Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

What's the worst that can happen?

By Dave   Wilson  ::  15/12/2011   100 Comments (»Last) A record must have been broken this week on TW. I cant remember quite so many posts/articles calling for David Moyes to go.

I'll nail my particular colours to the mast from the outset: I'm in the "Moyes to stay" camp, but I can't deny these are worrying times... The question is: Who really is the best man to steer us through them?

I'm not asking who it is you want as our next manager, but I would like your thoughts on what improvements you would expect IF Everton were to change their manager.

Somebody said recently that if the job of managing Everton was to suddenly be put up for grabs there would be a queue of applicants stretching all the way back to Aberdeen... a slight exaggeration, but he was right of course; despite our current predicament, it's still one of the most coveted jobs in football.

So, is there a man out there who can do a better job than Moyes? Well, yes, almost certainly; but finding him will probably be like trying to pick the winner of the Ayr Gold Cup. Let's think about what we are looking for here.

David Moyes has consistently finished "best of the rest" so, if we are looking for somebody to improve on that, presumably we are looking for a guy who will put us in amongst the best. Can that be done without transfer funds? We are also looking for a guy who will get us playing a more attractive style of football; however, he won't be given money to spend, he would have to work with what we've got. Can that be done too?

Look at our players ? the footballers have been sold, most of what's left came cheap or free. They are not top notch, half of them are better without the ball than they are with it. I believe the tactics could be more positive and this current crop may surprise you from time to time, but they will not regularly have you on the edge of your seat.

I don't believe the next manager will be offered anywhere near the salary Moyes is on, so, rather than look for a superstar manager, we will be looking to the ranks of the up-and-coming ? that in itself creates a problem: History is littered with promising young managers moving to "bigger clubs" only to find the job is too big for them. Managing a footballing institution like Everton with a reported world-wide fan base of around a million people is a totally different ball game to "going for it" at a club whose fans are just happy to be here. The weight of expectation crushes most of them.

Everton are unique: we currently operate with a smaller transfer kitty than the likes of Crawley Town and Fleetwood, yet we are the fourth most successful club in the country; many of our fans grew up watching attractive, trophy-winning football; we were immensely proud of our reputation for playing "the right way", the biggest and the best...

While most fans are delighted with 5th, 6th or 7th, it doesn't come close to satisfying Evertonians. " 6th has become the new first" they will sneer. We may operate without transfer funds, but expectations are not lowered. If we hadn't seen such riches, we maybe could have lived with being poor.

The Everton job has proven to be too big for many a good man: Lee and Bingham failed; Mike Walker had taken Europe by storm with "little" Norwich, he was widely tipped as being the next England manager but the burden of managing Everton just about finished him as a manager; Walter Smith couldn't cope in a league where the opposition actually hit you back.

So where is Moyesie? Well, surely he has proved himself big enough for the job, he has done it ? all be it unspectacularly ? for the past decade. Premier League clubs receive £¾ million per place so, by regularly finishing top six, he has more than paid for himself.

I'm not going to insult anybody by telling them to "be careful what they wish for" but I would ask those who throw names like Lambert or Rodgers into the hat to consider how much different managing a club like Everton is to managing the clubs they are at now.

Forget tactics, formations and playing two up front, the first thing the next manager has to do is prove the job isn't too big for him.

The right guy is almost certainly out there, but for every success, there are a hundred failures. I would ask those calling for Moyes`s head: Do you feel ready to trust Uncle Bill to find THAT man?

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