David Moyes admitted for the first time after being sacked as Manchester United manager that he needed more time at the club. He also revealed that he wanted to sign some big names, including Cesc Fabregas, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
"I was devastated to lose the job because it was something I felt we could make a real success of," Moyes told the DailyMail on Sunday.
"In the end, I don't feel I was given the time to succeed or fail."
The Scot was hand-picked by the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson as his successor to manage one of the most decorated clubs in football. But under Moyes' regime the club suffered a disastrous time and finished seventh in the Premier League. He was sacked at the end of April, lasting just 10 months with the club.
In the end it was difficult for my family, the way we discovered — via the media — that I'd lost my job,' he said.
Moyes, who arrived at Manchester United after a successful 11-year spell at Everton to take charge from Ferguson, who managed the club for the longest period of 26 years, admitted it was the "impossible job" it was also "the right job" for him at the time.
"It was a step into the unknown and, looking back now, it was near enough the impossible job," he added.
"But it was the right job for me. I'd been at Everton for more than 11 years. We'd qualified for the Champions League, got to an FA Cup final, I'd been voted manager of the season three times. I was among the most experienced managers in the Premier League. United had always had British managers."
The 51-year-old confessed that he wanted to sign the biggest names in football during his short spell but he would not blame executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, who was also new to his job after the departure of David Gill, for those failures.
"It's been well documented that we wanted Cesc Fabregas, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo," said Moyes.
"There was talk of Ronaldo when I first arrived. We were close to getting a couple of major names. I'm not getting in a blame game here but things just didn't materialise.
"I had taken over from the most successful manager in history. The chief executive had taken over from one of the most renowned administrators in the game. So it was a new job for two people."
Moyes also recalled thr day he said goodbye to the squad. "On the day I lost my job I spoke to every player at the training ground," he said. "I called the players into the dressing room at 10am and told them how disappointed I was; how surprised I was that it had ended so soon.
However, Moyes, who is currently without a club, insisted he would continue to follow Manchester United, who lost their first game of the new Premier League season under new manager Louis Van Gaal, and the sport as a whole.
"It's going to hurt that I'm not managing Manchester United because that's obviously what I'd have liked to have been doing, but I'll watch the games," he added. "I won't be running away from it. Football is something I've been involved in since I was a boy."
