transitional. Promising. From the first day that Moyes got the job the expectations of the vast majority of United fans seemed to drop dramatically and it became apparent very quickly that this was rubbing off on the everybody else connected with the club, especially the players. It all started so poorly.” Back Page Football

“During one of those team-building days many of us are routinely required to endure, the assembled group I was in was asked to name somebody who they considered embodied the qualities of a hero. Inevitably, there were many calls for Mandela, Churchill and Ghandi – those secular saints of our modern age. When it came to me, I let the words ‘Roy Keane’ pass my lips which prompted an audible gasp amongst my colleagues. “’But isn’t he the one who admitted to ending another player’s career? How can you say you admire somebody like that?’ came one response to my flagrant disregard for the conventional perception of what makes a hero a hero.” Dispatches From A Football Sofa

“Sir Alex Ferguson’s final victory was not the 2012-13 Premier League title, his 13th in nearly 27 years as Manchester United manager. The last triumph was against his own fear of retirement, idleness, isolation: an anxiety that stalked him throughout his later years as British football’s greatest autocrat. The laughter coming down the corridor of a hotel in Cheshire as I wait to meet him has a familiar mischievous edge. The effervescent Govan boy is still detectable in Ferguson’s laugh, and in his eye, which at 71 still bears the glint of youthful energy. As he emerges with a hotel employee he has known for many years, he jokes, ‘We’re talking about hips.’ A painful hip replacement was one of his first engagements after handing the Manchester United team over to David Moyes, who shares Ferguson’s Glasgow working-class roots. …” Telegraph

“David Moyes always knew that following in the footsteps of greatness was never going to be easy. On the approaches to Old Trafford on Saturday, there was no escaping the shadow, the memory. You can now walk along Sir Alex Ferguson Way, past the vast Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and into the bastion of invincibility that Sir Alex Ferguson built over the course of 26 years. Just to add to it all, Ferguson’s highly-anticipated book hits the shelves this week, followed by the tour to promote it, of course. Sales for his night at the Lowry Theatre, less than a mile from Old Trafford, sold out in four minutes.” BBC (Video)

“In the last winter of the second world war, a British soldier named Matt Busby received a letter from Manchester United’s chief scout Louis Rocca. It said, vaguely: ‘I have a great job for you if you are willing to take it on.’ The job turned out to be manager of Manchester United. On February 19, 1945, Busby showed up in Manchester in his army uniform and signed his contract. It wasn’t really a ‘great job.’ United hadn’t won a trophy since 1911, the club was penniless, and the German Luftwaffe had blitzed Old Trafford. But Busby rebuilt United. In 1968, his team won the European Cup. Later, Alex Ferguson took the club back to the heights. And this season, David Moyes is charged with the mission Busby took on in 1945. There’s something these three men have in common: They are all from the poor city of Glasgow, or its surroundings.” AskMen