David Moyes declared his tenure at Manchester United the greatest regret and failure of his managerial career.
The Glasgow-born manager left Everton to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as head coach in July 2013 after the long-time United boss called time on his legendary career.
The Moyes-Manchester United marriage promised to continue the trophy-laden success at its start as United lifted the Community Shield in a 2-0 victory against Wigan Athletic in Moyes' first competitive match at the helm.
But the honour proved to be an anomaly in a disastrous season for the Scottish manager. Under Moyes, the Red Devils endured their worst-ever start to a Premier League season. With United languishing in seventh place on 57 points from 34 games, 13 points from a Champions League berth, Moyes was sacked in April 2014.
The volatile managerial spell, which also saw United slump to an infamous 2-0 defeat to Olympiakos in the second leg of the last-16 Champions League, is remembered with negligible affection.
And Moyes has now admitted that he still rues his failure to do more while at the helm of one of football's most powerful clubs.
Speaking on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan, Moyes said: “My time at Manchester United was a failure. If I’ve got any regrets in my career, it’s taking one of the biggest jobs in world football and not being able to make it work. When it’s my time to retire, that’ll always be my biggest regret."
He added: “I found it really difficult when I lost the Manchester United job, there were so many stories that came out that were untrue – and I couldn’t stop them. I think the setup I went into that job with, was a setup that was successful at Everton. I was trying not to change Sir Alex Ferguson’s system.
“At the time, the values at Manchester United were brilliant. It was all about supporting the manager, they brought young players through – they were all the correct things – and I went in there thinking that it was going to suit me.
"The owners were saying to me that they’d been given a lot of criticism but that I was to take my time and there was no hurry. When the wheels started coming off, I felt huge pressure. I thought that a lot of the criticism I was receiving was unfair.”
Replacing Ferguson, who claimed an inimitable 38 major trophies across his near thirty-year tenure, would always be a sort of poisoned chalice. Moyes was not helped by the departure of United chief executive David Gill. In the initial aftermath from his sacking, Moyes insisted Ed Woodward, who replaced Gill, thwarted any chance of success by giving him the axe so early.
Even so, criticisms of Moyes' naivety and incompetence in the transfer market and man-management were rife.
The 2013 summer transfer window is memorable for its farcical nature, during which Cesc Fàbregas, Thiago Alcântara, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Leighton Baines, Luka Modric and Ander Herrera all failed to arrive. By September 1, only Marouane Fellaini had walked through United's door.
“In terms of the signings I wanted, we had a terrible window," said Moyes. “I spoke to Cesc and he’d been out of the team at Barcelona, so he agreed that if he wasn’t in the team for their first game of the season then he’d come to United. He was going to be the big signing.
“The other player I wanted was Gareth Bale. United always had great wide players like David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, so I thought he would fit. We made the bigger offer to Tottenham and to the player, we had a helicopter waiting for him, but he had his heart set on Real Madrid.”