DAVID MOYES lines up against Mike Phelan this afternoon for the first time since sacking the current Hull City boss during his time at Old Trafford, and Sunderland’s manager admits he would do things differently if he was able to revisit his first few weeks at Manchester United.

One of Moyes’ first acts as Manchester United boss was to remove Phelan from his long-standing role as assistant manager, enabling him to assemble his own coaching team in the Old Trafford dug out.

The move was heavily criticised at the time, with Sir Alex Ferguson subsequently describing it as a misguided attempt by his successor to “prove his manhood”, and Phelan’s departure robbed Moyes of a potential ally who could have been crucial as events began to turn against him during what eventually became an ill-fated 34-game reign.

Phelan insists he bears no grudges, and the pair have met amicably on a number of occasions since. Moyes does not expect his history with the Hull boss to be an issue this afternoon, but accepts his actions back in 2013 were not particularly well thought through.

“Looking back, Mike Phelan, with hindsight, would have been a really strong person to have kept at the club,” said Moyes, whose Sunderland side kick off today’s game five points and two places below Hull in the league table. “But it’s gone now.

“I think it is something I would have looked at differently. But what I did do was bring Ryan Giggs in, he had been there a long time and I made him one of the first-team coaches. I felt I was bringing in a new era of coaching staff there. But as Mick knows, it was nothing personal, I just felt it was the right thing to do.

“It was a really tough decision because I’d known him for a long time, we used to bump into each other at a lot of games and I knew how well thought of he was. But I was taking a job and I had to make a decision.

“I felt I wanted to bring in my own team, who had helped me get to that level at Manchester United. That was it. It wasn’t because of anything he had done. You just have to look at the fact Louis van Gaal brought his own staff and since then Jose Mourinho has brought in his own staff.

“It was as much about loyalty to the people I’d had around me. On the journey, as a player or a coach, you get close to people, and the people I took there, I felt we were close and they had always been really supportive.”

Ferguson has claimed Moyes’ decision to dispense with Phelan’s services was a display of weakness, and meant the incoming manager had to radically change training routines that players had become accustomed to.

In his autobiography, Ferguson claimed Phelan’s departure resulted in Manchester United’s players immediately questioning Moyes’ motives, but the current Sunderland boss felt it was important to make his own imprint, even if he subsequently opted to retain Sam Allardyce’s backroom staff when he took over at the Stadium of Light.

“I’m the sort of person who takes opinions from either side, but I was speaking to someone else I’m close to and they said, before I went (to Manchester United), ‘David take your own team’,” he said. “For everyone who said keep the staff who were there, there were people who said you have to take your own people.

“That’s just part of football. You do see people keeping staff a bit more these days. For example, I’ve come to Sunderland and kept Sam’s staff here, which I feel was the right thing to do.”

After leaving Manchester United, Phelan was a first-team coach at Norwich City before taking over as assistant boss at Hull in February 2015. He stepped into a caretaker manager position when Steve Bruce departed in the summer, and was eventually handed a permanent contract in the middle of last month.

He insists there are no hard feelings as a result of what happened three-and-a-half years ago, and is looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Moyes.

“I have no point to prove,” said the Hull boss. “I had a fantastic career at Manchester United, both as a player and a coach and assistant manager.

“It’s not for me to hold any grudges or anything like that. I was privileged. I certainly enjoyed my 18 years there overall, which is more than most people get. I’m in a fortunate position – I’ve enjoyed my time and now it’s here.”

Moyes is similarly amicable, and insists the focus this afternoon should be trained on what happens on the pitch rather than the identity of the managers in the dug-outs.

“I can understand why people are interested in the fact we are coming up against each other as managers this weekend,” he said. “But really for me, it was a decision I had to make and the one thing I know is that I tried to do it in the right fashion.

“I always try to conduct myself correctly and I think I did do. I’ve been with Mick a few times at dinners and we’ve always got on well.”