For Moyes at United, pre-match ban may have been the chip to break the camel’s back

Rio Ferdinand reveals in his autobiography David Moyes banned his players from eating chips the night before matches, one of the many head-scratching decisions by the Scot during his time in charge at United.

David Moyes was sacked from Manchester United after leading them through a seventh-place finishing season. Carl Court / AFP

Rio Ferdinand has highlighted a series of mistakes which he believes David Moyes made during his dismal Manchester United tenure, starting with the banning of chips the night before matches.

The Queens Park Rangers defender, who endured an unhappy return to Old Trafford on Sunday as his side were thrashed 4-0 by his former employers, has given some insights into what happened during Moyes’ turbulent 10 months in charge.

In his autobiography #2Sides, which is being serialised by The Sun, the 35-year-old centre-back revealed the players were confused by mixed messages from Moyes, frustrated by his mentality and angered by changes in routine, such as the chips being taken away.

He said: “It’s not something to go to the barricades over (the chips). But all the lads were [unhappy]. And guess what happened after Moyes left and Ryan Giggs took over?

“Moyes has been gone about 20 minutes, we’re on the bikes warming up for the first training session and one of the lads says: ‘You know what? We’ve got to get on to Giggsy. We’ve got to get him to get us our … chips back.’”

Ferdinand says he was excited to work with Moyes when he first took over from Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, but decided it was time to walk away from Old Trafford when he was dropped for United’s crunch Champions League clash with Bayern Munich earlier this year.

The former England defender, who has 81 caps, was infuriated by Moyes’ decision to let him know he was not playing in front of the rest of the squad, while they trained in a “public park”, something Ferdinand labelled “amateurish”.

At that point, which he says was his lowest ebb in 12 years at United, he knew it was time to think about moving on.

United lost 3-1 in Munich, but less than two weeks later Moyes was clearing out his desk and saying his goodbyes at Carrington himself. Moyes was dismissed on April 22 after intense speculation following a 2-0 defeat at Everton two days earlier.

Ferdinand believes the Scot was “unlucky” with the way his 10 months at Old Trafford turned out, but ultimately Moyes misunderstood what was required at United.

Ferdinand felt Moyes would have benefited from keeping some of the coaching staff established by Ferguson at the club, highlighting how worrying too much about the opposition created fear in the dressing room.

“Before every game he made a point of showing us videos of how dangerous the other team could be. On the morning of a game we’d spend half an hour on the training ground, drilling to stop them,” he said.

“There was so much attention to the subject it suddenly became a worry – they must be … good at this to have us spend all this time on it.”

He also recalled a video meeting with Nemanja Vidic and Moyes, dissecting the 4-1 defeat to local rivals Manchester City, and how he emerged afterwards with no idea what the Scot was trying to convey.

He added: “You heard a lot of guys complaining: ‘I just don’t know what he wants.’

“He had me doubting everything.”

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