David Moyes picks up his first win of the season for Real Sociedad

Agirretxe's hat-trick set Moyes's charges on their way

David Moyes looks on from the touchline (GETTY IMAGES)

He may have recently found out that he wasn't Sir Alex Ferguson's first choice to be his successor at Manchester United after all, but it hasn't been a totally rubbish week for David Moyes.

The manager picked up his first win of the season last night for Real Sociedad, after beating Granada 3-0. All three of the goals came from Imanol Agirretxe.

Sociedad had lost both of their matches this season prior to last night's game.

Just this week, Ferguson Pep Guardiola was his first choice to succeed him as United manager.

In his new book Leading, Ferguson reveals that he met the former Barcelona coach in September 2012, while the Spaniard was on sabbatical in the United States, with a view to convincing him to fill the forthcoming managerial vacancy at Old Trafford.

“I had dinner with Pep Guardiola in New York in 2012," he writes, "...but couldn’t make him any direct proposal because retirement was not on my agenda at that point.

Ferguson reveals that he asked Guardiola to contact him before accepting any other role. However, four months later, without any prior notice given to Ferguson, Bayern Munich announced that Guardiola would replace their coach Jupp Heynckes at the end of the season and United were forced to look at other candidates.

Jose Mourinho was discounted on the belief he had an agreement to join Chelsea with Carlo Ancelotti, another target, ready to replace the Portuguese coach at Madrid. Jurgen Klopp was believed to be settled and happy at Borussia Dortmund and Louis van Gaal, the current United manager, was engaged with the Netherlands in their World Cup campaign.

Ferguson's eventual successor, David Moyes, therefore appears to have been sixth choice in the list of preferred successors. Upon his appointment, the former Everton boss was hailed as dour Glaswegian moulded in Ferguson's image, an ideal successor, and awarded a six-year contract with the club.