First pre-match press conference for new Everton Manager

What a disrespectful twat. Is that any way to start his new reign???

Trying to fit in a new, catchy slogan.

I hope that's a bit of ironic, self-deprecating humour. Please assure me that it is. Otherwise you'll make yourself ill.

You're going to have to find a way back from your hate. He's our manager, we all want him to succeed and we're in a position now that is far worse than when he left us. So you can't deny that we've been better off with him than without him over the last 22 years.

I'd rather see the Elephant Man on the touchline than Dyche; he had more go about him, even with the limp, than Dyche.

I am interested to see who he picks for Villa, in which formation, and whether he manages to eke out some more attacking threat from the limited options.

I only got 10 minutes though.

Even the kopites wouldnt claim that one.

I love hearing the Hammers fans boil their piss when people diss that.

Having said that, I think the passage of time has made his body of work look better than some perhaps thought at the time. We were a decent side, too frit of the big boys but at least if we played the likes of Brighton or Bournemouth, we'd do so in expectation rather than unease.

Two things comes out of that interview, the first, unsurprisingly, is a super strong affinity with the club. At least we know he is motivated to give absolutely everything. The second is pragmatism, however ugly, we have to stay up and remain an EPL club going into BMD. It's pretty obvious his prospects beyond June depend on this so I suspect there is a break clause in the contract to that effect. I wish him well, despite the fleeting praise for BK but the success criteria are clear and simple and he stands or falls on that. At the very least, let's hope for a bit of 'new manager bounce'...

All the best for the remainder of the season to yourself and Lyndon...

Is it a mixture of Dyche's orders and not good enough players. Or good players with zero confidence?

David Moyes is our saviour!!!

Time to raise a glass to the greater good and let bygones be bygones. Good luck, Davey Moyes.

What were the alternatives?

I understand all the reservations but some of the hatred and vitriol being expressed has no place at Goodison Park.

If he keeps us up I'll be most happy.

As an aside...

Makes me wonder whether Baines and Coleman have been influential in this appointment.

Also seems like those wishing an imminent farewell for Thelwell (not me) will be disappointed.

We know you don't like him but please as an editor and Everton fan start by showing some objectivity. TFG were left with few choices after the interview with Dyche who obviously didn't convince them that he could keep us in Premier League.

For me the options available were:

1. Stay with Coleman & Baines;
2. Go for Potter, which I believe they did;
3. Go for a manager without Premier League experience (very high risk);
4. Go for an available seasoned Premier League manager (which they did and with the bonus that he knows the club);
5. What was your option?

I'm underwhelmed but see it as a low-risk option and I wouldn't be prepared to risk Premier League survival at this stage.

I cannot understand why anyone would get upset by the hiring or firing of a manager. David Moyes's success or failure will be dependent on the players available to him and a good slice of luck.

Without the recruitment of better players and/or the return of some of the walking wounded, ultimately he will most probably fail. In the meantime, we must all hope for the fabled ‘new manager bounce' starting on Wednesday. There is no time for a honeymoon period.

TFG are business people where evaluating risk and making decisions based on risk is how they have become successful.

New stadium and new season will be a different proposition where a higher risk option may become available.

I would like to think that Moyes is capable of delivering, starting with 3 points against Villa, stabilise our position in the Premier League, and build a good squad to take us into the new stadium.

Still largely undecided on the Moyes Yes/No debate the,n Annika!

He would like to persuade elite players to join us, and hopes he can lead the team into the new stadium...

So he wants to do it his way and hopes he's still here in August.

1. I know I've got to prove my worth or I'll be out on my arse ASAP.
2. This squad needs freshening up.
3. I'll unload half of this shite at the first opportunity.
4. There is some cash available.

Over to you, Davey boy, because I'm not convinced.

Boom, boom!

Is that not a bit like Michelangelo wondering how the ceiling at the Sistine chapel got to be so beautiful?

Hopefully he is successful.

I don't recall that level of vitriol for him, Michael.

IMWT
COYB
NIL SATIS NISI OPTIMUM

This page is definitely going to be a real joy to read for the near future.

Obviously we will get behind him, and I hope he has hunger still.

I agree with you. We would not be in this mess if Moyes had been in charge through the early years of the Moshiri era.

Wasn't Dyche late to every presser ???

