David Moyes is not consoled by the surprising turn of events which means he is still not out of the running for the accolade of second best Manchester United manager of the past three decades.
For he is currently sitting and suffering at Sunderland AFC. Even by their recent standards, the first two and a half months of the Premier League season have been eye-wateringly desperate. By any standards, in fact. They have amassed two points from the first ten games.
Nissan are staying in Sunderland but Premier League football may be about to do what it's been threatening for a long time and bugger off altogether. The business secretary is unlikely to move heaven and earth to ensure that they continue to adorn England's top league, regardless of the effect it has on the North-East.
Moysey is finding it tough going. Unusually, he is not trying to present it any other way.
During the dark days at Blackburn, Steve Kean tried to insist everything was going more or less according to plan. Like a man standing on the sinking Titanic, telling people that he expects they'll be docking in New York soon.
But Moyes isn't inclined to present the image of breezily confident 'up and at 'em' merchant. On the contrary, he told the Guardian that his Saturday nights these days consists of "nights in darkened rooms."
It’s damning, I agree. It does make me feel lousy, and I do. I don’t feel good about it but you’ve got to take it.
I probably spend Saturday night, and quite often, in a darkened room somewhere. Sunday gets a wee bit better, but not much, and hopefully by the time Monday morning comes, you are ready to go again.
You’ve got to get it out of the system and you are up and running again. And I’ll do that again on Monday.
Admittedly, as many have pointed out, a majority of people spend their nights in darkened rooms. Save for those who are actively afraid of darkness.
Still, one must presume from this formulation, that Moyes is not describing the process that other people refer to as sleep.
After Manchester United were thrashed 5-1 in Maine Road in 1989, Alex Ferguson came home and went straight to bed. That's preferable to sitting awake in a darkened room.
