Fans Comment
Glasgow Blue

Falling Short? Get Real.
2 September 2005

David Moyes: ambitious thinking

I accept his view that a lot of his comments are borne out of frustration, but that aside, it is hard to understand how him and many of our fans have selective amnesia when it comes to the position from which our great club has risen from in the last few seasons.

When Moyes took a huge gulp out of the poison chalice a few seasons back, he was entrusted with turning around the fortunes of one of the most under-achieving clubs since Wolves bowed out of the top echelons in the mid-eighties.  Other older and alleged wiser managers had taken on this task and on the whole had failed miserably.  I exclude our FA Cup win in 95 from this assessment, but as I say it is generally accepted that we have been very lucky to remain in the top division prior to his arrival.  Prior to Moyes’s famous ‘Peoples Club’ press conference I had my doubts surrounding his ability to take on such a huge job, but since this point I have felt that he has, and still is attempting to drag this great club to the same way of ambitious thinking as himself.

When Moyes breezed into the club he set himself and his staff a five-year plan in which to bring the club back to a position of stability.  This was also backed up by his plan to change the thought patterns of the fans and club generally, from one of being happy to survive, to one of regular top-half finishes.  I for one would not trust this plan with anyone else at this present time.  Some may say that the view of top-half finish is an unacceptable target for such a big club; well I’m sorry to break the news to some, but that is how far we have fallen since our glory days some 20 years ago.  The same people who complain about the ‘top-half finish’ assessment are also more than likely to be the ones who bleat on about the fact that the club has the audacity to try and bring in more revenue by increasing gate prices and their attempts to introduce more revenue from corporate groups.

Where is this money to come from if we do not have the open, cash-laden pockets of the chairmen of our so called peers (I did laugh at this assessment; it has been some time since we were on the same financial footing as Spurs and Newcastle) such as Daniel Levy and the odious Freddie Shepard.  We have proved over the summer that we cannot compete with these clubs when it comes to going toe to toe for a player's signature or attempting to prise away existing ‘fringe’ players from their ranks.  We still clearly have some way to go before we are seen as a viable alternative to the likes of these teams.  A frustrating statement I know, but one that unfortunately has to be swallowed.

This clearly highlights the level of impatience that is flowing through the Blue ranks at the moment and to a certain extent I feel the same frustrations, especially when you see the fortunate success that our neighbours realised at the end of last season.  I would however, prefer to see the slow patient approach that Moyes is currently adopting rather than the scatter-gun approach that the likes of McCarthy etc are forced to adopt due to their desperation to swell their ranks.

I remember reading an article some weeks ago from one of the ToffeeWeb contributors called ‘Rome was not built in a day’ or was that when my drugs were at their strongest?!?!  The tone of the article was as you would expect from the title.  It highlighted Moyes's ability to unearth gems with a patient approach and it is one that has so far paid dividends and will continue to do so….in my opinion.

Let’s take a look at the so-called ‘targets’ that slipped through our grasp during the summer and also the ones that we did eventually manage to get to put pen to paper.

Scott Parker – Moyes seemed to be very keen and seemed to be happy to meet Chelsea’s valuation, but the player obviously chose to chase the extra ‘dollar’ for one season at least rather than accept a possible run in the Champions League or the consolation of definite entry into the Uefa Cup.  Should Moyes have been less naive to expect a player to significantly drop his wage demands to play in the Champions League?  I, like a lot of Blues, thought that Parker might have, but would we have in our own chosen profession?  Highly unlikely.  Outcome: One that got away... but, when push came to shove, we were unable to meet the pay that Newcastle were willing to offer.  Still to prove that he is over his injury problems, though.

Mikael Forsell – Again, Moyes did appear to be sweet on his ability and was agreeable with Chelsea’s price and the player's demands, but the club's now infamous medical was to put the blocks on that move.  He appears to be on the road to recovery…at the moment — and clearly has ability, but would we have expected the club to gamble £3M plus on a player that failed a clearly defined medical examination?  Outcome: May turn out to be one that got away, but at the moment, still unclear as to whether or not he has managed to resolve his injury nightmare.