Chris the irony isn't lost on me with your strong defence of the Moyes appointment followed by Nil satis nisi optimum

In all seriousness I thought he spoke very well and I was glad he said he was surprised where we are as he didn't expect that a while back He obviously therefore knows they are underperforming and he doesn't expect to be in a relegation battle but we must get more out of the players first. When speaking about Dominic he spoke about his importance, that he needs to do more and that we need to help him more so no doubt he has identified the service has been poor for him. He also said he tried to sign a few of them so he obviously thinks there is quite a bit of talent here if he wanted them for West Ham or Man Utd

Let's be honest, he didn't try to sign any of our players for Man Utd - he left there 10 years ago. How many of our players were even here 10 years ago?

West Ham possibly, but I don't expect Hammers fans are weeping at the ones who got away...

He said exactly what he thought would be best for him and exactly what he thought would be least offensive for the fans.

True blue my arse

My guess is that he will keep us up, but I wouldn't put my house on it because we are lacking in the midfield and upfront.
If your not creating many chances and fluffing the very few that occur its a recipe for failure.

Annika do you like anyone!

You have managed to become the new recipient of flak and deflect it from Moyes and any other person at the club we decide is a reason for our downfall.

Disgraceful manipulation!

We were always the dark horses- the best of the rest, but without financial banking could never break that glass celling.

With the amount of money that has been wasted on players and mercenary managers! Seeing Moyes back in the chair today feels right for this period. The great summer reset can wait! Let's get there as premier league team and see how Moyes has done.

Coleman was heavily linked to Man Utd when Moyes took over so that was my first thought that there may have been some substance

I know you think Alvarez and Soucek are better than Gueye and Mangala but I'm not sure many would agree with you so when Rice left there was clearly a void for a decent central midfielder.

Perhaps you are right and I am gullible or maybe our Davey has poo-pooed on your constantly repeated mantra that none of our players would get into a squad in the top half of the table and a manager has just confirmed that this is total bollocks!!

I can see why you wouldn't believe him

We don't have to like him if we don't want to, it should be about the players – most of whom need a good kick up the backside.

But please, Mr Moyes, bring in a proper striker in January, just someone who can direct the ball between the posts and avoiding the keeper.

Then with an upturn in results, win people over and earn their respect. There's not much time, thanks to Dyche. We need to see quickly that we are capable of climbing the table.

I can't wait until Wednesday, emotions will be running high, a win will help.

He has their respect and can hopefully tweak a couple of things based on their feedback which the last fella couldn't do.

Almost like an ageing pop star on a greatest hits tour.

Not his first rodeo and he knows the stock answers to fire out. However, I did laugh when he mentioned the glass ceiling – a leopard never changes its spots.

Colour me underwhelmed… 2½ years of this to go… tick, tock, slowly goes the clock. This is a pension top-up for Moyes – nothing more.

There was no surprise in the coaching staff he is bringing in but it was good to see Leighton Baines brought up to the senior level – I wonder if he can teach Harrison how to score with his left foot.

I think he understands what a difficult situation he is in trying to get the club to become more stable and I think the game on Wednesday will demonstrate the difficulties, as the same group of players are still at the club. Time will tell but unfortunately time is not on our side.

This is an interesting time again, and we need that new manager syndrome. I understand why Moyes was brought in at this time as there is no time for experimenting with managers not used to the Premier League, and surely he has got to be better than Dyche.

So, despite your obsessive love for Moyes, he's going to get stick from a section of Evertonians, like it or not. It's part and parcel of the game.

Hands up if you never given abuse to an Everton manager. Michael has every right to express his views.

Moyes is a dour coward of a manager who used the club to boost his own reputation and forward his own career. Clap him all you want – I never will. Ever.

He's only crawled back as he liked the zeros on the contract offer and he could smell the desperation.

All Hail The Moyesiah!!

The bizarre reaction on here to Moyes being a few minutes late to the press conference was embarassing. I never heard that hostility directed to the previous manager who was late every time. Perhaps it was a joke that went wrong but it didn't come across that way. It just sounded unpleasant.

We all need to get behind the team and the manager on Wednesday as the club need a positive and energised support, something which has been lacking since Lampard left. Perhaps those spitting their dummies out could give their ticket away to someone who will show the positivity we need.

I am no more deluded than you are in not recognizing that Moyes is more of a Blue than the last few managers and more than anything wants the club to be successful.

If you can't see that and cut him some slack, then how can you call yourself a Blue?

After all, he laid off DCL despite him failing to register a single shot during the entire press conference.

