In terms of results, David Moyes's first six months as manager of Manchester United have not gone as well as he would have hoped upon replacing Sir Alex Ferguson.
They are currently seventh in the Premier League table, having already dropped more points than during the entire last campaign. What's more, a number of club records have been broken along the way.
With that in mind, Sports Mole caught up with former United defender John Curtis, who is now part of Everton's coaching team at their base in Connecticut, to gain his opinion on the season so far for the Red Devils under Moyes's stewardship.
When we spoke back in the summer, you admitted that Man United fans may need to show some patience this season. Did you expect them to need this much patience?
"I said at the start of the season, if they could qualify for the Champions League, they would have done very well. I still think that's the case - it will have been a successful season. Ferguson was everywhere at that club - he ran it. Not just the team, the entire club. The continuity that he had was extreme. The core root of the staff were the same as when I was there and that was 15 to 20 years ago. It was a massive upheaval and a massive job for Moyes. He might have known what he was coming in to, but could he have known in its entirety what he had in front of him? Probably not. It would have been very difficult for him to comprehend how big it was until he was there."
Do you think Moyes would have been shocked by the size of the task then?
"Anybody would have been. When you talk about the biggest clubs in the world, you talk about Man United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid - that's about it in terms of scale and stature. That's how big Man United is. He's no mug, though. He has been at a club like Everton and understands the principles."
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If things do not improve dramatically and United do finish sixth or seventh, do you expect the club to sack him during the summer?
"Can the club afford to be that patient for him? They want to be, just as the board was with Ferguson, but times are different now. The Champions League is the be all and end all from a financial perspective. If they don't make the Champions League this year, it could spark a downward spiral that investors at any club would not want to be in. It's a difficult one. It's down to can they financially afford to be patient? Simple as that. The accountants are the people that would be able to answer that question fully."
On the pitch, a lot of the performances have been lacklustre. How does a team win a league by 11 points and then just a few months later look unlikely to finish within the top four?
"There are multiple reasons. They've had issues with injuries to the likes of Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney, who any team would miss. Look at the recent game against Tottenham Hotspur - he took a risk by dropping Antonio Valencia back to right-back and he was punished for it. It is the sort of thing that Ferguson would do, though. He'd think that we've got 10 minutes to go, we will throw the kitchen sink at them, with the full-backs playing virtually as wingers. We might lose two or 3-0, but we also might nick a point or better. That's the courage that Moyes showed then, but he needs to continue showing it. Fortune favours the brave and hopefully it will ultimately come off for him."
That "courage" you talk of wasn't present in losses to the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United and Everton. Is it fair to say that the Tottenham match, albeit one that ended in defeat, showed that Moyes is perhaps learning what is expected of a United team?
"He will be on a steep learning curve and would probably admit that himself. It's all about having that courage to make those sorts of decisions under big pressure. He will be learning all the time. It's a new squad that he has inherited and he will be learning who his winners are, who his leaders are and what the dressing room is like. He came from a situation slightly similar to Ferguson in that he'd been at a club for such a long time - it was his club. He knew those players inside out, so to take on new players, it's going to take time."
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Of course, many accept that this is not a vintage United squad that he has inherited. Some have said the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Ryan Giggs and others are beyond their best. Does he perhaps need to move these types of players out as soon as possible, despite their experience?
"I spoke to Sir Alex when he was over in the States up at Harvard and he said to me that he'd got out at the right time. He won the league and left on top. If you ask most pundits, they would have been surprised by how comfortably United won the league. The form of Van Persie last year was a massive part of that and obviously he is missing this year. It's not one single thing. You need to look at the other teams around them - Man City, Chelsea and the return of Liverpool and Everton. The league has strengthened around United, whereas they didn't and perhaps have even weakened. The game is constantly changing, Moyes will know that better than anyone. As a club, player or coach - if you don't change with it, you're going to get left behind. That was the brilliance of the likes of Sir Alex, or Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard, who managed to stay at the top for so long. It's because they managed to adapt and that is what United need to do now to maintain their position as the most successful club in English football."
In terms of incomings, will Moyes be finding it hard to attract the players that Ferguson could? For example, would Robin van Persie have joined in 2012 had Moyes been in charge and not Ferguson?
"There is maybe a little bit too much emphasis on that because of the involvement of agents - it tends to concern the financial package that a club can put together more than anything. However, from a football point of view, [Moyes being manager and not Ferguson] could play a part, certainly."
Also, what harm could not being in the Champions League do to the transfer policy? Aside from Luis Suarez, Liverpool have struggled for a while to sign the big names with the absence of top European football
"Liverpool have had a bit of a transition, but they now seem to be coming out of the other side. United should be in a much stronger position next year than they are this year, but is that dependent upon Champions League football? Probably. Again, it comes down to money and if they can afford to be without it or not."
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As you mentioned earlier, Ferguson had complete control over the club. Now, though, the Glazer family are finding themselves in a potential position where they have to make decisions that they haven't had to make before. How big a problem could that be?
"They will have difficult decisions to make, just like normal football clubs do. At United, it's been very unusual really. You can look at Liverpool in the 1980s and United in 1990s and 2000s, they've been at the pinnacle, which is a highly unusual place for a football club to be in. At a club like Bolton Wanderers, they've been promoted and relegated a few times, the swings in revenue must be hard to deal with for the chairman and chief executive, whereas at United you would have expected it to be pretty steady. The key is can they budget on that money from the Champions League not being there? They didn't need to under Ferguson, but they must consider it now. Ultimately United is a business and a big one."
Last night's defeat to Sunderland has meant that they have a bit of work to do in the second leg, but how important could winning the League Cup be for Moyes and the team this season?
"Physiologically and motivationally it could be huge, but I doubt that it would elevate much pressure on him. Once again, it's all about the finances because that is the determining factor. With the greatest respect to the League Cup and FA Cup, they don't generate the revenue that the Champions League does. That is where the pressure on Moyes will come from, but winning the League Cup should give the dressing room a lift."
On reflection, with six months now gone, was Moyes the right man to take United forward?
"If you can be patient with him, absolutely. There are lots of strong British managers out there, who if you would give the time, I'm sure could be successful. Had they have gone down the route that many suggested with someone like Jose Mourinho or a Guus Hiddink - managers that only stick around for two or three years - that probably wouldn't have been the right route for Man United. They are not Chelsea, someone that always seems to be changing managers. It has an enormous amount of history. In England, I consider Arsenal the most similar to United. They have a superb tradition - both clubs do things properly and they have a class and longevity about them. It's a way of doing things that maybe Chelsea and Man City don't do. That stands United apart from most other clubs and from that respect his appointment was consistent with that ethos."
