Fans Comment
Ged Dwyer

Everton in Crisis
14 October 2005

David Moyes: how much longer?

When Tottenham and Chelsea have turned us over and Everton are isolated at the bottom of The Premiership we will all be panicking and it will be too late and we will be all but down.

If we were mid-table maybe there would be a case for Moyes but we’ve been dumped out of The Champions League and The Uefa Cup at the first hurdles and are bottom of the League with no sign of where the next goal is coming from. And if nothing else we need to rely on the ‘new face factor’ to get the team going again.

Moyes has completely blown the best opportunity Everton are ever likely to have. We had Champions League football beckoning and he just needed to be sensible (God knows what Alex Ferguson said to Moyes when they met for his laughable Champions League advice).

The squad that finished last season should have been kept together (with the exception of Pistone). Two or three signings should have been made to strengthen the obvious positions that needed bolstering. It was obvious in the second half of last season that Arteta wasn’t enough when Gravesen left so Nicky Butt would have been a tremendous addition for the centre of midfield. Michael Ball would have been ideal for left back. And Kevin Phillips or Darren Bent would have been useful signings for upfront (a fit left winger would also have been a nice addition).

They were players who would have come to Everton and would have cost no more than £4M. Including Beattie, Moyes has spent over £20M pounds on players and if anything we are now weaker because he didn’t strengthen the centre of midfield or find a nippy striker to partner Bent or Ferguson. And most of his signings were made too late so they couldn’t settle in properly or were injured. I would have preferred to have kept Steve Watson and Stubbs, two good professionals who were used to our system (instead Moyes let them go for free).

Beattie is a great example of Moyes's foolishness. At the time he was signed he was probably the last type of player the team needed. We already had the Dunc, Campbell and Chadwick so why shell out £6M on Beattie (probably on the strength of one good goal against us the season before). Our record signing and he is a nuisance. This all demonstrates Moyes’s inability of knowing how to team-build. And his tactics are just amateurish. I dread his substitutions as they invariably make the team play even worse.

Please Mr Kenwright swallow your pride, get rid... and bring in Martin O’Neill if only on a temporary contract. We will benefit more by staying in The Premiership than by worrying about Moyes’s extended contract compensation. WAKE UP to the fact that Everton are in crisis and it’s not often that a quality manager is available.

In the meantime we should play McFadden instead of Kilbane on the left (then there is only one luxury/liability instead of two) play Cahill (until we can gamble on Vaughan) up front with Ferguson or Bent (for the home games) and persevere with the 4-5-1 formation away from home.

The Board and Evertonians should also realise that no players are likely to want to come to us in January if Moyes is still here — and don’t be surprised if we suddenly get the ‘no money left’ headlines before then. Moyes has completely blown it and for the record his achievements are: Everton's worst ever season in The Premiership, the worst defeat I’ve ever witnessed, and ensuring that one of the best players we’ve ever had left prematurely.

If he deserved credit for last season it already now counts for nothing. And if he doesn’t leave... what next???

Ged Dwyer

The whole tone of his article fluctuates between the two extremes, his most pessimistic outburst has to be when he says that "we will be all but down" if we lose to Tottenham and Chelsea.  This is a RIDICULOUS, IGNORANT, and above all UNTRUE statement. 

Ged clearly has no stomach for a fight, and will have given up on Everton by the end of October.  God only knows what ridiculous diatribes he came out with during the Walter years!  Ged, your views aren't just pitifully defeatist, they are dangerous; these views actually HELP a team get relegated!  Get a grip!
Ed Bottomley (14/10/05)

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