Sir Alex Ferguson says appointment of David Moyes was done correctly and wasn’t reason for failure

SIR Alex Ferguson insists the club’s appointment of David Moyes was done correctly and the transition is not to be blamed for the current malaise.

(FILES) In a file picture taken on April 19, 2009 Everton's Scottish manger David Moyes (L) and Manchester United's Scottish manager Alex Ferguson (R) stand at the touchline during the FA Cup semi-final football match between Manchester United and Everton at Wembley Stadium, North London. Everton confirmed on May 9, 2013 that manager David Moyes will leave the club at the end of the season, paving the way for him to succeed Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. AFP PHOTO / IAN KINGTON FOR EDITORIAL USE: Additional licence required for any commercial/promotional use or use on TV or internet (except identical online version of newspaper) of Premier League/Football League photos. Tel DataCo [phone]. Do not alter/modify photo.

SIR Alex Ferguson has insisted Manchester United went about appointing David Moyes in the right way when they chose his fellow Scot to replace him as manager of the English giants.

The widespread view leading up to the former Everton manager’s appointment at Old Trafford following Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 was that he was the hand-picked successor of British football’s most successful manager of all time.

Indeed Moyes was nicknamed ‘The Chosen One’ by some United fans in recognition of what they thought was Ferguson’s key role in the decision to bring him to Manchester.

However, the cheers quickly turned to jeers and just months after his appointment, in April this year, Moyes was sacked after it became impossible for United to qualify for the Champions League.

Some pundits questioned the wisdom of allowing Ferguson to have, as they saw it such a big influence in the choice of his successor but in extracts from his updated autobiography, published in the Guardian on Tuesday, Ferguson insisted hiring Moyes had been a decision taken by the whole of the Old Trafford hierarchy.

“There appears to be an accepted view out there that there was no process. Nonsense,” Ferguson wrote.

“We feel we did everything the right way: quietly, thoroughly, professionally.”

Ferguson added he felt the “walls squeezing in” upon Moyes, whose struggles reminded him of his own early problems at Old Trafford following his arrival from Aberdeen in 1986 prior to United winning the 1990 FA Cup.

“As the results deteriorated, each defeat was a hammer blow to him,” Ferguson recalled.

“I could see that in his demeanour. In January we bought Juan Mata and that gave everyone a lift but I could see the walls squeezing in, leaving David with less and less room to breathe. I know that feeling from 1989, when we went through a terrible spell.

“You feel you are being crushed. The results gnawed away at David. Nobody could dispute how disappointing the season was. And it cost a man his job.”

Ferguson also said Moyes “had not realised just how big United is as a club” and said his successor got the team to play at a much slower tempo than the one which had brought United so much success in recent decades.

Originally published as Sir Alex Ferguson says appointment of David Moyes was done correctly and wasn’t reason for failure