"Manchester United fan passionate letter to David Moyes". If you have time to read it, give it a read Reds, it is quite a long letter! I agree with most (not all) of the points he raises in the letter,having said that I don't think David Moyes will have read it. (But I could be wrong)



Dear Mr. Moyes,

I am a concerned and passionate Manchester United F.C. fan.

I appreciate that taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson could be regarded as the hardest job in football and for this alone you deserve the utmost respect and praise for taking it on.

I am also in the contingent (and majority) of fans that agree that you are the right man for the job and that in time you will achieve great success in the role and whilst matching Sir Alex Ferguson's achievements is probably unrealistic or maybe impossible for any one man; I believe you will lead Manchester United F.C. to great success domestically and on the European front.

I also believe that (along with the majority of fans) we will accept two or even possibly three seasons of 'mediocrity' by recent Manchester United standards, in order for you to come to terms with the magnitude of the job and also instil your own style, bring in your own players and start to build your own legacy. However having one, two or even three seasons of 'mediocrity' will only be acceptable and tolerated by the fans if certain objectives are achieved:

1) Even if we are not winning major trophies we have to still be competing for the major trophies and most importantly qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. Finishing in the top 4 of the Premier League must be the bare minimum requirement for any Manchester United manager.

2) We must be still competing for and buying top level footballers when they become available.

3) There must be a clear and distinct development of a young and quality team coming through, with the hope of achieving greatness.

If these three points are not being met then I do not see any respite for yourself and unfortunately I only see a gradual decline of the club. Similar to what happened after the departure of Sir Matt Busby and the end of the Liverpool era of dominance in the late 1980's.

I imagine similar goals and timescales were discussed and set out when you originally met with the board and with Sir Alex Ferguson with a view to taking over. It can only be logical with your six year contract that the club are willing to allow you time to build for the future.

What has happened so far this season, nobody could have honestly predicted. The competitiveness of the Premier League is unprecedented at present. No doubt yourself, the board, myself and the majority of fans envisaged a slow season, maybe a good cup run, quarter finals of the Champions League and a rebuilding process for your first season. In the past 21 years of the Premier League, we could have taken time to bed in a new manager, coaches, style of play and players and still be in the top three or four places. But currently we are in serious danger of not qualifying for the Champions League. Which will be devastating for the fans, yourself, coaching staff and players. It could well lead to the club losing stars like Wayne Rooney and also affect our chances of signing world class players to help alleviate the situation. Thus entering a negative spiral that could be difficult to break. But most importantly it will most likely cause significant complications with the club's debt repayment structure and sponsorship deals, and therefore the money available for signing players.

With this likely scenario on the horizon for Manchester United F.C. I implore you to use this January transfer window to drastically improve the playing staff in order to:

1) Rejuvenate the current players, new arrivals will provide a welcome distraction to the players and fans and bring a rise in confidence (a much needed rise in confidence). Look at the impact that Mesut Ozil has had on Arsenal (why we didn't enter the race for Ozil is beyond me, but the past is the past).

2) Provide added quality and impetous to kick on in the second half of the season in order to break back into the top four and also see about securing a final and howl full triumph in the League Cup and progress in the Champions League.

I also think that it is very important to stop playing down the significance of our dire position. The fans and media are fully aware of how bad this is, but in your press conferences and press releases you seem to always say it's a bad 'start' to the season. This is no longer a bad start to the season, we are over half way and now the harder half of the season awaits. This is not a bad start but a bad season with few redeeming features. You should also stop blaming yourself for the team's performances. Blame the players who time and time again have let you down this season.

The team and squad are in need of improvement and are no longer at the same level of quality of Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and (although it pains me to say it) Liverpool too. You have to be honest and ask how many of our players would play week in week out for those clubs? We would take more from their squads than they would from ours that is for sure.

However I do have to highlight and praise the good work you have done since arriving.

1) Being brave enough to bring your own background staff in, this will no doubt pay dividends in time.

2) Installing Manchester United men in the coaching staff where appropriate (Phillip Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes to add to Nicky Butt). Having these faces around the club cannot be understated for the fans and I imagine younger players too.

3) The emergence of Adnan Januzaj, he looks the real deal and you have a proven track record with young players and I speak for most fans when I say that you are treating him perfectly with regards to breaking him into the team.

4) Getting Wayne Rooney back onside, from what most fans thought was an impossible situation in the summer, he is now back to his best of a couple of seasons ago. But contract talks have to be essential now, surely.

5) Progress into the semi finals of the League Cup.

6) A very good start to the Champions League campaign, including beating the second placed team in the Bundesliga 9-2 on aggregate.

But this now leads me to my final and most important point, namely that you are in a position of power at Manchester United, you have a long contract and are at a club with certain board members who would be incredibly reluctant to dispose of you early (namely Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton), so you can force the hand of the Glazers and board more with regards to the transfers in. Everyone knows that the club needs drastic improvements and quickly, if we are to have any hope of rescuing this season and making the Champions League and perhaps winning a cup competition. So it will do no harm for you to publicly come out and say something to the effect of "We will be ok once the board sanction the deals for 2-3 world class players that they should have provided me in the summer). It was only a couple of weeks ago when Jose Mourinho (who must be in a far more precarious position than you. With Abromovich in charge and with him unlikely to match, never mind surpass, his achievements last time at Chelsea) said that "Chelsea are 2 world class players away from being phenomenal". If that is not forcing the hand of the owners to spend by basically saying that he will struggle to reach their goals unless they spend big, I don't know what is.

I know that January is not as good as the summer for purchases, however for every Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll there is a Luis Saurez, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Nikita Jelavic and Papiss Cisse who have all gone on to make impacts at their new clubs; whether in the short term or long term; the value of changing things around during a period of uncertainty and self-pity cannot be underestimated.

Whilst I accept that some of the bed players may not be available in January I have compiled a list of players who would immediately improve our current squad and at least a couple of these must be available. To save Manchester United's season a gamble on some of these players has to be worth it. The players are in the positions that we are in desperate need of covering namely left back, midfielder enforcer, creative central midfielder and to a lesser extent winger.

Maco Reus
Arturo Vidal
Ross Barkley
Yohan Cabaye
Adam Lallana
Blaise Matuidi
Joao Moutinho
Ravel Morrison
Moussa Dembele
Ilky Gundugon
Koke
Juan Mata
Paul Pogba
Michael Essien
Everton Riberio
Ryan Gauld
Thomas Ince
Xabi Alonso
Leighton Baines
Fabio Coentrao
Luke Shaw

I hope you take the time to read this (I appreciate you are a very busy man) and I hope that whatever course of action you decide to take this January transfer window that our season improves and we make the top 4. If we do then I fully expect Manchester United to be back on top next season.

Kind regards

Martin Royle

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