He's back with a vengeance.

All Hail the Moyesiah!!

Yes, that 11-year stint was just a stepping stone, right? What a bizarre comment. He didn't care about Everton, he just wanted to forward his career?

This is every bit as hilarious as the comments by fans you are calling out. Moyes can be accused of lots of things, but that's just bonkers. You think he was never really interested in the club he stayed an incredibly long time at?

So he went to the Mancs when they came looking... what manager would turn that down in those circumstances? All managers, and all players, except perhaps a tiny minority of locals, do well in one job and hope to progress their careers. Similar to many other career paths.

It ended sourly, and some of the more bitter fans can't forgive the Fellaini & Baines business or whatever else. Fine. But I for one got over him accepting a bigger job some time ago.

I would have considered Potter or Carsley but both are high-risk, particularly Carsley:

1. He has never managed in Premier League;
2. He made big errors of judgment in the England job v Greece.

Way too risky considering our current predicament

Potter is less risky and it would appear he was approached but maybe hadn't the bottle for the fight.

Hence Moyes. Not over the moon but I am not sure TFG had too many options, as I pointed out in #22.

Nobody wins all the time, or even first up, win, lose or draw whatever the result, it will be more in the manner of how we comport ourselves on the field that sets the tone for the second game and the rest of the season.

Villa are shite Davey - gerrinto them... and sometimes I'm not sure Spurs travel too well north of Watford

6 points or get to fuck.

Someone wake me up!

A question I don't know the answer to:

Before he was offered the Man Utd job, did any other club offer him one in those 11 years?

Forward 22 years and Everton should have done the same thing and signed Micheal Carrick.

The only silver lining to this is that it lays to rest the mention of the Moyesiah every time we look for a new manager.

What would persuade me that I am wrong, and he was the right man at this moment?

This season:
Premier League survival.

Next season:
Improvement in league standing.
Restoration of some semblance of attacking football.

I am assuming that he will get a level of financial backing that recent predecessors have been denied. In which case, I don't think my expectations are asking too much.

If he can't achieve either, then he must be sacked and this appointment added to the long list of poor managerial choices.

If he can meet these levels then, before he enters the final year of his contract, Everton will be an attractive proposition for managers with genuine pretensions of silverware. That being the case, we will find out how ambitious our owners actually are.

Is their vision of success aligned with Moyes's allusion to his previous 11-year tenure, or is it more conventionally measured by actually winning trophies and beating the best teams?

Hard to swallow really but I'm now settled on the job he has to do rather than what he did before and it's gonna be tough for him because some of the key areas of or team are occupied by some of the worst players in our recent history. Having said that, he does inherit a solid core at the back to build from.

I can't imagine we're gonna be watching free-flowing football but, for the short term just to keep us up, I will happily take Dour Davey's "keep it tight and nick one" football and hope Baines is watching with his own brand of football in mind for the future.

I cut him enough slack to last a lifetime in his previous stint here. So he isn't getting any this time around. Of course I want Everton to stay up and I will acknowledge any improvement during Moyes's tenure.

But I do not want another 11 years of Moyes's failures and his excuses. I would hope he is gone at the end of the season so we don't have to suffer any more glass ceilings.

Did Potter not say he wants West Ham to be successful under his stewardship? Does that make him a true Hammer?

I suspect TFG will judge Moyes on a "value for money" basis. In other words to what extent he moves Everton up the table relative to the amount of money they make available to him.

Winning trophies and beating top teams will obviously be icing on the cake but not, in the short to medium term, at least, a determining factor.

1. Achieved very good progress on a shoestring to move away from the lower half of the table.
2. Then they moved to a point of challenging the top 4-6 when a bit more money was made available.
3. Then they hit the glass ceiling due to not having the kind of funds needed to compete at the very top level.

I think it's a fair enough assessment, though he lets himself off the hook for the third point. He built a good team that was capable of taking more than a knife to a gunfight.

It seems to be the third one that rankles with people on here too. It's believed he was too conservative, too limited, and that the glass ceiling was of his own making.

The thing is, I don't think anyone endorsing (or even just not foaming at the mouth about) this appointment is expecting that he leads Everton to glory.

His current contract is probably the maximum term for him. I see him targeting a repetition of point 1. Possibly some of point 2. I'd replace him if he got us in a position to actually challenge and be backed by money.

