Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/299616
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 APRIL 2014 Sport 22 FOOTBALL MOTORSPORTS 'Fear of the unknown' leads United boss to lose his job JAMES J. PISCOPO AND TIM AT TARD MONTALTO ENGLISH football giants Man- chester United yesterday ended months of speculation and fired David Moyes, who failed to man- age last year's premiership cham- pions for not even one complete season. It was never going to be easy for the former Everton Manager to fill the boots of club legend Alex Ferguson. Despite leading Ever- ton for 11 years and reaching an F.A. cup final, the lack of silver- ware had already raised eyebrows on Moyes' credentials to manage at Old Trafford. Moyes took the job after being recommended to the management by none other than Alex Ferguson himself. In an attempt to alleviate the fans' scepticism, Ferguson had underlined during his retirement speech last May the need for sup- porters to be united behind the new manager and support him through thick and thin. "I'd also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me - your job now is to stand by our new man- ager. That is important," Ferguson had said upon retiring. But a series of uninspiring per- formances coupled with a lacklus- tre campaign saw fans become un- easy week after week, with United currently sitting in seventh place in the league with seventeen wins and eleven losses. Joseph Tedesco, president of the local supporters' club said that Moyes's dismissal was a clear indication that the club's board were not prepared to risk entrust- ing him with more transfer funds for next season. "During Alex Ferguson's tenure, the club had bad seasons but eve- ryone knew that the team would come out fighting the following year," he said. "With Moyes, there was a fear of the unknown. The risk attached with continuing to support him was clearly too big." Tedesco hinted that Moyes had lost the support of his players, with the latter's lack of motiva- tion being clear for all to see. "It showed on the players' faces. In the past, after a defeat the play- ers almost looked afraid to go into the dressing room to face Fergu- son. This season, that fear was not there. Negative performances seemed to become the order of the day." Tedesco was more complimen- tary of the man appointed to re- place Moyes until the end of the season – club legend and player- coach under the Scot – Welshman Ryan Giggs. "Giggs certainly has the respect of the players because of his ca- reer," he said. Describing the decision to ap- point Moyes last summer as a 'mistake', local sports commen- tator George Micallef said that Alex Ferguson should bear some responsibilit y for Moyes' ill-fated spell as Manchester United man- ager. "The decision was clearly a mis- take," he said. "They realised that they simply couldn't afford to stick with the manager." Expressing his doubts as to whether Ferguson will be consult- ed again for Moyes' successor, Mi- callef said that Moyes was simply "not high profile enough " for the Manchester United hot seat. Citing current Holland manager Louis Van Gaal as the favourite to take over the job, Micallef said that Jurgen Klopp would also be an ideal candidate. "Giggs does not have enough ex- perience to take on the role on a permanent basis," he said. "Man- chester United will know that they simply cannot afford to get it wrong now." Maltese TV personalit y and United loyal supporter Angie Laus concurred that Moyes' time was up. "Better now rather than later. You cannot have a team made up of champions and fail to win in that way," she said when contact- ed by MaltaToday. Whilst accepting that Ryan Giggs was not quite managerial material as yet, Laus described him as a 'hero' for United fans. "I would prefer seeing my team lose the last four games of the season under Giggs, than under Moyes' stewardship," she said. "But I think that Giggs knows what he should do in the upcoming weeks," the TV presenter added. Who could be the next Man Utd manager? But with Giggs' lack of manage- rial abilit y, it is almost sure that he would only serve until the end of the season, with the manage- ment already looking for a suit- able replacement that would bring back glory days to the Old Traf- ford side. After Moyes' disastrous choice, the management will likely veer to a managerial certaint y who al- ready established himself in inter- national football. Managers such as Josè Mourinho and Pep Guar- diola have long been linked with the job in the past, but now being in charge of