Moyes is going Nowhere

He has stability because his expectations are tempered by common sense... he would by his own admission be put to the test if he was given a large transfer budget and be expected to get into Europe or be sacked as so many others have. He definitely has one of the safest jobs in the Premier League so long as he maintains mid-table or slightly above.

Our motto is a myth in the present climes and I just wish we could have had genuine caps put on salaries and transfer fees to enable all the clubs to have an even playing field and not just become the same as the Scottish Premier League where only two clubs have any chance of winning the title.

I much preferred the old First Division when every team had a reasonable chance and I could back my own side with a chance of winning something. I do not applaud title wins gained by buying almost every player who can kick a ball and sit them on the bench to stop them playing elsewhere.

Our squad is just about able to keep EFC heads above water by staying in the Premier and staying out of Europe.

"Seventh might be as good as it can get for Everton with the resources and the way teams are spending now," said the Everton manager.

But hey, who am I to make comments? I don't go the match anymore. However, once Billy has gone, I'll be back... but I won't hold my breath. To all those who have castigated me and commented "Rat, Sinking Ship, etc" ? I love Everton Football Club and have done for most of my 54 years.| But, as I have said previously, BK go to hell, and for those that continue to support him and his Muppets, I hope you are happy with mid-table obscurity.

I find it really hard to accept that a huge number of our fan base are happy with the shite that has been served up over the past season and are taken in by Billy Liar's spin that all is OK.

What you are really saying is that no-one should criticise him; everyone should buy off on the so-called "remarkable results" he supposedly achieved under the farcical claim that all of this is somehow "overachievement".

The point I take from his comments is that he is directly responsible, and that he shall therefore be criticised when Everton could and should be doing better under his guidance and command.

That's where individuals differ: I certainly don't think he's over-achieved at all ? if (and it's a very big 'IF') he's this wonderful manager you and his supporters claim him to be. Yes, less investment, blah, blah blah... but it's been part of his mission to perform better than merely the average that would be expected on that basis.

I can never understand the mentality that always compares him to Walter Smith, who became frankly a dreadful Everton manager by the time he left. Moyes had to be an improvement on that... otherwise, why change?

And Moyes was better initially, but he achieved his personal peak at Everton in 2004-05, with 4th place. Now, he's telling Everton fans that 7th is as Good As It Gets with this statement that really had my blood boiling:

"For Evertonians to be expecting us to do any more than seventh then I think they would need to tell me the reasons why they think we should be higher than where they are just now."

There were NO excuses for this, lest you Moyes-lovers forget. No Injuries; No transfer sagas; No contract haggles... just an abject lack of proper preparation for the new season; just a complete failure to build on the success of the previous season. Carry on that form and 7th would have been considered a disgrace.

Thankfully there are still some Evertonians who feel that way, along with the players (eg, Arteta) who know full well they could and should have done a lot better this season. That statement above from Moyes is a direct insult to those Everton fans and a slap in the face to the players.

Moyes is in charge; he is responsible; he should be held to a far higher standard.

Also, rewind back to last pre-season. There was talk of making the top four, best squad in years, Fellaini was the best in the Prem. Then what happened? An awful start as Everton predictably choked on the weight of expectation. Another masterful ploy by Ferguson as, by talking us up for the title, he in my opinion knowingly burdened us with an expectation our players couldn't deal with.

I'm fine for me if Moyes plays it down this summer if it means our players don't start the season awash with complacency then playing with fear after the first loss. Let's keep our heads down this pre-season and arrive ready for next... rather than bigging ourselves up like our neighbours across the park with all this 'this is the year' rubbish.

I think Moyes has the belief we can finish higher than seventh; it's been an awful season so any improvement would probably see us finish higher next year, he's just learnt his lesson a little bit from last summer.

As it is, what do we have? Nine years of Mister Moyes... one FA Cup Final and a League Cup semi-final, and some very commendable league finishes here and there against the moneybags of higher placed outfits. Bottom line being, I have no issue with Moyes, I wish him well, but maybe at some point in the near future, he's had a good innings, but with no end product, I'd be curious to give someone else a try.

It's imperative that Everton lift some silver (soon) after 16 years away, and I think we'd be better prepared with a new face. Maybe I'm thinking back to Royle in 1994 and what came after, but even so, I'd really like to see an Everton captain lift some trophy again sometime soon. It really seems a long time since Rideout, Watson etc.

