Naz Majeed @NazMajeed (Twitter)

It was the 17th of August, 2013, and Manchester United was ready to embark on an exciting new journey with a new manager, for the first time in over a quarter of a century.

David Moyes, hand-picked by Sir Alex Ferguson himself, would lead out the defending Premier League Champions against Swansea City, a side that had struggled to trouble United in recent seasons, even at the zenith of their Brendan Rodgers-inspired brand of possession-based football. 

As both a lifelong fan of United and a new member of staff at beIN SPORTS, covering the game was a surreal experience. I had only just arrived in Doha from Singapore a few days ago, struck by the searing heat of the desert sun and the furnace of having to get acclimatized to a new workspace and office.

I came into this industry because of my love for football, for Manchester United, but that idea had always been synonymous with one Alex Ferguson, and seeing someone else in the dugout was jarring, almost as much as waking up in a strange new place surrounded by unfamiliar faces every day. 

This was not, of course, the first United match under David Moyes. They had won the Community Shield less than a week prior to their trip to Swansea, beating FA Cup holders (and relegated) Wigan Athletic thanks to a Robin van Persie double.

Wilfried Zaha had started the game, after being widely-regarded as United’s best performer in pre-season, where they had only won 2 of their 7 games, including losing to a Thai League All-Star team and drawing with the Japanese club Cerezo Osaka, goals coming from the Japanese playmaker Shinji Kagawa and Zaha himself, at the death.

The side had been most unimpressive, given the nature of the opposition, and fans had begun to grow uneasy over the lack of any signings, with only the Uruguayan right-back Guillermo Varela being added to the squad. Even then, Rafael da Silva was selected ahead of him for the game against Wigan.

Chelsea had begun to poke their noses into the dealings at Old Trafford, with the Stamford Bridge hierarchy making noises towards Wayne Rooney. Sir Alex Ferguson had responded by signing Robin Van Persie, relegating Rooney himself as a supporting artist for the Dutchman, whose goals had fired them to the Premier League in 2013.

United and Moyes would respond by declaring an interest in Cesc Fabregas, though their (rejected) bids for Sami Khedira, Fabio Coentrao, and Leighton Baines did not exactly pique the interest or imagination of the United faithful.

There was also a concerted effort to sign the relatively unknown Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao, a deal which ultimately never came to fruition under the stewardship of David Moyes.

So United would start their 2013/14 Premier League campaign with a team that was largely similar to the one that had won the title a few short months ago. Phil Jones played at right-back, while Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, and Ryan Giggs made up a three-man midfield, Giggs starting his 22nd Premier League season. Danny Welbeck and Antonio Valencia flanked Robin Van Persie in attack, with Rooney and Zaha only making the bench.

It is difficult to ascertain what the expectations for United were in those early days of David Moyes’ tenure, and as a (hopefully informed) fan I had imagined that a successful title defence would be beyond him, as the squad he had at the disposal had been overachieving for some time.

Many would have agreed that Ferguson had worked wonders with a talented but flawed and ageing squad, papering over the cracks in central midfield and relying on the ever-improving David De Gea to bail out a defence that was past its due-date.

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic had been imperious for United for a number of seasons, but with both slowing down, defensive solidity had not been a strength of the side. Patrice Evra, meanwhile, continued to look like a shade of his former self, never the same player after Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid allowed opposition wingers and full-backs the opportunity to do more than just cower in terror at the attacking thrust on United’s flank. Van Persie was still there, all but a guarantee of goals, though many expected Rooney to leave.  

I would enter the season, as fan and broadcaster, thinking that Manchester City and Liverpool would be the front-runners, if Liverpool could hang on to Luis Suarez, though Suarez would start the season suspended after biting Branislav Ivanovic.

I had settled, then, on third-place, assuming it would be a battle between United and Chelsea, who had reappointed Jose Mourinho. Fourth would be disappointing but acceptable, especially considering the trauma of a regime change. If Rooney were to depart, United could reinvest, bolstering their defence with one new centre-back.

I was even more optimistic after United ran out 4-1 winners, Van Persie and Welbeck with two each. United were top of the league, albeit on the opening day. But Moyes’ era of magnificence had begun on a sparkling note, and United would continue being the dominant force in English football.

He lasted until April.

Marouane Fellaini was the only major signing in the summer window for United, the deadly day deal derided and dumbfounding after Moyes appeared to focus all his energies on the midfielder, eventually signing him for a fee reported to be higher than what it had been had United made a move sooner.

The day was also marked by the amazing story of how the potential transfer of Ander Herrera collapsed, with the officials in Bilbao representing United not actually members of the club’s infrastructure. United would lose 3 of the next 5 games after the Swansea victory, be knocked out in the FA Cup at the first hurdle (by Swansea), and be eliminated in the League Cup at the semi-final stage by Sunderland.

They would, however, perform decently in Europe, topping their Champions League group and coming from behind to beat Olympiakos, eventually outclassed by Bayern Munich over two legs, Welbeck missing the chance to put United ahead when one on one against Manuel Neuer.

Eventually finishing seventh after appointing Giggs as caretaker manager, United’s partial season under David Moyes can only be viewed as an unqualified failure, even though the Scotsman was not to blame for all their shortcomings.

The critique levelled at him was that he was not “big enough” for the job, evident by how he would regularly concede the advantage in the build-up in games against rivals, and how his style of play was often reactive rather than anything else (though he would not be the last United manager guilty of the very same).

That David Gill, long-time Chief Executive at Manchester United, also stepped down when Ferguson did make Moyes’ task that much harder, Gill replaced by Ed Woodward who even seven years later has demonstrated a fundamental lack of guile in the inner workings of football, relying instead on his business acumen to push through bumper sponsorship deals rather than transfers. 

It was always going to be an impossible task, stepping into the boots of Sir Alex Ferguson, but few would have imagined the magnitude of the task at hand. It is unfair to brand Moyes inept, but it is probably fair to say he was ill-suited to the job, for various reasons.

Many fans had been afraid, anxious, apprehensive when they saw that it was Moyes who had been picked to replace the legendary Ferguson, and most remained unconvinced after pre-season and the shambolic transfer window.

Nobody expected a trophy-laden haul, and most fans were wily enough to recognize the issues within the squad, and the fact they had not been addressed for one reason or another. It was worrying, but we had faith, if only in the faith shown in Moyes by Ferguson himself.

And so we knew that few managers would have dragged United to the top of the league that season, but for one glorious night, we all thought everything would be okay.