Manchester United has been “a soap opera, a reality television show,” as one NBCSN Premier League Live talking head put it this morning. Therefore, the 4-1 win over Aston Villa, the first victory for United against a top nine team, was exactly what the beleaguered club needed.
Nothing symbolizes the “reality show” of the ’13-’14 season than the David Moyes out movement, best symbolized by the two airplanes rented out by United supporters to protest Manager David Moyes.
Here’s video and photo of the Moyes Out airplane in action. It was flown around kick-off above Old Trafford for about fifteen minutes at the start of the game.
A United fan blog, therepublikofmancunia.com, issued this statement into what the intent of their message is.
The flypast was a statement of protest about the overall trajectory of the club under a manager who has no clear plan, no powers of motivation and who projects a sense that this job is simply too big for him in every utterance, whether in comments regarding the opposition, or in his reported comments today regarding the quality of the playing squad.
We would remind him that this squad are the current Premier League champions.
Having spent almost £70m on two new players, David Moyes has taken the club to seventh position currently, breaking several unwanted records in the process.
David Moyes on the Moyes out airplane: “The money [used for the plane] would have been better served for Darren Fletcher’s charity.”
Wayne Rooney on what the players made of all the distraction of the Moyes out plane and the current tense atmosphere: “to be honest we didn’t make any of it, we know to support the man {and} it starts with the players.”
Here’s video of David Moyes talking about the Moyes out protest:
Later, the second plane, the Paddy Power plane flew over with the banner “Fergie back in 6-1.” It was paid for by a sportsbook obviously looking to increase publicity for its business. Those are the odds about a return of Sir Alex Ferguson to return.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)