There's no evidence that he's a manager who can achieve that. But that's okay isn't it? What are the chances of us signing a manager who is perfect for fighting relegation battles, rebuilding the team, stabilising us in the league, and challenging for honours? I don't think they exist. They're different people.

I think the only time you could possibly apply that description to Lampard is when he was in the bedroom with Christine.

Fuck me, I can just picture the Moyes family hols.

Open on a Presbyterian church graveyard in Peebles.

The Moyes family sit on a bench

DM: "Nae doot aboot it Morag, there's nuthin' like a mornin's brass-rubbin' tae gi' a man an appetite"

(missus opens greaseproof-paper package)

Mrs "Sardine and tomato paste or cheese?"

DM: "Cheese ahhhh this is the life, look at that view! Seriously, whit would ye want tae go abroad fae, when ye have all this beauty on yer ain doorstep? (looks up). looks like the rain is easin' a wee bit"

Wee Sandy: "Da, can a have a couple o' boab tae get masel a twix?"

DM: "TWIX!!? Get tae hell! Let me gi' ye some advice son 'never a borrower or a lender be' - Twix indeed!"

Mrs: "So whit's next on the itinerary fer the rest o' the day David?"

DM: (Jumping to his feet) "Brisk walk tae the top o' Ben Doon, back tae toon fer 5pm, early-bird discoont fish supper at McGrimms Caff, bed fer 7pm"

Wee Sandy: "Aww dad, we're on wah holidays!"

DM: "Well...ok, maybe we'll have a shandy in the Frown And Scowl..but don't be askin' fer crisps and the like coz I promise you now son, you'll be sorely disappointed"

Etc blah, continue for 2 weeks.

(and Steve, 584, he'll STILL take the factor 50, just to be. safe)

There is enough fan split with this appointment to turn on each other as soon as results don't go our way.

To little to late with these players, the actor will slowly die in this soap opra EFC

He's also said they'll look at set pieces as a source of goals and he's bringing in a new set piece coach.

On the face of things, it's more of the same for the rest of this season.

I think where he will look to differ is that he might actually "try to find ways to be more effective in front of goal" rather than just saying it. I can see him reverting to his wingless wonders. Get wide midfielders tucking in and allowing Patterson to overlap. Ndiaye might actually go into the number 10. These things all fit what he's done before.

I also think he'll be looking beyond this season and starting to make progress on a rebuild. Dyche had no interest in that, and let's be honest there was no chance he'd be seeing it through anyway.

So get a fucking grip, admit your mistakes and we move on together with Davie Moyes 💙

I absolutely loved the Never Go Back article - full of passion and love of Everton which I think is the point of any fan site. You don't have to agree with it, just enjoy it!

I personally would never have gone back, Moyes is a failure if success is winning. The myth about what he would do if he had money was broken at West Ham where he spent £400m in about 2 years and finished 11th.

People will find words to defend that but the point is - the Glass Ceiling he talks about is his ability. He took the Champions of England to their lowest points total in the EPL. Yes they were waning but seriously?

I wanted Moyes gone at least 5 years before he actually left us first time because of all the things MK said in his lovely article.

My fear is now he's back, hes here for good and we will never have a chance of winning anything - but for some reason a large group of our fan base will be OK with that so long as we finish between 5th and 8th in the EPL.

Very few people it seems, are excited by him coming back, but there is an acceptance that it happened (that's very Moyes isn't it?). I wonder, if he hadn't had the history with us and he became our manager would those people still be as receptive?

However the flip side of the argument is that he might just be good enough for what we need right now and, Imo, is better than the bloke (who I despised) who just left. I just hope the 2.5 years was an early April fool.

If this club can be managed properly, for once since 1985, then there is a big upside. Other teams fear nothing more than unity and fighting spirit than fucking division and giving up. This is what the horror show over the park plays on. Play them too

Thanks.

Personally I've just spent two years arguing that our club could do better than Dyche. I was also anti-Dyche, I will admit. I find him thoroughly unlikeable.

I won't argue that Moyes will bring 'success' or 'good times'. Towards the end of his appointment I argued he was incapable of neither and I stand by it given what he has achieved in the last 20 years. The glass ceiling existed and he was part of the reason that it stayed intact.

But he can bring 'better times' than these. I don't think there are many coaches with a better resume for doing that. He's certainly more qualified for that than the outgoing manager.

I find the "we'll never win anything with Moyes" arguments just a bit strange. Who thought we were going to win anything any time soon? The team needs higher progress to even compete.

