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Why David Moyes will stay at Real Sociedad (for as long as he is allowed)

Why David Moyes will stay at Real Sociedad (for as long as he is allowed)

David Moyes Spanish might not be the best, so to ensure that he knew exactly where he stood, at last weekend’s home match against Atletico Madrid, the Real Sociedad faithful obliged him with chants of ‘Moyes Go Home’ – in English.

For poor Moyes back in fulltime employment since his disastrous sojourn as successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United this is very much a case of déjà vu.

His lack of fluent Spanish might at least preclude him from reading some of the merciless treatment being handed out to him by the local media following this 0-2 defeat.

Mikel Recalde of the local Noticia de Gipuzkoa called Real a “total disaster.”

“A team without a game plan, unprepared physically, seemingly unhinged. His (Moyes) plan has no future,” he adds.

Before the match Roberto Ramajo of Diario AS was saying that this was Moyes last chance and that the time for excuses was over, so not unnaturally after the game he was scathing.

Calling it “a joke in bad taste”, he added “when all said and done Real needs a change; a new key, something. This dynamic cannot continue; to do so would be dangerous.”

A colleague rang me from the Anoeta eager to tell me that David Moyes was in his opinion the worst coach they have ever had.

Judgment on Moyes last season was suspended because everyone knew that he had been brought in to steady the ship. That was then, and this is now and with rumours circulating about an unhappy camp the Real Sociedad vessel once again looks to be listing and taking on water.

One thing’s for sure; if David Moyes does go then he’s going to have to be thrown overboard because he isn’t about to jump ship.

At the press conference after the defeat he announced that he had no plans to join Aston Villa as suggested by some in the UK press and added that the constant changing of managers was as futile as it was unproductive.

So what’s gone wrong then?

Warning bells started to go off when Moyes didn’t get any players in the January window and hardly any in the summer and among the ones he did get – Illaramendi apart – players including Reyes and Jonathas would never have been on top of David Moyes shopping list anyway.

Not because they are bad players per se but simply because they are not the type of player that will give you a typical David Moyes side. What you have now is a manager doing all he can to make the best of a bad job.

And the real question it has got me asking is, are British coaches prepared enough to go abroad or are the foreign coaches better prepared to perform in the Premier League?

If they aren’t, then why do people keep insisting that English coaches should get bigger and better jobs.

It may well be a generalisation but I can’t help but feel that foreign coaches are in fact better prepared to campaign in the Premier League especially if they come from Italy, Germany or Spain, where they have more of an ingrained methodology learnt from all over the world.

In Spain most coaches come from a physical training background. Effectively they are ten years ahead because in that methodology they are able to mix the technical and the tactical with the physical in both the training methods and in the preparation of the teams.

In my heart of hearts I always felt it was going to be difficult for David Moyes to succeed simply because he comes from a culture where, even though he does a lot of work on the ground, his mentality is as a manager looking for players that will help him win rather than the slow but productive ant work of making a team better by giving them versatility through training.

In the Premier League much of the success comes essentially from throwing money at a problem rather than searching for technical and tactical solutions.

The analogy I have used in the past and I make no apology for repeating it, is why bother searching down the back of the sofa for that fiver you might – or might not – have dropped down there when you can simply take a leisurely stroll down to your nearest ATM facility?

Why expend time and effort trying to get the very best of what you have at your disposal when you can get a quick fix with a player from La Liga, Serie A or the Bundesliga?

Unfortunately what that frequently creates in an imbalance in your side with the quality of certain players being ahead of the work being carried out by a particular side.

That was never going to work in Spain for any number of reasons not least because there simply isn’t enough money and also because players feel that coaches have to bring more to the table than just new faces if they want to solve problems.

Moyes is still working on it and it remains to be seen if he is given enough time because there is discontent wherever you look, be it the squad, the fans and probably even from David Moyes himself who probably expected a different kind of squad by now.

And for the time being, the man who did so well when at Everton has the backing of the hirers and firers at the Anoeta. But for how long? Defeat in Valencia against a Levante also desperate for points this Sunday could put a completely different complexion on things. But from now on he has the backing of the man that matters -the president.