David Moyes on the touchline as Manchester United manager
Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes Manchester United should never have hired David Moyes
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says the decision to appoint David Moyes as Sir Alex Ferguson's successor was a mistake.
Ferguson retired in 2013 after winning a 13th Premier League title, with Moyes leaving Everton to replace him. However, he lasted just 10 months in the role and was axed with United sitting seventh in the league.
And Ratcliffe, who bought a stake in United last year, recently told the Times : "Look, I like David Moyes, and I think he's a really good manager, but to go from Sir Alex Ferguson to Moyes is not where I would have gone.
"Moyes stepped into the shoes of Ferguson, who's won the Premier League 13 times, who won the Champions League twice and then you're handing over to a guy that has never managed big players and had never won anything. He's not necessarily got the personality to stand in front of them all.
[
Sir Jim Ratcliffe names decision Man Utd should NOT have let Sir Alex Ferguson make](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jim-ratcliffe-manchester-united-managers-34868147)
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe names manager Manchester United should never have appointed](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/worst-manchester-united-manager-ratcliffe-34867775)
"And I don't think Real Madrid would have made that choice as coach. If you look at coaches, a club can't always get it right, but they should have found the best chief executive in the world, and the best coach in the world, because Manchester United is the best club in the world. Instead they got both of those decisions wrong. "
Moyes, though, was not United's first choice as Ferguson later revealed that Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Jurgen Klopp and Louis van Gaal were all considered. Guardiola ended up taking over at Bayern Munich that same year, while Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea.
Carlo Ancelotti replaced Mourinho at Real Madrid and Jurgen Klopp remained at Borussia Dortmund until 2015, with the German then joining Liverpool. Louis van Gaal ultimately replaced Moyes after his Netherlands side finished third at the 2014 World Cup.
Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola
Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola were both in the frame to replace Sir Alex Ferguson before Moyes was appointed
"I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club but he didn't and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013," Ferguson wrote in his 2015 autobiography 'Leading'. "Life is such that the best of theories, or the best of intentions, sometimes don't translate into practice. Believe me, the United board wanted nothing more than to select a manager who would be with the club for a long time.
"When we started the process of looking for my replacement, we established that several very desirable candidates were unavailable. It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid.
"We also knew that Jürgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract. Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup."
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