We'd just end up with someone even worse in which I include Martin O'Neill who spent a load of money finishing behind Moyes then threw his toys out the pram when it ran out. Even worse than this we'd get for some ridiculous ideologue like Di Mateo or Holloway who have attacked their way with unrelenting vigour into the relegation zone.

Oh no wait, crisis averted, I hear Guardiola is getting a little bored at Barca, and if he passes us up there's a Mourinho-Hiddink dream team desperate for the chance to work with Anichebe and Beckford.

He is a good manager and has got us top-half finishes in all but two of his 9 seasons here. You have to go a long way back to find a manager who gave us so much European football and raised expectations year on year. I admit his tactics can be baffling but you can see every club has fans that think the same of their own manager, it's all about opinions.

Sadly for us, it's lack of finance that is holding us back... no matter what all the Moyes bashers think. As has been pointed out, all the teams finishing above us were expected too, and spent a fortune to do so, but look how much the teams below us spent too. Our biggest transfer in the last couple of windows was a freebie from League One and that wasn't down to Moyes. He didn't want to break up his team this season and that may have cost us, but where would the transfer fees have gone? To the fucking banks, that's where.

Let's see what happens in the summer and take it from there. We have a manager 75% of Premier League fans want to see manage their club so he can't be all that bad can he?

Anyway, to suggest that in order to criticise Moyes one must name an alternative really doesn't make sense.

Also, please, let's not have the discussion about Moyes leaving and who could replace him or do a better job. The title of the piece is "Moyes is going Nowhere" yet people continue to ask this redundant and pointless question. As I've said many times before, David Moyes is the Everton Manager, he has been for the last nine years, and he is not leaving anytime soon.

And for the second season running and for a total of five cup comps during that time, no quarter finals. In total that bleaks the picture on a seventh place which might sound acceptable or even good in itself.

Personally I'd like us to push our previous best tally of 65 points (twice) and that would take us right into the mix for 3rd or 4th place finish although no guarantees.

Sometimes shit happens and you can't explain it, but we have suffered more with injuries and players jetting off to Asian or African cups than any other in the teams around us. This is where a lack of finance comes in. We have a decent first eleven, but have no money to have a squad of 25 top class players like most of the clubs aiming for the top 6 or higher. Compare our bench to anyone above us and even those well below us and the money that was spent (Sunderland, Villa etc).

Ask yourself if you are genuinely happy with the tactics of playing so many defenders in games or a striker who has over 230 players in the league who have scored more goals than him this season over another who has scored seven.

Ask yourself if you are happy that David Moyes kept playing out-of-form players this season for months?

Michael, I respect your point of view and I am sure deep down you may respect mine, we both want the best for Everton and a healthy debate really is a good thing, I just think sometimes I think a bit more realistic.......but then again I am biased!!!!

Security of tenure over ten years has certainly brought stability yet I query if it is the right kind of stability either for Moyes or the players. It has long been proved in the business world that a happy workforce is less productive than an unhappy one.

Is the stability we have at Everton the kind that provides fans with the sure knowledge that the next game and every subsequent game will be played with a an eye firmly fixed on the security and stability of 40 points. Mid-table mediocrity has become the norm, we have even been denied the excitement of a full blown relegation battle.

Let's get a Holloway or some other cavalry charge merchant in. Now that you guys have promised to hold your hands up if he fucks up and admit you were wrong, I feel so much better. You guys admitting you got it wrong will really give me a boost as I head off to Cardiff or Boro in February.

No investment = no (or very little) improvement; what the fuck did you want Moyes to say? We`ll be Champions?

Kenwright out! ...and until he goes, Moyes MUST stay.

You are right, I hate the negative Moyes, the lone striker, the boring draws and losses to teams we should beat. I still think in the current climate he is still the man to take us forward, even if the progress is painfully slow.

For all those who say he's done nothing in nine years that is a bit unfair. Yes, no trophies but just remember the state of the team he inherited. Nowadays we ponder how to get two of the best young midfielders in Europe (apparently) into our starting line-up.

The team he has built is a vast improvement on the one he got and a disappointing season ending in seventh rather than seventeenth shows this improvement in quality.

Kenwright and the board seem to think that Moyes is a bloody miracle worker who can get us a cup or one of the top four places with a small squad compared with other teams and one that consists of a few good players and a collection of hard working but mediocre players.

