Still Believe in Moyes
Chris Arellano ponders the movement in personnel expected in the next couple of seasons and believes we should allow Moyes time to build his team

8 May 2004

In our next life, Everton will be a rich club, play in Europe every year and will have money to burn like Chelsea does today.

In this life, however, we have to deal with 15th place [Since this article was written, 16th is the best we can now do — Ed] and a board that will give Moyes limited if any money to buy new players. We say "this should never happen again" after a bad season, then forget about it and watch in horror as another bad season unfolds every spring. It's football's version of the movie "Groundhog's Day" where Bill Murray can't escape the same point in time.

As Blues, we have only two choices: We can quit following football in digust at the team's recent fortunes, a choice mental health experts might recommend. Or we can watch Moyes builds his team. Most of us will choose the latter course, kicking and grumbling at the board along the way. So after we board Everton Express again, the question becomes: how will Moyes improve the team?

He was quoted in the Times once as saying: "I know where I want to go, the question is whether you will come with me." That is the kind of in-your-face quote that stirs the ambitions of suffering Blues everywhere.
Moyes was quoted more recently as saying youngsters like McFadden, Rooney, Yobo and Hibbert were the future of the team. To supplement these youngersters, Everton has also offered contracts to Unsworth, Radzinski and Gravesen.
Aside from these players, Everton is poised to clean house. My understanding is the following players are out of contract at season's end: Unsworth, Alan Stubbs, Scott Gemmill, Niclas Alexandersson, Paul Gerrard, Peter Clarke and Steve Simonsen.

Next season, it's Duncan Ferguson, Radz and Kevin Campbell at least. Who else? (Carsley? Nyarko?) In addition, David Weir was quoted on the official site as saying a dozen senior professionals had slightly more than a year on their contract. He admitted this might lead to greater incentive since they will be playing for a new contract.

Moreover, I wonder how long Richard Wright will stay if he does not play 35 games or so next season? He sees himself as an England international and is not likely to sit quietly through a season where Nigel Martyn is the number one choice at goalkeeper.

So, there will be an exodus in May 2005 and more money will be freed up. But who will wear the shirt next season? We have no money for a pricey high-profile player, of course. So it's another year of trying to squeeze out bargains.

The first thing we need to do is hold on to our best players. It is fine to daydream about landing that midfielder or central defender we need, but I say we lock up the youths. Specifically, before I offered Unworth a new deal, I would improve the Yobo and Rooney deals. They are the future. Unsworth cannot play regularly for a 15th-place club and lacks the pace required of a top-flight defender. Maybe he will grow into the role Dave Watson played in his final years, a symbol and hard working example of the team's past. At any rate, we should be wary of overpaying symbols. Indeed, a case may be made that Duncan Ferguson is already such a symbol, although some would argue that "hard working" and Duncan Ferguson do not belong in the same sentence.

Once you move to transfers, what is the Moyes' record? Moyes has previously plucked Kilbane, Martyn, Yobo and McFadden. I think the team he eventually wants will be younger, faster and more determined. We can't afford the big money prospects like O'Shea and Pennant and Cole. We also can't afford any more exotic and expensive mistakes like Nyarko. But we can still seem to attract players who are just below the limelight (McFadden) , are overlooked (Kilbane and Martyn), boyhood Blues (Stubbs) or we simply get there first (Yobo and Rooney). Perhaps Osman will fill the latter category and make a big contribution next year, now that Moyes handed him his shot against Wolves.

On the subject of contracts, I suggest that unless the name is Rooney or Yobo, I would not give out contracts longer than three years in an effort to keep the players hungry and fresh. You call this an interpretion of the "Ferguson-Campbell" 11th Commandment. which reads: "A poor club shall not spend 70,000 pounds a week on old players who score a combined eight goals a season."

I am especially wary of veteran players who want to use the club to revitalize their careers like Barmby, Bilic, Pistone, Xavier Abel or even Jeffers. Barmby, arguably, once was a tribute to this policy before he turned traitor. But what could mercernaries like Bilic, Abel or Pistone ever truly offer EFC long-term? Sure, Steve Watson and Kilbane arguably are in this category but they have more heart than the mentioned mercernaries. (The story about Stuart Pearce giving Pistone a wooden chicken heart at Newcastle was telling, wasn't it?)

We must also not repeat the Smith mistake of buying faded stars like Gazza, Hughes and Ginola. A fighter like Stuart Pearce in his final years might have helped Everton. See David Watson. Nigel Martyn, at 37, is outplaying Wright. A selfish has-been like David Ginola was an obvious mistake in the last days of the Smith era. Gazza as the midfield general we wanted to rely upon and that was a mistake.
I still believe in Moyes. Give him a little money and he could save this rotting ship.

Chris Arellano

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