A Tragedy at the Theatre of Dreams, starring David Moyes

And so the axe fell and the crowd cheered for they loved nothing more than a good beheading. They had been waiting for this execution for some time and would have grown restless if they had been denied their head very much longer. Now the deed is done and they are booting David Moyes’s napper up and down the Stretford Road.

We all knew it was coming and Moyes, being an intelligent man, must have known it too. His ten month reign at Manchester United has been perhaps the greatest – and also grimmest – drama since Brian Clough’s ill-fated 44 days in charge of Leeds United. Hello David Peace, you have your subject now.

Paradoxically, one of the few souls to emerge from this Tragedy in the Theatre of Dreams with their dignity intact is Moyes himself. He has clung to his beliefs even as the evidence supporting his faith collapsed around him.