Fans Comment
Martin  Doherty

Moyesy Deserves Some Loyalty
16/09/05

They say a week in politics is a very long time and in a similar way, the ecstatic joy and pride we felt last season (just four months ago), seems a long lost memory right now, proof that fortunes in football can turn very quickly indeed.

An awful display against Portsmouth and even worse one against Bucharest may have many clamouring for the manager’s head, but I will not be one of them.

Let’s get one thing straight, all football teams go through bad spells. Whether it is Chelsea (they will have one), ManU or my sons team Garswood Rangers. Some spells last longer than others, but what the fans and more importantly the chairman does at this time is probably the most important factor in predetermining the future (and I mean years not months).

We only have to look at the whimsical Freddy Shepherd, at even bigger crisis club Newcastle and Southampton’s Rupert Lowe, to see that a lack of loyalty gets exactly what it deserves and look to ManU and relatively successful Charlton, to see the benefits of managerial stability.

From the minute he uttered his ‘People’s Club’ statement I felt that Moyesy was the right man for this club. There was something almost, dare I say it, Shankleyesque in that statement, that put down our closest rivals without even mentioning their name. From that moment on I have harboured hopes that Moyes would build a dynasty at Everton in the same way that Shankly did at Liverpool.

David Moyes deserves the chance to turn things around. Last season we all saw what he could do with a threadbare squad and don’t forget in managerial terms, he is still very young and still learning the trade. I thought he showed tremendous courage to admit his managerial style had been wrong at the end of 2003/04 and we reaped the benefits of this ‘learned experience’ last season. I am sure in the same way and through this bad spell, he is still learning now.

Anyone who read his interview in World Soccer Magazine will also realise how tremendously hard he has worked for this club throughout the summer and who would have blamed him if he had taken up the invitation to join that ‘other’ Premiership club at the start of last season. I, for one, would hate to see some other club reap the benefit of the experience he has gained at Everton.

I know that it is difficult to be patient in football, and I still feel that in some areas he is getting things wrong. In ‘Never Mind The Quality’ published here a few weeks ago, I called for more width in our play. Width creates space and I feel we need to change our style of play to open up opposition defences. For the likes of Tony Hibbert to stop launching aimless balls at Big Dunc, he has to be given the option to play the ball down the line, to a wide right player. Crosses need to be delivered from areas where forwards are running to meet the ball rather than being content win flick-ons and knockdowns with their back to goal.

Nevertheless, if we go back to just over twelve months ago, we were in a far worse position and the majority of us feared the worst. David Moyes alone, not the chairman, moved us on from that and I am confident that given a change of luck with injuries, he will continue to do so. The rest is down to us to show a bit of patience and faith and get behind the manager and players to turn things round. COME ON YOU BLUES!!!!!!

Martin   Doherty

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