Ryan Giggs was named as Manchester United’s interim manager yesterday after the club sacked David Moyes just 10 months into the job. File photo: Nick Potts/PA

David Moyes’s troubled reign at Manchester United came to an abrupt end yesterday when the Scot was sacked after a hugely disappointing 10-month spell as manager after replacing Alex Ferguson last July.

Announcing his departure in a terse, two line statement, Manchester United thanked Moyes for “the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role” at Old Trafford.

Veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs, 40, was appointed to take interim charge of the team for the final four games of the season with United mired in seventh place, 23 points behind league leaders Liverpool.

Newspapers had earlier reported that Moyes would be sacked, trumpeting the ‘End of an Error’ after the American owners, the Glazer family, lost patience and decided the manager had to go in the wake of a tame 2-0 defeat at his former club Everton on Sunday.

The defeat at Goodison Park also ensured that United will miss out on Champions League football next season, failing to qualify for Europe’s big money competition for the first time since 1995-96.

Moyes, who turns 51 on Friday, was appointed on the recommendation of fellow-Scot Ferguson, who retired at the end of last season after 26 years in the job.

Bookies favour Van Gaal for the job

Speculation immediately turned to who might take over at Old Trafford, with Dutchman Louis van Gaal quickly installed as the bookmakers’ favourite.

The former Barcelona, Ajax and Bayern Munich boss is coach of the Netherlands but has already said he will stand down after the World Cup in Brazil and has talked of a move to the Premier League.

Ferguson had steered United to the title last season for the 13th time and the club’s 20th overall but the self-belief and confidence that had characterised his years in charge evaporated abruptly under Moyes.

Moyes’s sudden departure evoked memories of the traumatic spell the Old Trafford club suffered between 1969 and 1971 when Matt Busby retired after 24 years as boss.

His hand-picked successor Wilf McGuinness only lasted 18 months before Busby took over the reins again.

Moyes, who was previously in charge of Everton for 11 seasons without winning a trophy, was given a six-year contract by United, but they have lurched from one crisis to another.

A shockingly lame performance in Merseyside on Sunday – which completed their first league double defeat to Everton in 44 years – was the final straw for the Glazers.

The knives had already been out before then, with disgruntled fans paying for a plane trailing a banner over Old Trafford reading ‘Wrong One – Moyes Out’ in a game against Aston Villa in March.

Manchester United won that match 4-1, and most of the fans inside the ground applauded the manager, but the writing was on the wall even if he was reluctant to read it.

Fans of rival sides started to chant ‘David Moyes, we want you to stay’ and stewards stood guard to keep home supporters away from the prominent banner inside Old Trafford declaring the manager to be ‘The Chosen One’.

Until last week, the view was that Moyes would ride out the wreckage of this campaign and be given money to invest for the new season.

That will not happen now, with the owners clearly unwilling to trust the manager with the significant sums required to revamp the ageing side in the close season.

When Ferguson left Old Trafford, he told the fans in a farewell speech “Your job now is to get behind our new manager”.

The search for another has already started.

Moyes record at Man. United