article: The Basque side are marooned near the bottom of La Liga - they are above the relegation zone on goal difference - and a limp performance in Friday's 2-0 defeat against lowly Las Palmas was the final straw. This is how his 364 days in charge went. After three days of speculation, the news was finally confirmed with a brief statement from the Basque club on Monday afternoon. "Real Sociedad would like to thank David Moyes and [his assistant, also departing] Billy McKinlay for the professional conduct, commitment and dedication which they showed during their roles in the running of the first team," the club said. "At the same time, we would like to wish them all the best in their future ventures, both professional and personal." The Scot leaves behind a team marooned near the foot of La Liga, and a limp performance in Friday night's 2-0 defeat against lowly Las Palmas was the final straw. The dismal display, as much as the result, forced club president Jokin Aperribay into holding crisis talks over the weekend. Aperribay did not want to rush into a hasty decision on the back of one bad game, but even after the dust had settled a couple of days later he still felt that a change was necessary. The official announcement was supposed to have been made on Sunday evening, but it was delayed for a few hours because Moyes's flight back to Bilbao from Manchester was cancelled. But once he returned to Spain on Monday and met personally with Aperribay, there was no need to delay the inevitable any longer and the former Everton and Manchester United coach's spell in La Liga was brought to a swift end. After La Real's recent struggles, the trip to Las Palmas was always billed as a significant encounter for Moyes's regime, but the general feeling was that his job was safe unless his team delivered a disastrous display. Unfortunately for the former Everton and Manchester United boss, 'disastrous' is pretty much the right word to describe the way his team performed - or didn't - against a Las Palmas outfit which had previously only won one game all season. The hosts were clearly superior, deserved their goals from Jonathan Viera and Sergio Araujo, and were rarely seriously threatened by Moyes's team. It took no time at all for furious criticism to emerge from La Real fans - along with serious demands for the manager's head. Until Friday night, the majority of Real Sociedad fans were, while frustrated with their team's results and sceptical about Moyes's ability to turn things around, not yet ready to express outright hostility. But that all changed immediately after the loss against Las Palmas. 'Moyes' was a trending topic on Twitter in Spain after the game, with very few of the accompanying comments offering sentiments of support. Indeed, many of them finished with the hashtag #MoyesDimision ('Moyes resign') or #MoyesVeteYa ('Moyes go now'). The media was similarly critical, with a summary of the game in local newspaper Diario Vasco complaining that "when this team
summary: David Moyes has been sacked as Real Sociedad boss.