VIEW FROM THE STREET
Hopes and Fears
Andy Johnson: Pace from the Ace?
In fairness, there were some encouraging signs over the course of the matches, but I don’t really have any clear idea how I expect the season to pan out. Moyes’s reign has had so many highs and lows… it is hard to know what to expect next. The fact of the matter is we can all speculate, argue and either spread or dismiss rumours but none of us really knows for sure.
In my view, it is partly down to the tight nature of the Premiership for the majority of teams. Three wins is the difference between a good season and a poor season. Added to this we have had a relatively inexperienced manager who inherited a huge mess, turbulence off the pitch, and serious financial problems. Whatever your views on the manager’s abilities, he has overseen good and bad seasons. How much credit and blame for each should be attributed directly to Moyes is where the conjecture begins.
Everyone has their own views on Moyes, Wyness and Kenwright but they are all still here, and in fairness there are some signs of stability over the past 12 months, and perhaps even progress, although there is little tangible to show for it as yet. Certainly Everton TV is a positive step in the right direction. It’s managed to wrench £3.99 off me so far that I had no plans to give to the club, so it can’t be all bad.
As for new training facilities, a new stadium or investment, well that’s all still to arrive, but we are re-assured that progress is being made. Maybe it is and we just have to be patient or maybe we are being lied to and the Board of Directors are buying themselves time, but all we have in the meantime is speculation. Being open-minded, and short of inside information, I can give credence to both possibilities. Others seem to have long since made their minds up.
Nearly two years ago, we sold Wayne Rooney, and still we have very few hard facts as to what really happened. Having flicked through the offending chapters of his pamphlet in Asda, all that comes across is an impetuous, slightly arrogant and easily manipulated young man. He even seems chuffed that, after much pursuit, life-long friend Colleen finally agreed to go out with him in the week before his goal against Arsenal. As Mrs Merton once asked Debbie McGhee….
He does make one salient point, though. Where would Everton be now without his transfer fee? Who knows, but it is no secret that Everton were not exactly financially solvent at the time. Whether that was a fact manipulated by Paul Stretford, Bill Kenwright, Trevor Birch or Colleen’s personal shopper we may never know, or maybe it was simply a player-manager clash. Incidentally, Rooney does admit in the book that his behaviour may have been out of line and that, with hindsight, Moyes may well have had his best interests at heart after all. Well, at least his ghost writer does.
Like it or not, Everton Football Club are a business and must make decisions as such. Since Rooney left, Moyes has been able to spend without having to sell first. Draw your own conclusions. The upshot is that, for the first time since Moyes arrived, he has a stable squad and strength in depth in most areas. He has also had significant money to spend for the first time.
In all honesty, if the club did have to sell Rooney to survive, what could have honestly been achieved by saying so? Sometimes in business you have to ride the storm out and use your PR department to keep up appearances in the meantime. Apparently even governments do it. Morality aside, it’s a fact of life that PR is all-important these days and it happens at almost every club, if not all.
I have no doubt that at certain times in the last ten years the club has sold players to appease the banks. If the club was to always tell us the truth in such circumstances, it would also tell the world and the vultures seem to be permanently circling as it is without giving them more ammunition. If the club massages facts to put the club in a good light, it is not necessarily with the aim of hoodwinking the fans. We are not the club’s only audience. Would Andy Johnson and Joseph Yobo, for example, have signed for a club dogged by rumours of impending bankruptcy?
Unpalatable, maybe, but that’s the reality. In the event, we can’t say for sure what really happened, but it’s the club that matters and we are almost certainly better off now than we were then. You may well blame Kenwright for our financial woes, but he inherited many of them and has admittedly found it difficult to arrest the slide. Debt has a habit of growing if the trend is not reversed, and doing so is not an easy task. Whether by luck or good judgement we at last seem to be vaguely on the right track. If we are spending money we haven’t got yet, time will tell whether that is a recipe for disaster or a well calculated risk.
Last summer, we had a very small squad and were unexpectedly in the Champions League qualifiers. We now have Andy van der Meyde on the wage bill. Personally, I am willing to give Moyes the benefit of the doubt that it all came too soon and he was forced to take risks that went against his better judgement to bolster a thin squad. This summer he has operated in a market he knows, on his own terms and, for all the tales of his over-bearing manner, not to mention rumours of the club’s unscrupulous tactics of selling their best players once season tickets have been sold, the likes of Mikel Arteta, Joseph Yobo and Tim Cahill don’t seem in any rush to get away, not even to Newcastle.
Whether all of this is by accident or design, who knows for sure. What it does mean is that there can be no excuses for a poor season this time round. The question is, what would constitute a good season? During Moyes’s time, little has changed elsewhere. Chelsea, Man. Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, plus Spurs and Newcastle possess significantly more financial muscle than us. Of the rest, we are probably this summer’s biggest spenders so far, but not by a huge amount.
Most Blues are reasonably happy with this summer’s events, but of course everything is relative. I think we are making steady progress but, if we are to become a major player once again, we could still do with a leg-up. Events at Aston Villa, perhaps the club most similar to ourselves, have raised one or two eyebrows. Installing Martin O’Neill as manager — a man whose legend, like Syd Barrett and Lee Mavers, seemed to grow with every week of inactivity — and their seemingly imminent major investment does give cause for concern. If they suddenly have financial muscle and a highly regarded manager, the obvious reaction is “Why not us?”
The acid test, of course, is what happens on the pitch. Many Blues have been encouraged by performances pre-season, particularly against Club América where we played some genuinely good football. Whether we will get that much time and space in the Premiership is another matter, and the fact is we still failed to score in open play.
