Power-Hungry Moyes Could Prove A Disaster For Manchester United

“To me he seemed overbearing, just wanting to control people… i‘d have gone almost anywhere to get away from David Moyes.”

That was what Wayne Rooney said about David Moyes in his autobiography “My Story So Far” in 2006.

I have been very vocal about my concerns over Manchester United hiring David Moyes as their successor to Sir Alex Ferguson. He doesn’t win — he doesn’t have the pedigree or the attitude to do that — and he has never managed a squad full of players who have the egos players like Rio Ferdinand, Nani and Patrice Evra have. But now I’m even more concerned about his ability to man manage, because it appears that David Moyes holds grudges.

That’s a problem.

Wayne Rooney has reportedly been unhappy at Old Trafford for months, and looks to be trying to force a move from the Theatre of Dreams. However, David Moyes made it publically known this week that Wayne Rooney is needed by Manchester United.

Except for Moyes, Rooney is needed in a bench role.

Really? You can’t find anywhere for a player of Rooney’s caliber to play every week?
I wonder why? Could it be that Rooney walked out on Everton to join Manchester United, winning Premier League titles, FA Cups, Champions League titles and Club World Cup titles? Probably – we know that the relationship between Moyes and the (then) 18-year-old Rooney had been stretched – and now that relationship is re-surfacing once again.

Publically stating that Wayne Rooney is now, effectively, a bench player is not going to put confidence into Rooney that his relationship with Moyes can stabilize itself. Rooney is England’s best striker and should be playing week-in-week-out for a top club. If Sir Alex Ferguson had said the same thing, it might have been acceptable; Fergie earned the right to make decisions like this. Moyes, however, has not.

United missed out on their target Thiago Alcantara and if Rooney leaves they must rely on Anderson or the lightweight Shinji Kagawa. Neither player is as versatile or, in my opinion, as talented as Rooney. Moyes’ predicament reminds me of how Andre Vilas-Boas miss-managed himself into at Chelsea. He decided Nicolas Anelka and Alex were surplus to requirements and made them train with the reserve team; he wouldn’t even let them park their cars with the first team.

Vilas-Boas subsequently lost the dressing room and his job.

If Manchester United loses a player of Rooney’s caliber and doesn’t bring in another one I fear Moyes may lose the dressing room too. If Rooney is correct and Moyes is “overbearing,” and that he’s “just wanting to control people,” that is a very scary thought. Sir Alex Ferguson was a lot of things, but an overbearing, power-hungry, control freak was not one of them. By unsettling Rooney, it feels like Moyes is trying to draw the line under the “Fergie” era and his own – but that isn’t what Manchester United is all about.

Manchester United doesnn’t care about eras, it cares about Manchester United. For me, that’s where the similarities between Manchester United and Moyes end. Ferguson had the attitude that nobody was bigger than the club, while all Moyes seems to be interested in is throwing his weight around to make sure people acknowledge him as a worthy successor.

Rooney may just be the beginning of the exodus at Manchester United with Moyes at the helm.