Craig Bellamy – Evertonians appear to be split neatly down the middle on Bellamy’s case.  Those who feel that we did well to avoid such a liability, and those who felt that it was a gamble worth taking.  Myself, I feel that comments attributed to Lee Carsley when he said that the existing squad had no place for big egos, were aimed at one player in particular and that was Bellamy.  Moyes attributed last year's turn around in fortunes to the fact that we had a solid mass of team spirit that flowed amongst the ranks of his squad.  The addition of Bellamy to our ranks would have completely wrecked this.  Should Moyes have been less naïve to believe that he could have turned around the mind of this maverick?  Possibly, but it appears that after meeting him, Moyes decided that it was a risk not worth taking.  Outcome: Time will tell, but in my opinion a lucky escape and is currently out with a serious injury, so would that have solved our current goals crisis?

Emre – See Scott Parker.

Milan Baros – I for one would have been happy to have taken him off the hands of our neighbours but it appears that his conscience got the better of him and that he did not want to upset those beloved Kopites.  So it was the only alternative available to him to leave Liverpool and join Villa as he knew that Beneathus clearly rated the (so far) abject Morientes to his overall pace and aggressive running style of play.  Outcome: Could well have done a job for us, but obviously felt that he didn’t want to burn any bridges with his previous fan base.

Edgar Davids — Moyes was clearly at a point of desperation with this one, but obviously needed additions to his midfield and felt (hoped?) that Davids would lose the ‘ego’.  He clearly felt that he could do this as he appeared to be willing to meet his wage demands, but as with Parker and Emre, felt that the grass was greener elsewhere.  Outcome: Temperament is still questionable and it is debatable whether or not this would have had a negative effect on morale within the squad, but still a quality player and Moyes was keen.  The decision in the end was out of our hands and he chose the bright lights of Laaarndern town.

Dirk Kuyt – Little is known about how far Moyes pushed this and it appears that, after confirming the asking price with PSV, they quickly looked elsewhere. Outcome: Wait and see, but he snubbed bigger clubs than us to stay with his current club.

Michael Owen – Let’s keep this brief.  There was no way that he was going to sign for us.  Sure we can ask, but then again I could ask Anjellina Jolie for a shag.  The result would remain the same.  The gauling thing is that he would choose to take a consolation prize such as the Geordies after establishing that Beneathus was not keen on the arranged marriage that messrs Parry and Moores had put together.  Outcome: We would have greeted him into our ranks like a messiah, but for some bizarre reason chose to go and work for a tosser like Souness ahead of Moyes. Answers on a postcard.

In relation to other names such as Nugent, Etuhu, Ryan Taylor, Robbie Keane….the list is endless.  Whether any of the names that were linked with us during this time were true is open for debate.  We may never know.  Moyes obviously had targets that we were either outpriced with, chose not to follow up due to injuries/ego/opinion of themselves (delete where appropriate) or were unfortunate to find that they were unwilling to expose themselves to the wrath of those loveable Kopites.

Moyes has clearly been naïve in certain circumstances and that may be a ‘lesson’ that he files alongside the lessons learnt from the season before last, which he was quick to rectify.  Whether or not he changes his transfer policy is open for debate; should he improve his scouting network?  Probably.  Should he employ a type of Technical Director to at least take a lot of the transfer pressure away from him?  I don’t expect Moyes ever to do this as it would be seen in his eyes to lose control of this part of his role as manager, which he obviously feels is a key one.  But, as with other things, we will wait and see; however I believe that Moyes is big enough to accept when he does need more help and will change things in a breath if it means improvements would be made.

What is clear is that he has bought what appears to be some quality additions during the window who are either at the top of their game such as Krøldrup or, as with other Moyes signings, have something to prove.  Again, we have to look at the selective amnesia of some Everton supporters when it comes to this.  Take yourself back exactly one year and ask yourself if you feel that you are happier with the position that club is in now than the one we were in this time last year?  I remember speaking to my Father last August and discussing the sad fact that we would, in my opinion, be unable to avoid the inevitable any longer and that we would drop out of the top flight for the first time in the best part of 50 years.  I was absolutely devastated that we had lost the one bright hope that we had left to cling onto and I felt that the club was heading for oblivion.

It has been clear that Moyes obviously felt that he needed to draft in a centre-forward, but what is also clear is that he was not willing to throw good money after bad.  All of this would have been so much more clearer if Forsell had not failed his medical, but that’s a fact and something we cannot go back on.  It was clear that Forsell was obviously his main target and the fact that he failed the medical was a huge blow to his plans.  Plan B?  You have to assume that there was one in place, but the players on the list of Plan B did not obviously end up coming to the club. 

