Sunderland boss Moyes calls for patient owners

David Moyes knows what it is like to be sacked in under less than a year, and has called on Premier League owners to be more patient as he gets stuck in at Sunderland.

The Scotsman spent 11 years at Everton before joining Manchester United, but he was dismissed after just nine months following an unsuccessful season.

Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger bucks the trend in the Premier League, having spent almost 20 years in North London, but only three other managers have been at their clubs for longer than three years.

Sunderland have had seven full-time managers since 2011 and hope Moyes will stay for the long-haul, but he insists clubs must give coaches time if they are to be successful.

“You know, if you look at the clubs which really had good success, Brian Clough was at Nottingham Forest, I think, for 18 years; Sir Bobby Robson was at Ipswich Town for, I think, 13 years; Sir Alex Ferguson, you look at Arsene Wenger and then myself,” said Moyes, whose side slumped to a 3-0 defeat against Everton on Monday night,” he said.

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

“If you look at the length of period that managers were there, you would say the clubs which have kept their manager for a long period have tended to get a level of success.

“They could be different eras, but because of media, because of a different type of pressure which comes under the owners or different owners I could say as well, it’s not been quite so good.

“I was really fortune that I worked under two great people in Sir Philip Carter and Bill Kenwright (at Everton).

“There were mistakes along the way, of course there were, and there were disappointments along the way, but they always saw the bigger picture and always had an idea where we were going.”