David Moyes: Manchester United manager sacked by club

 last summer.
Play media http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27107795#

Man Utd let in dreadful goals – Moyes
Player-coach Ryan Giggs is expected to take charge of United's next game at home against Norwich on Saturday.

The BBC understands coaches Steve Round and Jimmy Lumsden have also left their posts.

The club had previously refused to comment on  national newspaper reports  http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/5581298/Manchester-United-to-sack-flop-David-Moyes.html  on Monday that Moyes – who left Everton to sign a six-year deal with the Premier League champions – would be dismissed before the end of the season.

But in a statement on Tuesday the club said it “would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role”.

United, who currently lie seventh in the table with four games remaining, are guaranteed to record their lowest ever points tally in the Premier League having struggled at Old Trafford in particular this season.

Under Moyes, they have lost six league games at home, been beaten in the FA Cup by Swansea  at Old Trafford and were unable to prevent Sunderland knocking them out http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25539736  of the Capital One Cup in the semi-finals. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25740123

In March, some supporters  chartered a plane to fly overhead http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26783751  trailing a banner with the words “Wrong One – Moyes Out” – a reference to the banner at Old Trafford that proclaimed Moyes to be the “Chosen One” – during the Premier League win over Aston Villa.

Man Utd's disappointing season
Defeated in Champions League quarter-final by Bayern Munich

Beaten in League Cup semi-final by Sunderland
Lost at home to Swansea in the third round of the FA Cup

Five points from a possible 24 against the current Premier League top four of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal

Defeat against Everton confirmed club will miss out on Champions League for first time in 18 seasons

The Reds will also miss out on Champions League football for the first time since 1995 and are in danger of missing out on European competition altogether for the first time since 1990.

United did reach the last eight of the Champions League before  being knocked out by Bayern Munich  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26914633 and Moyes argued that their best displays had been in the competition.

But the Scot has been dogged by claims he has fallen out with members of his squad.

When midfielder Anderson joined Fiorentina on loan in January, he was quoted as saying other  United players “wanted out”  http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/279601.html although he later denied it.

Rio Ferdinand    and  Robin van Persie  http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/06/rio-ferdinand-david-moyes-manchester-united also made less than complimentary comments about his management style, while Javier Hernandez and Wilfried Zaha posted cryptic quotes on Twitter. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26348489

At the weekend, Manchester-born striker Danny Welbeck was  reported to be considering his future http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27095993  after becoming frustrated at regularly being played out of his favoured position.

Analysis
Simon StoneBBC Sport
David Moyes' exit was inevitable after Sunday's awful performance at Everton.

A dressing room source labelled the performance as “lacking desire and passion” and “the basic heart of the team has disappeared”. It had seemed for some time the players had stopped trying for Moyes. This confirmed it.

In truth, the Scot has never looked at ease in the job.

He was taken aback by the sheer scale of the media interest in United. He downplayed situations when the club are used to scaling heights and he failed to impress players who own more medals than he can ever hope to amass.

The big problem for United is that having taken Sir Alex Ferguson's word on the appointment, where do they turn now for an alternative?

Moyes left Everton after 11 seasons saying he could not turn down the opportunity to move to Old Trafford and began his job on 1 July.

However, United endured a difficult summer transfer window and failed in reported bids for Barcelona's  Thiago Alcantara  and  Cesc Fabregas. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23310043 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23570801

A  double bid for Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines  was dismissed as “derisory and insulting” by Moyes' old club Everton, although  Fellaini finally joined on transfer deadline day for £27.5m. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23753129 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23938801

Moyes was unhappy United were given a difficult start to the season, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23710359  playing Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in their first five games.

“I find it hard to believe that's the way the balls came out of the bag, that's for sure,” he said.

But his reign began in style with a  2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic  in the Community Shield at Wembley, followed by a  4-1 win away at Swansea City http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23565298  in the first league game of the season. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23644662

However, things quickly got worse with defeats at Liverpool and City, setting the tone for what would become United's worst ever Premier League season.