FAN ARTICLES

We've missed the Boat

This season will go down as an incredibly disappointing and frustrating one for all supporters. The one thing we all have in common is an abiding love and pride in the Club as an entity. Owners, managers and players come and go, but the fans remain, ?til death do us part?. In this regard, it doesn?t matter which side of the fence you sit on with reference to our current management set up; you take a position based on your wanting the Club to do well and win silverware. The Moyes and Kenwright ?bashers? state their case based on a view that the Club will never achieve these things under the management of these individuals. Those who support the current set up do so, in general terms, because they see themselves as pragmatists, with Moyes in particular exonerated because of the parlous state of our finances and Kenwright?s lack of financial clout.

For both sides of the fence, I would say that the expectations were high this season; partly as a result of the fine form the team demonstrated in the latter half of last season, as well as the optimism coming from Moyes and his squad in the run up to the start of this season. I don?t think those expectations were unreasonable and we have all felt let down by the performances of the team. Our pride has taken a massive dent and faith in the ability of Moyes to make amends has been further eroded by the loss of a key player in Pienaar, as well as the seemingly inexplicable loaning out of Yakubu (and, for me, Yobo too). A squad that was already seen as small has been stretched to what would appear to be breaking point; with square pegs in round holes and nothing like enough quality to beat teams we should expect to take 3-6 points off each season (like West Ham).

Was Moyes wrong to be so optimistic? I don?t think so for the reasons stated above. However, he took a gamble on Pienaar last summer which has backfired; I said some time ago that ?Peanuts? should have been sold at a time when we could have got substantially more for the player than we subsequently did (Peanuts by nickname became prophetic in terms of his eventual transfer fee). Moyes also gambled on the fitness of two forwards (Yakubu and Saha) and a freebie from Leeds. In hindsight this decision has backfired too; the money from Pienaar?s sale could have funded a decent striker, especially if Moyes had cashed in on Yakubu too.

A couple of seasons ago we were told we were about to embark on the second of Moyes? five year plans for the Club. Unfortunately, but for obvious reasons, this plan was not made public and your guess is as good as mine as to what it actually contained. My own guesstimate, based on what I see on the pitch, would say that it was based on continuing the policy of working within a limited budget but, through bringing on younger players, keeping the senior players and making signings as and when monies could be released, we would end up with a side capable of a sustained attack on the Champions League placings. The culmination of this strategy was that this was the season when we would see that happen and performances last season gave every vindication that this would be the case; even managers such as Ferguson and Wenger had us down as ?dark horses? this year.

How wrong we all were. Indeed, comment has been made as to Moyes?s general demeanour and post match attitude and I would say that much of this has come from his own sense of shock as to how poorly the team has performed against that upbeat expectation. Across the Club, the shock must have been similarly affecting and this is reflecting itself in individual performances and a seeming inability to only perform sporadically at the levels we have become accustomed to. Let?s be clear, this is the same squad pretty much that went through the latter half of the 2009-10 season hardly losing a game and playing some very nice football (even after Arteta was injured).

So where does that leave the original plan? In tatters? I think so. I think that as well as our underperforming this season, Moyes and Kenwright did not foresee how many teams would up their game. Apart from a few exceptions, most teams have become difficult to beat and even the better teams like Arsenal struggle to overcome robust defending. Man Utd. may be unbeaten as yet, but they too have struggled to impose themselves. Then you have the likes of Blackpool, punching above their weight in theory, but doing it nonetheless. Toffeewebbers have commented on our predictability; I?m not sure I would call it that, but we do have too few players who can unlock defences and pressurise the opposition, especially when Arteta is struggling and this is more obvious and a liability now that the rest of the EPL has made itself harder to beat.

Given the above, and assuming the cyclical nature of teams as they develop to fulfil their potential and then disband to re-form, the continued lack of investment may now see the club drop away again for a period whilst ageing players are replaced and styles of play change to accommodate this. Nor can we expect (like him or not) an ambitious (for trophies) manager to stay forever, watching moths fly out of BK?s wallet whilst elsewhere cash is seemingly splashed with abandon. At the moment many would say good riddance and with good reason on the face of it, but I don?t see other managers capable of taking over his mantle and succeeding any better with the aforementioned cash restrictions and that makes it difficult for me personally to willingly help push Moyes off the end of the plank.

We need a new plan and maybe a new manager to develop that plan. Maybe we just need Moyes to alter the old plan to one more suited to the new EPL reality. In either case, the promised land, in which we retain a foothold in Europe and push on for the Champion?s League?s Fields of Gold, seems farther away than ever.

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