As far as Nugent is concerned, did we want to see £5M spent on a player who is clearly one for the future.  It’s all ifs and maybes, but we have to accept that Moyes knows what he is doing.  Are we becoming as bad as the other idiots over the park to have these regular knee-jerk reactions because expectation has now gone through the roof?  I appreciate that frustration is still rife in the Blue ranks, but please, please, start to be a bit more realistic and accept that the Club still appears to be heading in the right direction.  We are still in Europe for God sake!!!!  Yes, competitive European competition and not friendlies!!!

I‘ll be happy to take a run of 1-0 victories similar to last season and during Moyes's first season to get us up a League that is NOT starting too frighteningly competitive.  If you judge this on a club's transfer activity then you are not looking at the bigger picture; ask Newcastle fans.  The Premiership, beside the top three, is as abject as it was this time last year.  Tottenham have huffed and puffed early on, but were found wanting when they met a quality side.  Boro are no further forward.  Newcastle... well let’s see if Souness’s all-star team gel together, he’s failed before and it is likely that he could do it again.  Villa, nah surely not?!?! 

Who else is there then and why should we not expect to finish in the top 10 with the solid look of the squad that we now have available to us?  We have had a patchy start to say the least during these first few games, but I am happy with the quality and depth of squad that is currently at Moyes disposal once the cobwebs are cleared.  I have to read that sentence again and ask myself when was the last time I could say something like that.  The fans as well as the pundits will continue to speculate that we should have brought in someone… anyone, to sit in the final third of the field.  I will be judging Moyes in May and assessing how far along the five-year plan we have progressed as a club at that stage and feel comfortable in the knowledge that we will be in exactly the position that Moyes expects.

In Moyes I most definitely trust.

Glasgow Blue

Responses:

A nice, measured article by way of response there but it seems as though the general thrust of my piece has led to a few generalisations here because we actually agree on a lot of points.  As I said in the article, I'm very pleased with all the new players Moyes has acquired this summer, and am immeasurably more positive about the state of the team than I was a year ago when, as were you, I was fearful that we were destined for the bottom three.

And I don't doubt for a minute that we are heading in the right direction under Davey — how can you argue with our best league finish since the late 1980s? — and I too would take a string of 1-0 wins at this point if it meant we would qualify for the Champions League again.  My concern is that last season's success was largely the result of a five-man midfield system that hasn't really worked since the end of last year and that we are really struggling to score goals with the current personnel and approach.

By signing the right kind of striker — someone in the Owen, Baros or Keane with pace and the ability to create space up front with the kind of movement we're currently lacking — I believe that Moyes would have completed the jigsaw and we would be looking at a very promising season.  As it stands, it is my opinion is that we will struggle to score goals and, therefore, struggle for points.  Of course, if I'm wrong, I'll be quite happy to hold me hands up and admit as such.  I would love nothing more than for Beattie and Bent to start rattling in the goals, and if it's Andy van der Meyde who makes all the difference, then great... as long as we don't lose sight of the fact that to make the step up to the next level, we're going to need a top-class striker to match those aims.

Regarding the players we missed out on this summer, I'm sure there's a story attached to each one.  In previous columns I have praised Moyes for not gambling on Mikael Forssell, for not putting up with Bellamy's crap, and for not bending to Scott Parker's agent's demands for a £1M pay-off (for it is the prevailing wisdom that Parker had accepted our terms and was willing to sign and it was his agent who was the greedy one), but I'm frustrated that Plan B was not initiated more quickly and that we paid for that with elimination from the Champions League.

Evertonians seem to fall into two camps right now: those who are content to wait for Moyes to fulfil his five-year plan and feel that any progress is good enough; and those, like me, who feel that the success of last season and the revenue that came with it offered the chance to lop two years off that grand plan and that we had both the funds and the time were available this summer to rebuild the squad from back to front so that we could compete as something approaching peers of the top three in terms of the quality of our personnel.

We'll have to agree to disagree about the competitive level of the league this season; the starts made by Charlton and Manchester City, the talent in Liverpool's ranks, and the potential of Tottenham, Newcastle and Charlton to mount a sustained challenge on the back of their summer purchases makes me concerned that we face a real battle even for the Uefa Cup spots this year.  But we'll have to wait and see.

Lyndon Lloyd

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