No use looking back.Hopefully he is not a comfortable choice for those employed by Everton in the face of a change of ownership, but rather with Moyes experience he has the capability of implementing the Professionalism, we all hope that the New regime will bring to bear on the Club.

Even Catterick got stick, remember him dropping Young in favour of Royle?

Shaun @108, I’m sure you don’t mean it, but be careful with you language. Depending how you read that post, anyone who is welcoming to day they’ve wanted since 2013 is a true blue. Those of us who were underwhelmed and deflated aren’t??

Nick, typo. It was 11 years.

Stu @114, I too thought he should have gone earlier. Maybe 4 years before he did.

I knew it would be divisive. It has been.

Anyway, we’ve done this to death. The match day thread will be up tomorrow and we can focus on the team and Wednesday night, bringing the points home.

I can only think of one that's done it - TWICE ;-))

Since then every other club he's joined have failed, including, with a mere scintilla of respect, the Hammers, who won the European football equivalent of the egg and spoon race on the back of his signings at, compared to us for years now, significant Hammers' cost. Their fans largely couldn't stand him or his team's performances, way off relegation as they were.

So in his first presser he now more or less lambasts the squad for having alone caused the problem we're in, praising Dyche to the utmost. Hell, he even cited DCL personally as inadequate.

It's 2025 Davey, and for years it's been hugely unacceptable to all "professional" footballers, singly or alone, to choose to admit to being crap.

Maybe Friedkin has told you that selling DCL and whomever else will enable you to sign way better players in the next 17 days, or maybe you believe that the antics of Kenwright, albeit with the "guidance" of Moshiri, have not set us back for years to come in terms of credibility as a "credible" football club.

I don't know.

Do you?

Totally agree Don, so can you blame him for wanting out and taking the Utd. job?

I tuned in to this young fellas podcast and couldn’t help but be impressed with his enthusiasm and positive outlook.

https://youtu.be/ukstLk5zffY?si=om58GgOpAiFERa61

It did me the world of good.

I'm probably not classed as 'young'. But I watched a highlight package from the Moyes years (put out on socials by the Premier League) and there were some cracking players and some big performances in that period. I'm not sure you could make a comparable highlights package for the years since - and if you could then they'd be dominated by a season of Bobby Brown Shoes and maybe a bit of Carlo.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how Moyes goes about this challenge.

Anyway, back to the manager. I thought he did well in his first press conference. He showed a good level of humility and spoke very practically about the situation he faces. He also acknowledged the "glass ceiling' when he was last here, which was the right thing to do. He spoke about the need to bring high quality players to the club. He can certainly spot a good player as his track record at Everton and West Ham proves that.

Now he is onboard, all Everton fans will want him to succeed even if they will never be big supporters. He will need to get some wins quickly, and I don't care about how he does it.

High priest Billy Bradshaw (43): Michael Kenrick@ 3, shame on you.

Benjamin Dyke (48): ‘childish outbursts…disgusting!...animal’

David Cooper (56): ‘I think I would say it a bit stronger than what Benjamin #48 said…WTF Michael gives you the right to be so negative?’

Gosh, that was so much ‘stronger’ DC. Golly, no messing with you. And if we want clues to the real DC, here he is thirty posts later launching the second-most ‘disgusting ‘insult on here after ‘kopite’: ‘Annika #62,If you can't see that and cut him some slack, then how can you call yourself a Blue?’ What gives you the fucking right to say that DC?

I’m going to check what that shameful, boring and unimaginative (Ian Linn (46) - by the way Ian, it’s Michael not Micheal, but an imaginative respelling - childish, disgusting, animal wrote.

‘He's nearly 10 minutes late!!! What a disrespectful twat. Is that any way to start his new reign???’

Kind MK, it was actually 11 minutes 19 seconds when our new manager entered stage right.

“Disrespectful twat”. Animal, Kenrick, animal.

Anthony Lamb (40): Michael Kenrick (3). With reference to your quite unnecessary language referring to David Moyes arriving late for his press conference do you in fact have any idea as to why he was late?” Do you Mr. Lamb? Do share your mere speculations.

So, Messers Lamb, Cooper, Dyke, Bradshaw, Linn et al Picture this. Your good selves are interviewing someone at 11-00 and they show up at 11-11-19; you have an appointment at 11-00 with your moral high horse who shows up at 11-11-19; or you as an estate agent – three of you at least must be estate agents – have an 11-00 appointment to show a house but it’s 11-11-15 and the ‘twat’ still hasn’t shown up.

