Soccer Lover’s Book Review
The Soccer Lover’s Book Guide series reviews and rates soccer books that tell the story of the beautiful game. Here is a new book on Manchester United with a behind-the-scenes account of the ten-month reign of David ‘The Chosen One’ Moyes and why he was always doomed to fail.
A Season in the Red: Managing Man Utd in the Shadow of Sir Alex Ferguson
FOUR STAR RATING – GREAT READ
By: Jamie Jackson
First Published in Great Britain in 2015 by Aurum Press Ltd
What does it feel like to follow in the footsteps of Britain’s most successful manager? To have your every decision, move and word scrutinized worldwide? How do you capture the heart and south of Manchester United?
From boot to boardroom, pitch-side to press room, A Season in the Red is the insider’s story of life in the Red seat at the biggest club in the world.
A Season in the Red starts with “You’re getting sacked in the morning” and takes readers through the journey of the disastrous ten-month reign of David ‘The Chosen One’ Moyes to current Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal to look at a way forward for this club.
This book is for every soccer fan – with great insights in to top players on Manchester United to how coaches are infallible – this is an gripping look at life at Old Trafford after Sir Alex Ferguson. Of course every soccer fan wants to know what really happens behind football’s closed doors.
Starting with the arrival of Moyes and his subsequent dismissal, and into the current era of Van Gaal, as he desperately tries to stamp his authority on the club, A Season in the Red is a unique, behind-the-scenes account of what it’s really like to be a top-level manager in the twenty-first century: how to cope with the demands of players, fans and shareholders alike, how to adjust to having your every word, every choice, every move, analysed in the papers, online and debated worldwide on social media. How, above all, to deal with the towering legacy of Sir Alex Ferguson, whose presence is still felt in every corner of the stadium.
Featuring revealing interviews and analysis of the key players and events – from the Glazers and their frontman Ed Woodward‘s vision, the captaincy of club stalwart Wayne Rooney, through to the testing times experienced by new arrivals Radamel Falcao and Luke Shaw – Jackson reveals why Moyes was always doomed to fail and how Van Gaal has reinvigorated United’s chances of winning silverware again.
“The twenty-times champions. The defending title-holders. This was the legacy bequeathed to him by Ferguson, the greatest manager in domestic football history, perhaps anywhere.”
Excerpt “Moyes is back at Everton, the club who gave him the platform to land the greatest gig in British football and become the manager of Manchester United. Except, Goodison Park has become a morgue for Moyes. Moyes’ old crowd are now his enemy. A Grim Reaper, some idiot in fancy dress paid by a company to be there, is no joke. Not anymore. Manchester United are losing the eleventh of 34 league matches under Moyes. And he is losing his job. Very soon. It was not meant to end like this. Not in the tenth month of a six-year contract… Fourteen hours after the defeat, Manchester United announce Moyes has been sacked.”
Jamie Jackson is the Manchester football correspondent for the Guardian and Observer and has been reporting for the papers since 2002.
