David Moyes has had a torrid time of it this season at Sunderland.
Sunderland manager David Moyes looks dejected
Sunderland’s recent 1-0 defeat to relegation rivals Middlesbrough piled more misery onto David Moyes’ reign and all-but assured their relegation from the Premier League.
They will drop to the Championship this weekend if they fail to beat Bournemouth and Hull City’s and Swansea City’s results go against them.
The Black Cats have not won a game since their 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace in February and have only picked up two points in their previous nine outings.
Moyes, appointed in the summer to push a faltering Sunderland side away from relegation, has lost 22 of his 33 league games so far, winning only five times all season.
With that in mind, could the 54-year-old Scot really be the one to bring Sunderland back to the Premier League?
Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe looks dejected
Moyes has had a debatable career at best since his glory days at Everton, where he has since managed Manchester United, Real Sociedad and now Sunderland.
He lasted only 10 months at Manchester United, the third shortest reign of any United manager, after he failed to secure a top four finish and was dumped out of both domestic cups by Swansea City and Sunderland respectively.
He failed to progress the Manchester United side he inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson as they finished seventh, 15 points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with Moyes being sacked with four games of the season remaining.
In 2014, the former Preston North End boss was appointed manager of La Liga side Real Socieded, following the sacking of Jagoba Arrasate, with the club sitting 15th in the table.
His time at Sociedad suffered a similar fate to his days at United, as a hit-and-miss run of results and increasingly poor form led to his sacking a year later, in November of the following season.
David Moyes left the Spanish club with a win percentage of approximately 28%, his lowest record for all his previous clubs, until he joined Sunderland.
Moyes may have done well at Everton, but he has been unsuccessful at all his clubs since, having never really progressed the side he inherited to greater heights.
Manchester United, in need of a revamp following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, were probably not realistically good enough to be genuine top-four contenders at the time, but Moyes arguably took them backwards.
Sunderland, who have flirted with relegation for years, may not have had the squad good enough to survive relegation this season, but Moyes is also at fault for not being able to motivate and push his players to aim higher and fight for their survival.
If he is unable to put them in with a fighting chance to survive the Premier League, even if he is eventually relegated, he should not be the man to bring them back up.
Sunderland manager David Moyes reacts
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