After his disastrous season at Sunderland, it’s possible we may never see David Moyes in the Premier League again.
The 54-year-old Scot was regarded as one of British football’s best coaches four years ago - but his reputation now lies in tatters.
It all started to go wrong for Moyes, a three-time winner of the LMA’s Manager of the Year award, when he accepted the opportunity to become Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor at Manchester United back in the summer of 2013.
He left Everton after 11 years at Goodison Park, signing a six-year contract with the Red Devils on July 1 of that year.
Nine months later and he was unceremoniously sacked after it became mathematically impossible for the English giants to secure qualification for the 2014-15 Champions League.
The shell-shocked Moyes took six months out to recover before accepting a surprise offer to coach the Spanish club Real Sociedad.
Although he recorded arguably the biggest win of his career at the Anoeta - a 1-0 victory over Barcelona in January 2015 - Moyes was sacked after a year following a poor start to the 2015–16 campaign.
Moyes' approach to the Sunderland job was dreadful
Moyes then took another six-month sabbatical before the Sunderland job offer came along.
He accepted the chance to replace Sam Allardyce but from his very first press conference at the Stadium of Light, he had the demeanour of a beaten man.
Sunderland were doomed with the ultra-negative Moyes in charge and quite why they stuck with him until the end of the season remains a mystery.
Ellis Short, Sunderland’s owner, was expected to stick with Moyes beyond this summer, hoping the experienced Scot could lead the club back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
But days after the season had ended, Moyes walked out on the Black Cats. He didn’t ask for a single penny in compensation, though, which was good of him.
Sunderland fans felt mixed emotions when he left
Sunderland fans felt a mixture of emotions when Moyes left the club.
On one hand, they were relieved he was finally gone; on the other, they were annoyed he didn’t walk sooner.
Some were angry he was leaving the club in the lurch after taking them down to the Championship, but surely a change in management was necessary in this instance.
Video: Moyes confronted by angry Sunderland fan
Moyes is still living in the north-east of England, it seems, because a video has emerged of him being confronted by a furious Sunderland fan while sat in his car.
The supporter approached Moyes and told the Scot: “You should have resigned at Christmas, you f***ing a***hole.”
Charming.
Moyes, in fairness to him, handled the situation perfectly.
Rather than hitting back and causing a scene, Moyes just stared and smiled at him.
Watch the footage here…
Although he’s a bit of a laughing stock these days, we still wouldn’t want to make Moyes too angry.
We imagine he can still handle himself!