Sir Alex Ferguson Retires: Does Wayne Rooney Have a Chance Under David Moyes?

Allan Jiang

Jun 8, 2018

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will retire at the end of the season, as reported first by The Telegraph's Mark Ogden, and later confirmed by the official Manchester United press office via Twitter.

Whether it was Pete Molyneux's Ta Ra Fergie banner or Alan Hansen's "you can't win anything with kids" remark, you wouldn't have betted on Ferguson surpassing the legacy of his hero Jock Stein, who oversaw the Celtic dynasty, let alone becoming the greatest manager in football history.

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Who has the unenviable task of succeeding Ferguson?

Both Ogden and Paul Hayward of The Telegraph believe Everton manager David Moyes, who once lost out to Steve McClaren for a role as Ferguson's assistant manager, will manage Manchester United next season.

The Press Association chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler tweeted that senior sources told him Moyes was in pole position for the job, as opposed to José Mourinho.

The Times football correspondent James Ducker wrote: "David Moyes will be named as the new manager of Manchester United in the next 24 hours."

Moyes isn't qualified to lead United—aside from a League Two championship, what has he won?

When Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford in 1986, it was a theatre filled with supporters dreaming of winning the First Division.

A club that hadn't won the league title in 25 years managed to hire Ferguson, who had won 10 titles with Aberdeen including the European Super Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup Final.

Are you telling me the most dominant club in Premier League history will hire Moyes, who doesn't even know the meaning of winning? Madness.

That said, the idea of seeing Moyes coach his former Everton protégé Wayne Rooney is a riveting storyline.

Without Moyes' faith in a then-16-year-old Rooney vs. the all-conquering Arsenal, Clive Tyldesley wouldn't have had the chance to yell out: "remember the name—Wayne Rooney!"

Last October, Moyes told Andy Hunter at The Guardian: "I always say Wayne Rooney helped me as a manager. He got my name out there. I was the manager who was playing Wayne Rooney and for that I'll always be grateful that Wayne was at Everton when I arrived."

Four years earlier, Moyes won a libel case against Rooney because the Manchester United forward's autobiography accused the Everton manager of leaking private conversations to the Liverpool Echo (per BBC Sport).

In 2010, Moyes revealed that his feud with Rooney was over after the striker showed maturity and accountability in apologising. Though, to quote Moyes (via Mark Ogden at The Telegraph): "The court case had been won anyway, so it was over as far as I was concerned."

Deep down in Moyes' heart, he will never forgive Rooney for leaving the Toffees after they narrowly avoided relegation.

The next season, Moyes took an Everton-less Rooney to fourth place which enabled the club to enter the final UEFA Champions League qualifying round—they were dumped out by Villarreal, who reached the semi-finals that season.

It would have been so different if Rooney stayed for a few more seasons.

Since then, Moyes has yet to experience Champions League football.

Rooney averages 0.7 tackles per game, so he isn't a viable candidate in midfield, unless he can play like Xavi every game.

In the deep-lying forward position, there's Shinji Kagawa, who has the potential to be just as good as Rooney.

Rooney abandoned Moyes in 2004 and now he has the opportunity to prematurely end Rooney's career at United.

What goes around, comes around.