Name one manager who could do better than Moyes who would come to us under the conditions that Moyes is forced to manage. Yes, I also would like to see the team play better and attack more rather than play with seven defenders but with our current squad I am not sure if that is feasible or realistic.

The only way we can improve is to get new owners and if we do then I would like to see Moyes given a few years to see what he could do with sufficient funds. If he can't change our fortunes then that is the time for him to go.

Before I am suddenly labelled a hater, I'll also add when the team do well I am also posting that I am happy but it's only fair to take the flack when they do shit and obvious repeated mistakes rear their ugly head again. When I can see what the team is capable of i.e. the second half against a very expensive Man City then a week later turn back into a dreadful side it fucking hurts but that squad and formation and tactics isn't down to me or you, it's down to David Moyes. How slow would you define as slow, ten years, fifteen years, twenty years?

Neither of us can say that change will bring anything other than change and after nearly ten years of the same mistakes I'd be inclined to say that change doesn't scare me but my job itself is to introduce change so we could differ wildly in that I don't view change as all negative and doom and gloom or something to be afraid of. Moyes won't be at Everton forever, what happens then? Will the team curl up and die or will it go on? 133 years tells me it goes on.

The team has achieved 7th or 8th through a reasonable run in a truly terrible season all round, who is to say in such a poor league that having taken the bull by the horns instead of the dreadful safety-first attitude even half a dozen of those incredible draws into wins, we could have taken a CL spot? The only times in nearly ten years Moyes changes the line -up and tactics are when injuries force his hand or to chase a game having gone at least a goal down and even the latter isn't that common.

To finishe 7th is pretty good considering we were bottom after 5 games with what was it 3 pts. The reality is this is as good as it gets.

How can we compete with Chelsea or City in the long term? We strengthen our sqaud with freebies and kids of untried potential, it's not a level playing field. The introduction of salary capping and more home grown talent has to be made to happen.

Football doesn't work like that. It is dictated by the quality of the players and the quality of the manager and this is dictated by money ? pure and simple. We are very very fortunate to have a manager who can sometimes outperform clubs with a far greater kitty but overall, until we have new investment, David Moyes will just have to fight the tide with what he has available and continue to over achieve as he has done throughout his tenure here.

If you are still unsure just look at the teams above us in the league, have a look at the cost of their players and think again before posting such absolute shite. He hasn't won manager of the year 3 times because he is underperforming. Give me strength.

Yes, when Moyes goes someone else will need to take over and then we will have to live with whether he is, better or worse. my argument is at this current moment can anyone name a manager that could feasibly join Everton who has a better chance of being good rather than awful?

Yes, you cannot know for certain either way, but a lot of the managers currently available based on past form would present a greater chance of taking Everton down the league rather than up it when you consider our lack of funds and the wealth of the six teams above us.

Now, it seems to be that 7th is as good as it's going to get, and that's okay... what's changed? And please don't use the money excuse, because we had no money before the season started.

I watched that, saw some good football being played by teams that didn't cost as much as ours, by managers that won't be on as much money as Moyes, and those managers aren't likely to be jumping ship to CL contenders with the exception of Boas. Look at Boas though: youngest manager to win a major European trophy.

Financially, we are in a pickle and I fully expect some 'deadwood' to be sold or a big name player moved on. We need to cut our cloth accordingly and trim our wage bill. We have too many players on big bucks not cuting it. They need to go, raise cash, re-invest it into buying young, hungry pros who will not be afraid to put a shift in!

As for Moyes, I believe he has been here too long, but I don't think we could do any better with the bit of money he has to play with.

To me it's all too easy, they get paid an obscene amount of money to actually achieve nothing and we as supporters just go along with it... If you're not in it to really believe you can win it ? then why be in it at all??

So all the players at our club know & believe they can only achieve 7th and think that's ok ??

I can't help thinking back to the day I was in any competition, there is no way I was thinking of being 2nd never mind 7th... but then again, I wasn't paid a shitload.

We as supporters really are blind.

Of course Moyes's tactical blindspots, caution and bizarre loyalty to certain players causes frustration but articles like this only illustrate how far he has brought us ? so far that many fans have lost any perspective on what he is actually achieving and can now only focus on the flaws.

The glass is more than half-full in terms of our manager. It is just a crying shame that for so many people it will only ever be seen as more than half-empty. Sometimes the strident voice railing against the perceived orthodoxy is that of a visionary. Sometimes it is simply noise from a fool.