Unless things change fast this is only going to end one way

Last summer, when David Moyes was appointed manager of Manchester United, the talk was of a brave new dawn at the club, with the Scot continuing Alex Ferguson’s success long into the future.

A month ago, the accepted wisdom among football writers ‘in-the-know’ at Old Trafford was that Moyes will be given the summer transfer window to recruit new players and the start of next season to see if he can turn things around at the famed club.

Word this week among the same group is that he could be gone by the end of next week, depending on the outcome of crunch games against Olympiacos tonight and Manchester City next Tuesday that could bring a premature end to United’s season.

So how did it come to this?

How is it that the club held up on a regular basis as the model of managerial patience and long-term thinking are now contemplating jettisoning the man whom Ferguson himself had been carefully grooming for so long to succeed him in what was meant to be a seamless transition from one Scot to another?

Has this season of transition gone downhill so far and so fast that the powers-that-be at Old Trafford are dusting down Plan B and preparing a P45 for the man they appointed barely nine months ago?

It would appear so. Nobody will come out and say it on the record, of course, but the signs are evident that this could be the beginning of the end.

It is never good when your senior professionals are leaking stories from inside the dressing room to the press, but that is what is happening now.

Fanzines that have been proven correct more often than not have reported fall-outs between Moyes and Rio Ferdinand, and more damagingly Ryan Giggs, who is also on the coaching staff.

Clearly the weekend’s 3-0 humiliation at home by Liverpool has intensified the debate that was already raging well beyond the confines of Old Trafford, as to whether Moyes is another Alex Ferguson or the next Frank O’Farrell.

At least O’Farrell lasted 18 months before conceding defeat to the shadow of Matt Busby, who had personally invited the Dubliner to follow in his footsteps.

O’Farrell revealed later that he felt let down by Busby, who started to interfere and criticise. Ferguson has done neither, but as well as the huge shadow cast by the giant Alex Ferguson stand, is the Glaswegian’s presence at games.

Long ago, Ferguson admitted to me that he stood among Torquay’s fans wearing a balaclava and glasses at a night match when he was scouting on Lee Sharpe before signing the young winger.

Even that disguise would not work at Old Trafford, where the TV cameras regularly pick out Fergie’s distinctive features in the directors’ seats.

But Fergie is not the problem. O’Farrell said Busby admitted the team he had inherited was a ‘mess’ and it would take a five-year rebuilding job.

Ferguson bequeathed the Premier League Champions to Moyes, but everyone now agrees it was a squad from which the manager had wrung every last drop.

His additions in the transfer market have not gone well.

Marrouane Fellaini is nothing like the player he was at Everton, and Juan Mata has so far proven Jose Mourinho was right to let him go, albeit for a club record fee.

Will Moyes get time to put it right?

Most likely not if United go out of the Champions League with a whimper tonight, and then crash to their noisy neighbours next week.

The 2-0 defeat in Greece a fortnight ago was a new lowpoint for this team, which has since been eclipsed by losing to Liverpool.

Ferguson’s United would have fancied their chances of coming back to win at Old Trafford against a side not known to travel well, but few have confidence in Moyes’ men going through.

That would leave the league, but with City pushing hard to overtake Chelsea at the top, they will be hot favourites to win at Old Trafford.

If the result is another humiliation it could prove too much for the board.

If he were to go now, what are the options?

A caretaker until the end of the season would be most likely, with Fergie’s former lieutenants Rene Meulensteen and Mike Phelan contenders, as well as Giggs perhaps.

Longer term, who would be next?

Louis Van Gaal has made it known that he is desperate for one final crack in club management after his duties with Holland at the World Cup are over, and he has stated a preference for the Premier League.

Jurgen Klopp is closer to fitting the bill.

The German may just have signed a new contract with Borussia Dortmund, but United could treble his current wages and he would still not be the top earner in England.

His sides play the sort of football United fans yearn to see, especially now, and he has a record of developing young talent — and selling on those players — that must surely appeal to the money-conscious Glazers.

So where do United go from here? Sticking with Moyes could be their best bet, for the time being, if it does not get any worse over the next week.

But that is a big if.