English Premier League club Manchester United confirmed Tuesday that manager David Moyes has been fired and replaced by United player Ryan Giggs for the remainder of the 2013-14 season.Moyes inherited a championship-winning club when he was hired just 10 months ago and has taken the squad down to seventh place in the standings in the 20-team league. It’s believed that 62-year-old Dutch international manager Louis van Gaal will eventually be signed as the team’s new full-time manager.
The firing came exactly one year to the day that United won their record-extending 20th championship in the top tier of English soccer. Moyes was let go after meeting with club officials at their training centre on the morning of the 22nd.
Moyes took over from former manager Sir Alex Ferguson after he retired at the end of last season. United inexplicably signed the former Everton manager to a six-year contract reportedly on recommendation of fellow Scotsman Ferguson even though Jose Mourinho was interested in the job.
United, can no longer qualify for the European Champions League next season and may not even make it to the Europa League. They finished the season with 89 points last year and currently have 57 this term.
The club released a short official statement on their website which said, “Manchester United has announced that David Moyes has left the club. The club would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role.”
Van Gaal has said he will be leaving as the manager of Holland at the end of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil this summer, but United has denied holding discussions with him over the job vacancy.
The 40-year-old Giggs, who joined United as a youngster in 1987, is expected to stay with the team in a coaching capacity once he retires from playing. The Welshman retired from international soccer several years ago, but is still on the United roster.
Man United has lost 11 of their 34 league games this season and with just four games remaining in the campaign will finish with their lowest ever point total in Premier League history and their lowest in 25 years. They will finish below third place for the first time since 1990 and have lost 10 of 22 contests in all competitions in 2014.
The 50-year-old Moyes was in charge of the club for a total of 51 games and he used 51 different starting lineups in those contests. Moyes won 27 of his games in charge while losing 15 and drawing the other nine.
United were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage by Bayern Munich of Germany. They were eliminated by Sunderland in the semifinal of the League Cup and Swansea knocked them out of the FA Cup in the third round at Old Trafford.
Moyes spent his share of money while on the job as he bought Belgian international Marouane Fellaini from Everton for 27.5 million pounds paid a team-record 37.1 million pounds to Chelsea for Spanish international Juan Mata.
