Real Sociedad Set to Deliver David Moyes from Football Wilderness

• David Moyes took a week before saying yes to Real Sociedad and he knows it is a very sensitive decision.
•  Manchester United sacked David Moyes after 10 months in April 
• The former Everton and Manchester United boss previously built his reputation at Everton 
• Moyes is yet to see a written contract - despite Sociedad announcing his arrival at the Anoeta Stadium
• The 51-year-old was impressed with club president Jokin Aperribay

Real Sociedad welcomes Moyes on its Twitter Page

David Moyes is set for another shot at football management with Real Sociedad set to give the Scottish man an opportunity to cherish. To say David Moyes has taken his time deciding to become the new manager of Real Sociedad would be something of an understatement. But the idea that he has been like a kid standing at the side of a swimming pool, keen to take the plunge but terrified of the potential consequences, would also be rather unfair.

Because this is a bit more serious than the mere shock of freezing water. This is a decision that could tarnish an already damaged reputation, and Moyes needed to be as sure as he possibly could be that taking charge of a Spanish club languishing towards the bottom of La Liga with only limited financial resources was the right move.

He has been desperate to return to football from the moment he was sacked by Manchester United back in April. Desperate, after a torrid 10 months at Old Trafford, to remind us why Sir Alex Ferguson saw him as his ideal replacement in the first place.

Moyes is back!

The success Moyes enjoyed at Everton, and even Preston before that, has too quickly been forgotten and a man who will always favour a training ground ahead of a golf course, a man who is so defined by his work, needs to demonstrate that he remains skilled in the business of building fine football teams.

But the next job always needed to be the right job and it has taken him eight or nine days to say yes to the Spanish club with good reason. Especially when other opportunities could have soon been presenting themselves.

There was talk of Inter Milan. Possibly even openings in the Barclays Premier League. But there was also the distinct possibility, because of the difficulties he endured at United, that he might not get offered such a position anytime soon, and Moyes is enough of a realist to know that.

Jagoba Arrasate, former Real Sociedad manager

Who’s to say a better offer would have come along? Newcastle might have appeared to be a possibility a month ago but look at Alan Pardew now. Ditto Sam Allardyce at West Ham. Would Aston Villa be a better option if Paul Lambert suddenly vacated his office? Not when Randy Lerner is intent on selling the club. Is QPR, were Harry Redknapp to lose his job, bigger than a Spanish club that was playing Champions League football only last season and even finished seventh in the last La Liga campaign?

Throw in the fact that working abroad has long appealed to Moyes and the chance to manage in La Liga, at a time when Spanish football boasts many of the world’s finest players, was hard to ignore.

The week or so Moyes has spent deliberating over the offer was not without its complications, of course.

Jokin Aperribay impresses David Moyes

MOYES' FIRST FIVE FIXTURES 

Saturday November 22 - Deportivo La Coruna (A) (17th in La Liga)

Sunday November 30 - Elche (H) (18th in La Liga)

Thursday December 4 - Real Oviedo (A) (3rd in Segunda B)

Sunday December 7 - Villarreal (A) (8th in La Liga)

Sunday December 14 - Athletic Bilbao (H) (11th in La Liga)

Crucial to any manager is a good number two, and Moyes will be disappointed that Phil Neville has declined the opportunity to join him in Spain. Neville was a fine captain for Moyes at Goodison Park and a valued assistant at Old Trafford, but the former England full-back may have concluded it was not the right time to uproot his family when he has a wife with her own business interests and a son at Manchester City’s academy.

It leaves Moyes searching for a new deputy but that was never going to be enough to stop him taking a job. Especially when he was so impressed with club president Jokin Aperribay.

After the problems he endured with United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, it was important for Moyes to find an employer he felt comfortable with and Aperribay seems to be such a man. As Moyes said in an interview with the Daily Mail back in August, he had a terrific relationship with Bill Kenwright at Everton and he rather hopes this will be the same. Even if he was a little surprised to see Sociedad announce his appointment late last night when certain issues still needed to be resolved.

That said, Moyes was full of enthusiasm and optimism in the briefest of conversations. He very much sees this as a chance to rise back to the top. To take a club struggling towards the bottom of the table and turn them into a team that can punch well above its weight. He’s done it before, after all. But to do it in another country would certainly enhance a reputation that requires attention, and he knows that only too well.