Season › 2011-12 › News

Why IS David Moyes still at Everton?

'Because his teams don't make the heart sing'

In the Independent, Kevin Garside asks why David Moyes — revered at Goodison, admired by the players, respected by the football community — is still at Everton? Garside concludes that Moyes is missing the boat because he lacks the fantasy factor: his teams don't make the heart sing...

Excerpts:

David Moyes is not an obvious target for criticism; revered at Goodison, admired by the players, respected by the football community. So why is he still at Everton?

Since the season's end, four of the biggest jobs in English football have become vacant. He wasn't considered at Liverpool, Chelsea or Aston Villa, and according to his own testimony, Tottenham haven't bothered him either.

Having won promotion with Preston from the third tier and taken them to fourth in the second, Moyes bagged the Everton job on the "coming man" ticket. Ten years on, while others have swept in behind him, Moyes has stalled, never quite creating a team that made an emotional impression on the neutral.

"Success" has always been relative, conditioned by the constraints faced. Despite a good eye for a player — Tim Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Marouane Fellaini, Steven Pienaar, Nikica Jelavic, astute buys all — his teams have not told us with enough force what he stands for. They don't make the heart sing.

Moyes is associated with maintenance, augmenting Joe Royle's dogs of war when expansive, imaginative football is the requirement to get on. His league record looks impressive on paper; eight top 10 finishes in 11 seasons at Goodison Park with a highest of fourth. But he has won precisely nothing.

Chairmen looking to appoint, like fans, are children at heart. They do not care how hard the job is, they want excitement, thrills, fantasy and at least the hope of winning a pot. Three years ago the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, against a weakened Manchester United, presented Moyes with an ideal opportunity to put his stamp on a showpiece occasion. The Everton support easily outperformed the red half of the stadium, which, a little like Ferguson, could not quite drum up enough interest in the day. Everton did indeed get home x on penalties after 120 minutes of mind-numbing attrition. Moyes saw vindication in the result.

In the final against Chelsea, circumstances could not have been more favourable. Louis Saha gave Everton the lead within seconds. The hour had surely come; a first major trophy since 1995 was there to be claimed. Seize the day... Not a bit of it. The opposite occurred. Everton seized up behind the same defensive tactics that prevailed against United, lumping long balls from deeper and deeper positions. Chelsea couldn't miss in the end.

The big occasion defines and separates. In both semi and final Moyes revealed a defensive reflex that ultimately proved Everton's undoing. Not only did they fail, they failed to inspire in defeat. Harsh as it sounds, that is perhaps why, in this period of management opportunity, Moyes is going nowhere.

Quotes or other material sourced from The Independent

---

---

Reader Comments (238)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads