Moyes quizzed over claims of bar assault
FORMER Manchester United manager David Moyes is being investigated by police following claims that he assaulted a younger man in a Lancashire wine bar.
It is alleged that Moyes, who was sacked by United last month after just 10 months in charge, became embroiled in an altercation with a 23-year-old at Emporium bar in Clitheroe on Wednesday.
Lancashire Constabulary said yesterday afternoon that nobody had been arrested, and that there were “a number of differing accounts” of the alleged incident.
A police statement said: “Police are investigating a report of an assault at the Emporium wine bar in Clitheroe.
“Officers attended the bar at about 10pm and it was reported that a 23-year-old local man had been assaulted by a 51-year-old man. He did not require hospital treatment.
“Inquiries are ongoing and we are speaking to a number of people to try to establish the circumstances.
“There are a number of differing accounts which we need to work through to try to establish exactly what has happened. No-one has been arrested at this stage.”
The episode comes after a difficult year for Moyes, who was hand-picked by Sir Alex Ferguson to be his successor when the decorated United manager retired from football last summer.
Moyes, 51, was dismissed less than a year into a contract that had been set to run until 2019 after a miserable campaign in which the Premier League champions finished seventh.
United took just five points from a possible 24 from the top four teams, crashed out of the FA Cup in the third round at home to Swansea, lost to Sunderland in the Capital One Cup semi-finals and exited the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
Before that, the Scot enjoyed 11 years at Everton, reaching an FA Cup final and winning the League Managers Association Manager of the Year award three times.
The former central defender started managerial life at Preston, the club where he finished a playing career that also included stints with Celtic, Cambridge United, Bristol City, Shrewsbury Town, Dunfermline Athletic and Hamilton Academical.
Moyes emerged as one of the favourites to take over at former club Celtic after their manager Neil Lennon stepped down yesterday.