My view is that David Moyes does like his teams to play good football. Liking it and achieving are not the same thing. The likes of Arteta, Osman and Davies are certainly not cloggers, but the problem is quite simply lack of muscle. Taking Arteta as an example, when playing centrally he often receives the ball in deep areas where his effectiveness is limited as we are reduced to trying to pick our way through a crowded midfield without either the power to burst through or the pace to stretch the play.
Johnson’s pace should help, but is not the be-all and end-all. In general, we seem to start each half of most games trying to play through midfield, but sometimes struggle to create chances and then end up over-run, naturally resorting to long balls as a result. Perhaps we will be able to use Johnson’s pace as an outlet and get midfielders in to support, like we did with Radzinksi, but ideally we will see the midfield being more dominant and controlled than before and setting up chances for the strikers.
To my mind, the midfield we have now should be good enough to out-play the weaker teams comfortably, although I am not sure if it can compete against the stronger sides. I’m not convinced that any frailties in our midfield are due to lack of coaching or poor tactics, but simply down to that lack of power and pace. Equally, I’m not convinced that Moyes has always bought the players he wanted, but more often than not has had to compromise. For all the stick Neville gets, and to my mind he has been a decent signing for his versatility if nothing else, it is worth remembering that he was far from being Moyes’s first choice for Everton’s midfield.
David Moyes has tried to buy a powerful, dominant midfielder several times, with Essien, Parker and Sissoko the obvious examples. This summer we have had to prioritise other areas, but I still believe this department will be a priority in future. In the meantime, we do seem in better shape than this time last year. The squad seems settled and happy, Johnson looks the part even if the goals haven’t flowed yet, and even James Vaughan is back in training.
The emergence of Victor Anichebe has been the highlight, but it would be ridiculous to rely on him. He should be involved this season, but mainly from the bench for three reasons. Firstly, to apply pressure on the main strikers — don’t know why, but James Beattie springs to mind — and keep them on their toes. Secondly, because he is capable of making an impact from the bench, something a lot of players can’t do. Thirdly, and most importantly, because although he looks the part he is still a kid and his long-term future is more important than immediate impact.
Many are citing a top-six finish, and that is certainly a reasonable aim. Hitting the ground running seems to be the motto, and of course 3 points are all but in the bag on opening day… But it doesn’t always work like that. Watford will be no mugs, but anything less than a win would result in an Internet Enquiry. If we are struggling after 10 games, fair enough, but it’s important to be realistic and not make rash judgements.
The first few games could be sticky for us, or they could see optimism go though the roof. Even if we do have a slow start, Moyes has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to learn lessons and recover. However we start, there is no doubt that this is a crucial season for him. To me, a top 10 finish is a minimum requirement, while top 6 would be a decent achievement. Anything in between would represent acceptable progress, nothing more. Personally, I reckon we’ll finish 8th.
As for cup runs, well it all depends on who we get drawn against, and it would be ridiculous to predict or demand progress at this stage. The cups have been hugely disappointing under Moyes, but in fairness we have been knocked out of the FA Cup by Man Utd and Chelsea in the last two seasons. No excuses for Shrewsbury though.
Certainly, we do have a fairly strong squad now, although with some deadwood like every other club. The midfield could be our Achilles heel, but overall there is more flexibility than before in terms of personnel, so hopefully we can find the right balance. Certainly, Moyes does have more options in midfield and attack so he should now be able to develop a Plan B, and maybe even a Plan C. Goals win games, so a few more of them should increase confidence, lessen the pressure and see more good football as result. Certainly, Moyes apologists like myself will have less mitigating evidence if we do struggle this year.
Beyond that, we need to at least continue as we are in terms of off-the-field progress. If Moyes has a reasonable pot of money each summer without having to sell, that’s progress. If the Halewood facility arrives as planned, if not necessarily on time, that’s progress. Anything less would be a step backwards.
As for major investment and new stadiums, well that would be a bonus. It is interesting that the battle to control Villa is between a supporter’s consortium and a foreign businessman. We seem to have neither. Time will tell if we are sitting on our hands or actively making moves in the right direction. Somewhere along the line, crunch time will come.
Moyes and Kenwright now seem inextricably linked, and the downfall of one could well precipitate that of the other. Both have made mistakes in the past, as have every chairman and manager, but what matters is whether they can get it right now.
If Moyes produces results on the pitch that will insulate Kenwright even if he doesn’t produce a new stadium or a prosperous partnership with, say, Tesco. If Moyes doesn’t produce the goods then not only might it cost him his own job and reputation, it will expose Kenwright and he will have to produce something pretty dramatic out of the hat to appease the rank and file. Promises only last so long…
Putting all speculation aside, what is clear is that it is now time for action. For some, Moyes, Kenwright and Wyness will never convince. Fair enough. But for the rest of us, there can be no doubt that progress now has to be seen to be being made. What constitutes progress is open to interpretation, but at the very least we need to be sat here at the end of next season with a clear idea of the direction we are going in.
At the moment, it seems it could go either way. There is sufficient evidence to both defend and attack Moyes, Kenwright and Wyness, and Gregg for that matter. In the here and now, we can be cautiously optimistic that we are at least entering a period of stability and steady growth, both on and off the pitch. Past experience breeds caution and suspicion, but hopefully lessons have been learnt and we are at last moving in the right direction.
Whatever happens, at least we can keep up to date with every move for just £3.99 a month. And that is undeniably progress.