Well what a week it has been in the football world; especially at Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson has finally decided to draw a curtain over what has been an illustrious 26 year tenor at Old Trafford, as the 71 year old announced his retirement on Wednesday. Today saw the start of the new era for the Red Devils as David Moyes, currently the manager of Everton, was announced officially as Sir Alex’s successor.

Moyes will obviously have big shoes to fill as he takes over from the most successful British manager in history. He has be given a six-year contract by United, which indicates that he will be given time to find his feet and hopefully produce trophy after trophy such as Sir Alex has done for the past quarter of a century.

David Moyes has had a rather successful managerial career. After guiding Preston North End into the old Division One (now known as the Championship); and a play off final defeat to Bolton Wanderers, Moyes accepted the job at Everton in March 2002.

The scot has done a magnificent job at a club in which funds are difficult to find to compete with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham although he has finished fourth with Everton in 2004, and the taste of Champions League football- all be it was only a Champions League qualifier against Villarreal which they lost.

If David is to replicate the great Sir Alex, then he will have to keep United as the dominant team in the Premier League. It may take some time but I do believe that David Moyes has the managerial ability to take the pressure of a job of this size and thrive under it. The trophies will come, believe you me, but if I were a Man United fan- I wouldn’t expect too much of him in his first couple of seasons- perhaps a league or FA cup here and there but for someone to come in and make an instant impact and win the league is very difficult and rare; especially if they have come from a team like Everton.

For the first time, Moyes will have large funds to use in the transfer window to buy good quality players, and will take over a side who let’s be honest, have dominated the league this season. For a manager to take over a team who have done so well this year, it will be a challenge in itself to replicate the performances that have won them the league comfortably. This is a very similar scenario to that in Germany when Pep Guardiola will take over from Jupp Hynekes as Bayern boss in the summer.

Overall, I believe that Moyes is the right man for United and the six-year contract clearly shows that United believe they have the right man to drive United forward for the foreseeable future.