Fans Comment
Ged Dwyer

The Year of Reality Checks
25 December 2005

Jan 05 – Tottenham issue a warning that, even WITH Gravesen, things are not quite right with the Blues and tonk us 5-2.  Gravesen leaves.

Having lost Rooney, Radzinski and Jeffers (three nippy players) the previous summer Moyes, spends £6 million on an unfit, slow and lumbering Beattie who is probably the last type of player the club needed for their push towards Europe we already had the Dunc, Chadwick, and Campbell (who would have been more effective than Beattie, as he proved at West Brom when transferred).

From then on the manager insists on playing Beattie at the expense of Bent who, although not the best finisher in the game, had been a marvellous inspiration to the team with his tremendous work ethic.  Bent's confidence is now slowly sapped away by the manager until he is nothing like the player he was.

Mar 05 – Post Gravesen, the Anfield derby gives us the biggest hint yet that something is wrong when we get away with a hammering.

May 05 – Everton stutter to claim 4th spot in the Premiership and Moyes proclaims that Everton are now the best team in Merseyside.  A couple of days later, Evertonians witness the biggest defeat most of them have ever seen when Arsenal hammer us 7-0. The only good thing to come out of it is the hope that the manager and chairman will have a reality check.

Moyes then struggles all summer to sign any decent players but manages to squander a further £20 million.  Moyes ignored potential good signings, the only signing of merit is Arteta and we would have missed him if another club had shown any interest.  The Manager is at least optimistic and proclaims that Everton can win the League this time round. He also says that the club has moved on when commentating on the derisory contracts offered to Stubbs, Watson and Pistone.  David Weir was also offered a derisory one year contract, accepts and is then made club captain.  Moyes had us all fooled by that one. He later also re-signs Pistone. Moyes had us all fooled by that one too.

Moyes also states that he is going to seek the advice of Alex Ferguson about how to play in the Champions League. Whatever Ferguson said obviously did the trick.

Aug 05 – Badly prepared and with a poor looking team, Everton start the Champions League qualifying game against Villarreal.  They are beaten and drop down to the Uefa Cup.

Sep 05 – Having made a poor start to the League campaign, Everton are in disarray in the Uefa Cup away leg against Bucharest and are stuffed 5-1.  They have been knocked out of both European competitions at the first hurdle and all the hard work put in by the players last season now counts for nothing.

Nov 05 — Crack premiership side West Brom hammer us 4-0!  Moyes declares he won’t accept that kind of performance.

Dec 05 — Bolton hammer us 4-0 at home.  Apparently Moyes has decided to accept that kind of performance.

The deluded fans can’t understand what’s happened.  The sensible ones predicted it. And the depressing reality is that Villa, Sunderland or Millwall are just as likely as Liverpool to hammer us in the up and coming games.  That’s how bad we have become.

Moyes also keeps on unsettling players by playing them out of position: Davies in centre midfield then left midfield; Arteta right midfield; Osman and McFadden were even tried as a striking partnership.

Who will Moyes try to sign in January?  Probably players who don’t want to come to us.  Michael Ball wants to return to Everton.  He is class, is very comfortable at left back (which would make a change), can play at centre back which would be handy (in the absence of Yobo), and can play left midfield, which would be very useful. But he will be ignored.

So too will Jeffers and Radzinski (who would be cheap and give the team that different option up front).  Pity the manager fell out with both of them as he has done with several other players. I would love to see Gravesen return.  I somehow think he won’t but someone else must be signed for the centre of midfield.  But I doubt if anyone will be.

With all the Rooney money now wasted, the club and team are in the worst state that I can ever remember.  So what does the Chairman do?  Sack the manager?  Concentrate on sorting the team out?  No.  He resurrects the ground move.  I remember him staking his reputation on the Kings Dock.  The déjà vu cycle continues!

Here’s to a Moyesless New Year and surely there is a decent manager out there who can see the potential of this great club of ours.

Ged Dwyer

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