Earlier this month, I wrote about David Moyes, the embattled coach of the UK soccer team Manchester United.  Moyes had inherited the most successful team in the British Premier League from one of the most successful coaches, Sir Alex Ferguson.  In fact, Sir Alex had handpicked Moyes to succeed him.

Last year, Manchester United won the championship under Sir Alex, but this year Man U is currently 7th, with only 3 weeks left in the season.  Needless to say the pressure was on Moyes by fans, critics, and owners.  Add the fact that Man U is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol MANU – $3 billion market cap), and you can only imagine the pressure Moyes was under.  Notwithstanding that, Moyes didn’t dodge accountability, which was the focus of this month’s earlier post.

Notwithstanding his courage, Moyes could not alter the reality of his performance and how it paled in comparison to his predecessor’s, fair comparison or not.  And so the inevitable happened.

Earlier today, David Moyes was “sacked” as they say in the UK.

Refreshingly, not all fingers have been pointed in Moyes’ direction.  Forbes has written a thoughtful piece on what we can learn from his departure.  And the Wall Street Journal has a timely article about ensuring the new boss is a good fit for the organization.

Blaming and getting rid of Moyes was easy.  Now the hard part of rebuilding Man U, including its succession planning process, begins.

In trading today, the stock price of Manchester United rose 6% on the news of Moyes’ departure.