Vive La Revolution

David Moyes: Revolutionising the approach at Everton

David Moyes has been in charge at Everton for just nine games and therefore still has everything to prove, but everything about him continues to confirm that notion that he is the best thing to happen at Goodison for a long time.

His now-legendary observation that Everton is the "People's Club" of Liverpool — a chord so soundly struck among the Blues' long-suffering supporters that the quote now adorns T-Shirts and websites alike — set the tone for what is looking increasingly like a revolution of approach and ideas at Everton.

What would seem, on the face of it, to be fairly obvious concepts (e.g. not just a desire but a commitment to win every match, fitness, organisation, etc) have become the central tenets of Moyes' blueprint for change at Goodison Park, and the impact was felt immediately with three wins in his first four matches in charge.

Perhaps Moyes's most impressive act since the 2001-02 season ended has been the decision to send every first team squad member for individual fitness assessment in Lyon, France. It is illustrative of the move away from the old school approach that has dogged Everton since the domestic game underwent a rapid sea change in the 1990s — Everton as a club have been playing catch-up ever since.

Instead of treating the squad as a whole, Moyes — who is a part of the new breed of football coaches — is choosing to treat each player individually, tailoring a fitness regime to his unique needs. It is so breathtakingly simple a concept that you wonder why it has taken this long for the club to adopt it.

It has made an impression on the players too. “We had every conceivable test," David Unsworth explains. "We had blood tests, fitness tests, they looked at the whole structure of how we play and it was great. It can only benefit every individual who went there and benefit the team as a whole.”

With money for new players clearly in short supply, Moyes is displaying an obvious commitment to increased fitness, unity and an unstinting work ethic among the existing players who displayed plenty of evidence last season that they were better than the league table suggested.

Part of the fitness drive is a month-long pre-season friendly programme that begins in Austria — where the Blues' training camp will be this summer — with matches against two local teams anc continues back in the UK with a tour of Scotland and games against opponents from the lower reaches of the English league. While those fixtures will be good for building fitness, the trip to Anderlecht and the meeting at Goodison with Athletic Bilbao for Unsworth's testimonial will hopefully get the team accustomed to a higher calibre of opposition before the big Premiership kick-off the following week.

While the club's ongoing financial constraints — combined no doubt with the bitter experiences of the recent past — are keeping the supporters' expectations in check, the 2002-2003 season offers genuine hope of progress, the like of which that the Walter Smith regime promised but failed to deliver. Like his predecessor, Moyes is in charge of the nucleus of a good side on which he can build when he identifies and is able to sign players he feels will be good for the club on a long-term basis.

In marked contrast to the somewhat dated methods of Smith and Archie Knox, Moyes's commitment to youth, athleticism, attractive football and providing some value-for-money for the supporters signals a genuine revolution in the whole approach to the game at Everton, a club that is perhaps finally emerging from the shadow of its illustrious past and the ghosts of a depressing 15 years since the last League Championship success.

Lyndon Lloyd

©2002 ToffeeWeb, 3 July 2002