Manchester United finally lost patience with manager David Moyes
Tuesday after a disastrous first season in charge of the English Premier League champions.
"Manchester United
announces that David Moyes has left the club," said the English Premier
League team in a statement on the club's official Twitter feed.
"The club would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role."
Moyes succeeded Alex
Ferguson last May but has overseen a lackluster campaign, with the club
lying seventh in the table having amassed 57 points from 34 games.
United slipped to an 11th league defeat
this season against the Scot's former club Everton at Goodison Park on
Sunday -- a result that finally ended any mathematical chance of
participating in next season's Champions League.
The three-time winner of
the European club football's biggest prize is now 13 points behind
fourth-placed Arsenal with four games remaining. The last time United
failed to qualify was in 1995 and their chances of even playing in the
Europa League next season are slim.
"The football and the
results have been poor," former Manchester United defender Gary Neville
told Sky Sports News. "The performances have got worse and worse."
Soon after Moyes' departure was confirmed, United appointed current player-coach Ryan Giggs as caretaker manager.
"Ryan Giggs, the club's
most decorated player, will assume responsibility for the first team
until a permanent appointment can be made," said United in a statement.
"The club will make no further comment on this process until it is
concluded."
Moyes, who turns 51 on Friday, signed a six-year-deal with English football's most successful club last May, when the outgoing Ferguson personally endorsed his appointment.
"David is a man of great
integrity with a strong work ethic ... There is no question he has all
the qualities we expect of a manager at this club," Ferguson said of his
compatriot.
Ferguson also implored United fans to stand by Moyes
when he addressed them following his last game in charge at Old
Trafford last season, which ended with his 13th league title in a
trophy-laden 27-year reign.
But United's owners, the
American Glazer family, have clearly had second thoughts following a
persistently stuttering campaign -- which has led to the club falling down football's rich list.
In January it was
reported that United's share price had fallen 16% since Moyes took over,
while Deloitte's annual football money table placed the Old Trafford
team outside of the world's top three richest clubs for the first time
in 17 years.
Moyes opened his account
with a 2-0 win against Wigan in the FA Charity Shield match at Wembley
in August and followed it with a convincing 4-1 win at Swansea in the
opening game of the league season.
But pressure soon
started piling up in September with league defeats against arch rivals
Liverpool, Manchester City and, embarrassingly, West Bromwich Albion at
Old Trafford -- the Midlands' club first win at the "Theater of Dreams"
for 34 years.
United also endured
embarrassing exits from both domestic knockout competitions, losing at
home to Swansea in the third round of the FA Cup and going down on
penalties against another struggling Premier League team -- Sunderland
-- in the League Cup semifinals.
Hopes of Champions
League glory were ended by Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals earlier
this month, with the reigning European champion winning 4-2 on
aggregate.
Netherlands Louis van Gaal has been installed as the favorite to succeed Moyes on a permanent basis by British bookmaker
Current player-coach
Ryan Giggs and his former United team-mate Nicky Butt are reportedly set
to be placed in caretaker charge for Saturday's home game with Norwich
City.
Source:CNN
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