Two tweets brought to an end David Moyes’ 10 months in charge of Manchester United.

And with that “the chosen one” was discarded.

It seemed an uneasy fit from the start. Alex Ferguson may have anointed Moyes as his successor, but that didn’t necessarily mean he would be a similar success. The younger Scot had done stellar work at Everton with limited resources, however managing a global phenomenon like United was something altogether different.

He was handed a six year contract however, with the idea of establishing a legacy like Ferguson’s. At the time many football fans and analysts praised the length of the contract as it would allow Moyes to put his own stamp on the club. So what has prompted his departure with less than a year of that contract gone?

1. Results.

The first reason is the easiest to quantify. As of now, Manchester United are in seventh place in the Premier League. They are 13 points behind Arsenal, who occupy the final Champions League spot. Moyes’ supporters may point to a lack of quality in the United squad bequeathed to him by Ferguson, but it is almost exactly the same roster as that which won the Premier League last season.

Home form in the league was not what United fans have come to expect. Losses to Everton, Newcastle, Spurs, Liverpool and West Brom at Old Trafford helped destroy any European ambitions for next season.

Losses to Swansea in the FA Cup, Sunderland in the Carling Cup, and Bayern Munich in the Champions League  compounded the misery for Moyes in a season which actually began with some silverware in the shape of the Community Shield.

 

2. Playing Style

Manchester United under Ferguson could play a defensive game if necessary. Andre Pirlo was critical in his autobiography of Ferguson’s tactic of deploying Park Ji Sung to man-mark him in a big European game. However United were always a threat going forward, they played the game at a high tempo and could catch opponents on the break should they show the temerity of attacking the Red Devils.

Under Moyes, United played an uninspiring brand of football. There was rarely the sense that they could come back if they went behind in a tie. Build up play was too slow, there was too much emphasis placed on crosses into the box.

The final straw for United fans (and perhaps the board) came on Sunday when they travelled to Goodison Park to face Moyes’ old club Everton. His successor Roberto Martinez has the Toffees playing an exciting brand of football that has seen them challenging Arsenal for fourth place.

Never in over a decade of Moyes’ reign at Goodison, not the thirty-odd years beforehand, had Everton done the league double over Manchester United. After winning 1-0 at Old Trafford earlier in the season, Martinez’ men coasted to victory at the weekend. To an outsider, it would have appeared that the home side were the defending league champions. United’s build up play was turgid and unimaginative, and they rarely looked capable of penetrating a well organised Everton defence.

The contrast between the two sides must have been difficult for United supporters to take.

3. Personality and experience

There is no denying how well Moyes did at Everton. He came across as a man in total control, and earned plaudits from all over due to the fighting spirit he instilled in his team. They finished fourth in the league in 2005, a remarkable achievement given the resources at Moyes’ disposal.

That gave them the opportunity to play European football, but a loss to Villareal in the Champions League qualifier was followed by an early UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Dinamo Bucharest. Subsequent UEFA Cup experience between 2007 and 2009 followed, but the two games against Villareal were Moyes’ only experience at the top level of European football.

He didn’t seem able to handle the increased scrutiny that comes with the Old Trafford job. He rarely looked comfortable at press conferences, and horrified United fans when he said that Manchester City were playing at a level United had to aspire to. It may have been the truth, but it wasn’t a wise admission to make publically.

United’s squad is in need of a major overhaul, and without Champions League football as an incentive, prospective players will look at the manager in charge as a key factor in whether they move to Manchester. Ferguson, Mourinho, Guardiola. They all have an aura about them that entices top players. Moyes, for all his qualities, does not.