Nicky Butt feels Man Utd have been too trigger happy (Picture: The Good, The Bad and The Football)
Former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt feels the club made a mistake when they started sacking managers nearly 12 years ago.
Butt played for the Red Devils from 1992-2004, spending his whole United tenure under the management of Alex Ferguson.
The 39-cap England international won six Premier League titles with the club, the Champions League and three FA Cups before leaving for Newcastle.
The Mancunian had returned to his boyhood club to work as a coach by the time Ferguson retired from management in 2013, still the last time the Red Devils won the Premier League title.
The legendary boss was replaced by his compatriot David Moyes, who stepped up to the Old Trafford hotseat from Everton.
Moyes made a bright enough start, winning the Community Shield and his opening Premier League game of the season, but he was dismissed before the end of the season.
Defeat to the Toffees in April saw the Scot fired as Manchester United went on to finish the season in seventh, limply surrendering their title with 12 league defeats in the campaign.
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David Moyes is back in charge of Everton and won at Old Trafford this season (Picture: Getty Images)
Moyes became the first in a string of United bosses to suffer the chop after Ferguson’s epic stint in charge, with Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim all fired from the permanent job since.
Butt feels the Red Devils started that string of sackings too early, believing that Moyes deserved longer to prove himself in the job after replacing the greatest manager in Premier League history.
‘I don’t think he (Moyes) should have got sacked at United,’ Butt said on The Good, The Bad and The Football.
Moyes did land the Community Shield with Man Utd (Picture: Getty Images)
‘No. He didn’t get enough time. He didn’t get enough time.
‘He should have got more time. And also the only mistake I think he made was he didn’t have anyone. Someone should have been there for him, someone like Mike Phelan or someone.’
Moyes spoke out on his dismissal from Old Trafford last year, saying: ‘It’s part of the life of a football manager. There’s very few managers who have things always go in one direction. You have lots of ups and downs. Even the best managers have times when it’s not so good.
‘I had to find a way of fighting back from the disappointment of losing my job at Manchester United and finding ways to get myself back to a good level.’
David Moyes’ Man Utd record
Matches: 51
Won: 27
Drawn: 9
Lost: 15
Speaking in 2019, he suggested his dismissal had not achieved much, telling talkSPORT: ‘I feel that since I took over to where they are just now, I don’t think there’s an awful lot of difference
‘When I took over it was needing a change and needing a turnaround of players, and that was all going to take time.
‘I feel like in the four years or so since I was managing there, it’s probably not moved on much more.
‘It’s quite similar, they’re still saying there needs to be changes and has to be things done.
‘That time since I felt hasn’t been used awfully well.’
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