Fans Comment
AR Ismael Mia

Aesop's Fables
15 December 2004

David Moyes: The Gods help them that help themselves

“…The Gods help them that help themselves...”

The legendary words of Greek fabulist Aesop — a slave in 6th century BC, eventually freed by his master to compose many a truism.  Well some 2,604 years later, David Moyes has instilled this saying into the very heart of the Everton renaissance.  What is happening on the field week in week out is truly awe-inspiring, and I will return to this later in this submission.

In the summer I wrote a number of articles for the “Fans Comment” section that the editors kindly published.  The general idea being that Kenw-right was Ken-wrong for the club, that his bungling and fumbling had led the Club to the edge of a cliff and was now just short of flinging itself into the dark depths of the ocean.

I still see no reason to change this opinion.  What is happening now — off the field, in terms of the new Chief Executive Officer, who is yet to prove his worth — and the new financing from the Fortress Sports Fund cartel, which has yet to materialize, is merely the tip of what Mr Kenwright should have done years ago.

The team is riding on the crest of a hard fought, wonderfully uplifting and just deserved wave.  After so long trudging through the muddied waters of mediocrity, the team is finally playing as a unit so convincingly that it would appear that all was well at the Club; that selling Rooney was the best thing to happen; and that Kenwright has made all the right moves, all along, as he had planned it.

No.  The club is still in debt, the new training ground is still way off in the future, and talk of ground sharing deflects from the failed King’s Dock development and the options for securing a new site or redeveloping Goodison.  No, the position in the Premiership is unbelievable — but I want to make it clear that, as was the case in the eighties, the league position is not due to the board, as is also the case with Kenwright today, but it is the players and the manager that have done the winning on the pitch — in fact there is a strong argument that the position of the team is in spite of Kenwright and the total farce of the last close season.

I would like to point to the ludicrous situation of having eleven senior players out of contract at the same time.  Was there anyone monitoring this?  There is the armchair analysis that out-of-contract players are playing for new terms, and this is why the team is out-performing at present.

I don’t see it quite so simply.  I see a group of men that have absolutely nothing to lose but everything to gain, and there is a subtle difference to the two opinions as the latter is tempered with the crushing shame of last season's embarrassing points haul, in our 125th anniversary season, as well as the media mauling surrounding the circus hiring and resigning of a new CEO, the public squabbles in the boardroom, and the sale of Rooney — the supposed jewel in the crown.

Sure, the team is showing Rooney and his “advisors” that he may have made a mistake; however, I am also sure that the team is showing Kenwright and the board a thing or two.  I am sure Kenwright is happy with this, that in proving a point to the owners, and to the fans the team is now playing at a level that we all have expected [and suspected they are capable of] for years.  But I for one credit Moyes and Moyes alone.  The board, and Kenwright in particular, has nothing to be proud about.

ToffeeWeb has made phenomenal efforts in bringing to light the priceless David France Collection.  This is an issue that should have been resolved and delivered way before it ever got to the stage where the material could be lost.  Again, the board is found wanting, even though the team is performing as well as they are.

The team is running smoothly, but yet again the board is not.  A power struggle is clearly occurring, one that began during the close season, one which the opening salvoes were made in public, and just because the team is doing well, does not mean that this struggle has ended, nor indeed eased off.  What I read into the appointment of a “special advisor” in the form of Sir Terry Leahy is another signal that sides are being drawn, that the Fortress Sports Fund on the horizon are being held to supporting Kenwright as the uber-owner is another significant indication that all is not well.

And yet, we are in third place in the Premiership.  As I write we are nine points ahead of the jokers across the road, we beat them up and beat them down in the derby.  Who cares about boardroom issues?  Well that attitude was what led to the decade plus of crap that passed as a football team, the slide from genuine heights to debt and derision.  The team on the field and off it has to get its act together, otherwise there will be no moving ahead, no capitalizing on the miracle working to date, no taking the team on to the next level.

All the talk of additions to the squad depends on boardroom stability, not just league position.  I wanted to talk of names that could be added to the squad, but I do not wish to betray what the present team is achieving; all of them to a man have stood up to be counted, and whoever comes in will have to stand taller to get into contention.

What makes me proud of the present team is how they epitomize Aesop’s truism, that what they are doing is proving a point.  There is no real outstanding player at Everton, there is no Rooney and in terms of technical skills they are lacking, but in technique and passion they are far ahead of the field.

A journalist who was Europe’s football correspondent for Tele Globo of Brazil, has started watching Everton due to my incessant ramblings.  He is derisory to say the least.  The quality of football to him is like watching someone hack away at priceless works of art.  But when I tell him that what we are seeing is more than just art, more than music and flair, but true working industry, that under extreme circumstances individuals working together in an organized and efficient way can outdo those with more money and more ability, that ultimately football is a people’s game, and not just an art form — or some vast marketing exercise.  He agrees, and he continues to watch.

What Everton are doing is humbling.  The media does not know what to think, they keep repeating Alan Hansen “that the fans are ecstatic,” but there is no real analysis as what is happening defies the logic.  However, it has happened before.  Mr Clough did the same with a group of not-so-talented individuals, a team that pushed on towards Euro glory against all the odds, a team from nowhere that went on to change the established order.  The media had no idea how to cope with such bravado in the face of the establishment.

That is what is happening, the establishment is being questioned — and so far has been found wanting.  I am all for the media’s present position, I am glad they have not yet understood the significance of Everton’s revival, nor indeed the system that we are playing.  They can carry on underestimating Everton, and the team can carry on as they are doing — helping themselves, just like Aesop said.

AR  Ismael Mia

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