Chelsea and Bayern Munich respectively makes their candidature almost impossible. But emerging star managers such as Borussia Dortmund 's Ju- rgenKlopp and Atletico Madrid 's Diego Simeone may be a bet fa- voured by the United supporters. Both Klopp and Simeone man- aged to achieve excellent results with far less resources than their direct opponents. Klopp clinched two consecutive Bundesligas and a historic champions league final appearance, while Simeone is cur- rently on top of la Liga despite's Real Madrid 's and Barcelona's millions and star players. Former United player and cur- rent manager of PSG Laurent Blanc and Real Madrid 's Carlo Ancelotti also have interesting CVs that would do for the Red Devils. Everton's manager Roberto Martinez may be another possi- ble candidate due to his f lowing football and premier league ex- perience, even though he may not have international experience of the other contenders. The Span- iard, who already replaced Moyes at Everton, would bring tacti- cal f lexibilit y that was lacking in Moyes' approach the past year. In contrast to Martinez, Hol- land 's Louis Van Gaal has all the necessary international experi- ence. In fact, the Dutchman won seven league titles in three coun- tries, together with a Champions League, seven domestic trophies, the UEFA Cup, and two European Super Cups. The only drawback for Van Gaal 's candidature may be his age, where at 62 he may not fulfill the profile of a long-term manager that United supporters are v ying for. Joseph Tedesco Angie Laus George Micallef Buttigieg and Farrugia in Santa Pod ASSOCJAZZJONI Sport Muturi u Karozzi (ASMK) next Sunday 27th April will be organising a Moto Enduro race for all Enduro enthu- siasts at the Xaghra tal-Maghluq quarry limits of Qrendi. Registra- tion opens at 09.00am and racing starts at 10.00am. This event is supported by Pasta Poiatti, Dunlop and Thomas Smith Insurance. The championship points list show that James Zahra on a Yama- ha 250cc is leading with 60 points. Matthew Gauci on a 300cc 2T KTM follows with 47 points. Joseph Sci- cluna on a Honda 125cc 2T is 3rd placed with 29 points while Alex Sant Fornier follows in 4th place riding a 450cc KTM. 5th place goes to Robert Caruana riding a Gas Gas 280cc Trials bike with 25 points. Matthew Salomon riding another 530cc KTM is placed 6th overall with just one point less at 24 points. 2nd to 6th places are well battled for the lead between Enduro expe- rienced riders but the focal point of next Sunday's Enduro race will be on the leaders Zahra and Gauci. ASMK who is affiliated with the International Federation of Motor- cycling FIM and FIM-Europe made it possible for two Maltese riders members of MDRA to obtain their International Licences to compete in the SuperStreet Bike Cup Euro- pean Drag Racing Championship with the first race held in Santa Pod in UK in Easter weekend. ASMK also issued FIM Licences to Motocross and Enduro riders too. Clayton Camilleri and Paul Muscat will be travelling in Sicily to race in FMI Regional Motocross Championship in Sicily while Ed- ward Ciantar is waiting his licence confirmation to join Clayton and Paul for this weekend's MX race to be held in Messina. Over the Easter Weekend Shawn Buttigieg and Luke Farrugia to- gether with their respective teams made it to Santa Pod in UK for their first SSK Cup Championship race held in Santa Pod. Both Shawn and Luke eace Suzuki Hyabusa Drag Super Street 1300cc bikes. Both riders did very well during their racing over the weekend. Itswas a pity that the event was cancelled due to rain as both Maltese riders could have bettered their times. Shawn registered a best time of 7.235 seconds and 195mph on the quarter mile strip while Luke reg- istered his best 7.194 seconds and 199mph. Shawn and Luke were placed in 5th and 6th place re- spectively in the overall list with only a 0.3seconds gap between the winner and 6th place. We are very proud of our two Maltese riders who competed among 16 competi- tors coming from UK, Germany, Hungary, Check Republic, Den- mark and Austria. Next Drag Race will be held again in Santa Pod in 4 weeks time with the participation of the Maltese riders. Other ASMK Mo- tocross and Enduro riders will be competing in the FMI Regional Championships on various tracks in Sicily. Another ASMK small En- duro Team is preparing to partici- pate in the Red Bull Romaniac En- duro race to be held in the Check Republic in May 2014. More details can be obtained from the ASMK Website www.asmk.org.mt Luke Farrugia Shaun Buttigieg David Moyes and Ryan Giggs