The Nick Armitage Column
Columnist: Nick Armitage

When is Enough Enough?
11 October 2005

David Moyes: the end is nigh?

So when will it have all gone on for too long?  When will the point come when Moyes must be sacked?  Will it be one more defeat?  Will it be five more defeats?  Will it be ten more defeats?  If we are bottom at Christmas, will he get his taxi and his P45?  For how much longer will the fans accept the kind of performances they have watched for the last nine months?

Who knows... but there will come a point in time when enough is enough and the cold hard financial reality of relegation stares the club in the face.  If and when that point comes, all emotional attachments to Moyes will be severed.  Relegation will decimate the stake of the club’s shareholders and they simply will not sit by and watch millions of their pounds go down the plughole.

No team gets relegated in October, but if we are there in two months we will be right in the shit.  The club is in freefall, it has been since January, and nobody on the current coaching staff appear to be able to open a parachute.  This is no minor blip.

We’ve been here before under Moyes and that time we stayed up with a game to spare.  For the entire 2003-04 campaign we were atrocious, but right now nobody can deny we are far worse than back then.  For parts of last season, we dared to debate whether there were three teams better than us.  Right now we are shitting ourselves because there aren’t three teams worse than us.

Who can honestly say that they believe that Moyes will turn it around?  What other than blind faith has formed that opinion?  I haven’t seen anything from that team this season so far that gives me any sort of hope whatsoever.  The only half decent performance this season was against a travelling Dinamo Bucharest outfit that had little intention of getting involved in a game of football.

Only Martyn, Yobo, Arteta, Neville and Ferguson can really hold their heads up.  The spine of the team hasn’t been too bad but others are running around like headless chickens, and some aren’t even running.  On current form most would struggle to get on the bench for Tranmere.  Marcus Bent is showing why so many managers have been so willing to get shut of him and Kevin Kilbane is showing why so many Mackems laughed so hard when Moyes paid good money for him.

As for the others, it looks like Hibbert has spent the summer studying at the David Unsworth School of Aerial Bombardment and Weir must head the Opta Stats for Pass Completion, but only if you count passes to the opposition.  Why the all the fuss about Cahill needing a break? — he’s been having one since the season started!

Where, why and how did it all go so wrong?  Whatever the reasons, the buck stops with Moyes; he took the plaudits last season so he must take the flak now.  Irrespective of what he has achieved at Everton, he has made a monumental error in not signing a striker and it looks to me that his reluctance — dithering, stubbornness, inflexibility, call it what you want — has come back to haunt him.

I have no doubt that Moyes is a potentially a very good manager, but he’s got a long way to go to become a top manager.  He’s on his learning curve and let’s be honest, luck doesn’t get you the Manager of the Year.  Maybe he is the right man for Everton but is this the right time for him?  The glaring holes in the armoury of David Moyes can be filled but it will take many years before he can reach the top of his chosen profession.  I still sincerely hope he gets there and I hope he gets there at Everton but the omens aren’t looking good.  If he does go, I for one will be gutted, but I’ll be more gutted watching Everton play Hull City next season... and right now — make no mistake — that is exactly where we are heading.

The problem for Moyes is that after one lucky league win so far this season, time is a commodity that he does not possess and he is rapidly running out of breathing space.  He either starts winning some games... or he’ll be starting somewhere else.

Nick Armitage

Responses

Probably his biggest failing is a missed opportunity to bolster the squad numbers. Last season everyone was prepared to put up with it while the results where coming but then again we where very lucky that we had few significant injuries. This season is different and those injuries are both more serious and long term. His inability to attract sufficient numbers to the squad is negligent and is something that was highly obvious to anyone with even a modicum of interest in EFC. His statement about Per Krøldrup being on the bench at City to make up the numbers was downright embarrassing and should never have been made.

Don’t talk to me about lack of money; he has had money (wherever it came from and however it is to be repaid). I’d prefer our squad players being made up of players who have played 150/200 games from ANY division recently than gambling on foreign crocks who have only played a handful of games for their teams in recent seasons. They would be hungrier, more reliable and a damn site cheaper.

Another major failing was not pursuing a striker more. Everton are not only painfully goal shy but the manager doesn’t seem to have an attacking thought in his head. It’s the ‘original’ Arsene Wenger attitude of ‘oh well we already have a point at the start, let’s defend that ’

Whatever you may think of Craig Bellamy it is interesting to remember that the proposed transfer broke down not because Moyes thought he was a complete tosser as a person or a liability on the pitch but rather it seemed to be down to his Gordon Lee-esque attitude to strikers i.e.; they should be prepared to play as a full back for 80% of the game. (for older supporters replace McKenzie with Rooney)

He doesn’t appear to run any ‘what-if’ scenarios through his head like most managers would do and appears to think everything will work out ok in the end. Or maybe he ran the ‘what if Martyn gets a long term injury’ scenario through his head and didn’t want to contemplate anything else!

We are stuck with this squad until January, but are we stuck with Moyes until then?

Unless he pulls something totally unexpected out of the bag in the next few weeks I would very much doubt it. He simply hasn’t got the personnel in terms of numbers, flexibility (particularly attacking wise, we don’t know when VdM will surface), quality and ability. And that is totally down to him I’m afraid.

Never in 40 years as a supporter have I had such a feeling of inevitability about our plight. (not even under Mike Walker). I shouldn’t be waking up with my stomach churning worrying about the next few games so early in the season, but I am.

BK wouldn’t find it easy sacking Moyes, but he didn’t find it easy sacking WS either, but he had to in the end. In some ways we are no better off than we where after THAT ‘Boro game.

Interesting times ahead.

Peter  Whalley

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