No sooner had one regime slunk out of the back gates at Manchester United’s Carrington training ground than another was driving in through the front. Before 9am on Wednesday, Paul Scholes was back at his spiritual football home.
The story of Scholes and United this season serves, in many ways, as a window into the uncertain, unhappy world of David Moyes.
Moyes, sacked by United on Tuesday morning, thought he had offered Scholes a role last autumn and briefly the former Old Trafford midfielder worked with Nicky Butt and the Under 19s.
Class of '92: (R-L) Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes are on United's coaching staff
Old times: All coaches along with Gary Neville and David Beckham were in the 1992 FA Youth Cup Final team
Reunion: Four of the six from The Class of '92 will be in the United dugout
Soon, though, the relationship was in pieces, with Scholes heading back home to Oldham under the impression Moyes didn’t want him.
On Wednesday morning, United’s interim manager Ryan Giggs had repaired the damage with a single phone call and his former team-mate was back amongst it at first-team training.
United’s technical area will begin to resemble a screen grab from the Class of ’92 movie when Norwich arrive in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.
Giggs, for his
part, knows that his role as United manager will be a cameo. He will not
be considered for the post at this stage and is aware the incoming
manager — set to be foreign — may not want him either.
Between now and the end of the season, though, he will attempt to turn back time and it is hard to blame him.
Before telling the United squad on Tuesday afternoon that he was bringing in Scholes and indeed Butt, Giggs sat the players down and delivered a simple message.
‘Ryan was very straightforward, as always,’ revealed an informed source. ‘He told the players it was time to go back to playing like Manchester United.
Wide smile: Giggs arriving at Carrington as he plans for United's Premier League game against Norwich
Interim manager: Giggs will take temporary charge at United after the dismissal of David Moyes
Ginger ninja: Scholes has returned to the club after getting the impression that he was not wanted by Moyes
Support act: Giggs and Phil Neville join Moyes in the dugout during a game against West Ham at Upton Park
NOT SO SELF HELP BOOK
David Moyes was mocked by United’s players for reading a self-help book called Good to Great, and it is no wonder when you look at some of the bizarre advice it offers:
● Keep it simple — be a hedgehog, not a fox.
● Achieve BHAGs — big hairy audacious goals.
● Create alignment by results, not hoopla.
● Avoid the Doom Loop.
● 1) Get the right people on the bus. 2) Get the right people in the right seats. 3) Get the wrong people off the bus.
‘He said it was time to get on the front foot, to press and to start dictating games. Like everyone else in the room, he is fed up worrying about the opposition all the time.
‘He wants this team to be ruthless, brave and unforgiving, just as it used to be.’
Giggs — for all his understandable denials — is known to have disagreed with Moyes’s tactics. On more than one occasion, he tried to persuade Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor to change his outlook.
The style the 40-year-old will attempt to impose on Saturday at Old Trafford will owe much more to Ferguson — and indeed his first youth coach Eric Harrison — than it will the man who drove out through Carrington’s rear entrance after his dismissal.
Not so great Scot: Moyes failed to live up expectations, losing 11 league games during his tenure
Back to the future: Giggs has told players they will return to playing 'the Manchester United' way
In the frame: Giggs realises that Louis van Gaal and Carlo Ancelotti are favourites to take the job permanently
Giggs has told central midfielders including Tom Cleverley that they are not to sit alongside holding player Michael Carrick any more but to move into advanced positions and hurt the opposition when United have the ball.
Cleverley, who has struggled more than most this season, is expected to start against Norwich, as is another academy product, Danny Welbeck, and Adnan Januzaj. Not surprisingly, Giggs will jettison Marouane Fellaini and, more controversially, is giving thought to leaving out Juan Mata.
If United start without almost £60m of Moyes signings then it will represent a staggering indictment of the mistakes of the past eight months. Fellaini has been so poor that Moyes himself had started to drop him while Mata’s form has been lamentable since United signed him in January.
Respected figures in the game have been critical of Mata’s inability to influence games going against United since he moved from Chelsea and there is no way Giggs will select players he believes don’t have the courage to receive possession in difficult areas.
Mentor: Giggs will try and implement a style of play learned under his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson
Mutiny? Reports of unrest among seniors players in the United dressing room persist
On Saturday, Old Trafford will witness a highly motivated United team. It could well be that Norwich suffer. United, with nothing of worth left to play for, will attack the game unshackled, motivated by a desire to show they are better off without Moyes.
There remains a key group of senior players who believe Moyes has tried to turn public opinion against them. That is a dubious assertion. Nevertheless, motivated footballers can do remarkable things and it would be no surprise if United finish their miserable season with a flourish that will remind people of their true worth.
The United board — with the Glazers in attendance — will look on with interest. As they continue their efforts to turn the heads of Louis van Gaal and Carlo Ancelotti towards Manchester these coming days, they are aware that a few Giggs victories will start a bandwagon of public opinion in favour of the Welshman’s appointment.
Whatever happens, he will not get the job this time. It could, however, be fun watching him try and that particular commodity has been rather thin on the ground in Stretford this season.
On the attack: Tom Cleverley will be encouraged to take up more forward positions in United's midfield
Collateral damage: New signings Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini could lose their places under Giggs
Make a mark: United fans would love to see Giggs get the job is he impresses in the final four games
IAN LADYMAN: No sooner had one regime slunk out of the back gates at Manchester United's Carrington training ground than another was driving in through the front. Before 9am yesterday, Paul Scholes was back at his spiritual football home.
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