Real Sociedad confirm Moyes as new manager

LA LIGA football club, Real Sociedad, have confirmed this morning that they have hired David Moyes as their new manager.

There are a lot of challenges for Moyes to face at Real Sociedad, one of them is the language barrier as the Scotsman has little knowledge of Spanish and the team have little knowledge of English. However, language aside, it could be said that there are a lot of similarities between Real Sociedad and his previous club before Manchester United, Everton.

They both have a good reputation for developing young local talent who have managed to build fruitful careers for themselves over the years, despite the team being overshadowed by their local rivals Athletic Bilbao. Although it is coincidental that like Everton and Liverpool, Merseyside rivals, Real Sociedad play in blue and Athletic Bilbao play in red.

They also are perceived to be a well-run club with a lot of potential in their players, but a lack of funds that prohibits them from rising above the mid-table spots.

Real Sociedad are known to sell their most promising players to the more affluent teams like Real Madrid, which is another challenge that Moyes will have to face.

Moyes has previously managed Premier League clubs Everton and Manchester United.

He had an impressive run with Everton as he managed to get them a fourth place finish and a Champions League position in 2005, as well as an FA Cup final in 2009 after replacing previous manager Walter Smith.

The same couldn’t be said for his career at Manchester United after replacing the retired Sir Alex Ferguson. He settled for poor results each game as they lost their first Champions League place since 1995-1996 and their first finish outside of the top three in Premier League history.

As well as this he also managed a loss to Bayern Munich in a Champions League quarter final, a loss in the third round of the FA Cup against welsh side Swansea, and was beaten by north- eastern side Sunderland in the League Cup semi-final, making his only achievement with the club an FA Community Shield which they won over Championship side Wigan.

Manchester United announced they had sacked Moyes in April 2014 and he was replaced by club legend Ryan Giggs as a temporary solution, then permanently by Louis Van Gaal, who managed the Netherlands national team in the 2014 World Cup.

Moyes will replace previous manager Jagoba Arrasate, who was sacked last week following a 1-0 defeat against Malaga FC.