Written by Alan Shearer - IT seems like Alex Ferguson will go on for ever at Old Trafford but the moment will come in the next two or three years when even he decides it is time for a rest.
Then the biggest decision the club will ever have to make comes up — just who follows him into the Old Trafford hot seat? There is plenty of talk, understandably, about Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola and undoubtedly they would be leading candidates. But for me I would go half an hour up the road and offer it to David Moyes.
This past weekend he has celebrated an amazing 10 years at Everton. A decade in which he has turned strugglers striving to avoid the relegation trapdoor into a solid top 10 outfit. He has also done it on a net spend of £15million, quite remarkable in this day and age. Yesterday's 1-0 victory over Spurs at Goodison Park will have come as no surprise to anyone — which says it all. He has instilled a work-rate into his team that straddles any gap in individual class, as Manchester City found out when they went there.
United will want a seamless transition to ensure that the success created over Ferguson's incredible reign continues. I genuinely believe Moyes would provide this. A manager who knows the Premier League and knows how to win in it. A tough Scot with a similar background to Ferguson, he is a proper manager of men.
When was the last time you heard about a mutiny, bust-up or disciplinary problems at Goodison? While he has established Everton as a top-10 club he has also had to deal with downturns at times but come through and shown real resilience in the process. Against a backdrop of financial uncertainty at the club he has kept everything together. Similarly to Ferguson after the takeover of the Glazers. It is something special to last a decade at any Premier League club, but also to constantly create the teams he has on a shoestring budget. For me he exudes strength and commands the respect of his players. Listen to him talk and he clearly takes no nonsense.
People will point at his lack of European experience as a mark against him. After all, the Champions League is rightly where it should be at for a club the size of Manchester United. But are we truly to believe that somebody like Moyes does not know his European football and would not be able to turn his hand as ably to that as he has the Premier League?
At the other end of the scale, I believe he would also look to continue bringing young players through and look after the United Academy system, especially given his work on that side with Everton. This is as important to a club like Manchester United as a big signing and I am not convinced a so-called big foreign name would do that. Some might think it a brave move for United to go for Moyes. I think it would just be sensible It would also show that the biggest club in the land is happy to take a tried-and-tested British manager rather than go for the European option.
To often we believe the tactical geniuses in the game have to come from Spain, Italy and Portugal. As Chelsea have just found out and Tottenham before Harry Redknapp, that is not always the case. People claim the likes of Moyes would not be able to play the attractive football demanded by United. Why not? What he has done at Everton is get the best from what he has had and been able to acquire. With better players he would play better football. It's a major decision for United but in Moyes I believe they would make the right one.
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