Every one of you – don’t lie - would be hopping mad but maybe like Mr. Lamb he’s mellow as he reaches for reasons to explain why the client is late.

It’s fucking disrespect isn’t it? I think it was disrespect or was it a casual unprofessionalism or perhaps he was on the bog? Others on here might not say ‘disrespect’ but they are along the same lines and there are more of them than the five horsemen of the moral apocalypse. In real time, you five, look at the comments in the box for the live thread as folks look at an empty chair and make comments that make MK look like the ever-so-cute Andrex puppy flopping and flapping about in layers of white tissue.

“ANIMAL!”

‘This won’t stay posted for long!’ Hilarious exclamation mark.

It’s still there.

My initial reaction to Moyes was he is part of Kenwright &Co keeping himself in a job and those around him, as Everton was the never man of the Premier League, the sleeping Giant that would not wake up.

Moyes never convinced me that getting more money would get results.Subsequently he showed what his level was in the Premier League.

But maybe we have to go back to go forward.Moyes is going back, but the Owners now are different. Moyes may allow a line in the sand to be drawn. Maybe a new era of accountability along with dourness may turn Everton into a practical Club and stabilise the Club in the Premier league. Then the next stage in the build back to greatness may begin and the other stages over the next 30 years may stand a chance of getting Everton into the top six.It took Everton 30 years to get to this point, so that's how long it will take to get Everton out of it.

By the way I am claiming to be the first one to identify the glass ceiling to Moyes ability many years ago.I remember the time distinctly..I was a newcomer to Toffeeweb got dogs abuse for it and my opinions formed over years before. I thought it quite poignant that Moyes should refer to it.I actually thought it was brave of him to do so.

Moyes being a devout Christian hopefully will have examined his failings and prayed for the strength to improve.He could make Everton his vocation in life and Evertonians may benefit as he gets his just rewards.

Of course there was a glass ceiling when he was here, he reached it for many years, threatened to break through it at times, but was limited completely by funds.

With the current squad, as is the glass ceiling, is even lower right now; mid-table is as much as we can hope for unless money is spent and spent intelligently.

Then we can talk about raising the ceiling again; if we want to be where we feel we really belong, it will have to be raised a second time, this is a long-term project so manage your expectations, guys, and hopefully there is some joy for us in the ride. I've gone from disheartened to being behind this managerial recruitment after watching the presser.

Agree, Paul, that some of the comments about Michael were a touch on the emotive side! However, as a person of significant influence on here, Michael, I believe you have a duty to be more objective. ‘Group think' is a powerful tool, I for one would love to see you use your influence over a wide range of fans more positively.

One more thing, Moyes himself said in the presser that he is a different man just as Everton is a different club from the time he was here. Can we all give him the grace to prove that please? Wheeling out tedious phrases from pre-Moshiri days like “Dour Dave” and “knife to a gunfight” quotes is not going to help our plight. Clean slate from this Evertonian, let's go!

- There's no doubt in my mind Dyche had to go. If he really said he'd hit the wall, then that explains why the departing statement was a bit "terse" – he'd have royally screwed up any plans TFG had

- Moyes probably was the most sensible / lowest risk (but certainly uninspiring) choice out there. I can live with the 2½-year contract, as contracts can be terminated

- He's a lot more experienced than when he left us, and probably a bit more calm. Some of his comments, interviews etc down the years have been cringe-inducing. (As long as he doesn't rival Dyche's "if you stick a few wins in there...")

- On reflection, he probably gives TFG time to plan their rebuild on the footballing side – even 6 months was tight.

Enjoying the variety of opinions we have on this issue though!

That's it in a nutshell. I don't believe for a second he was their long-term choice. A pragmatic decision.

You can't beat a TW punch up, a few swings and then everyone is friends and on we go.

That's just my view.

Both LL and MK can write always-worth-reading 'think pieces'. MK, well, swears more, and LL has lower toffee blood pressure.

It's a great point Steve.

Would you mind if I say that objectivity is a myth?

To choose something to write about is itself subjective.

For all sorts of reasons, including certainty for any existing or incoming players at that point, David Moyes will need to be extended or terminated?

I think he will end up being terminated.

I'll be back.

I am somewhat dubious as to the wisdom of this appointment but am 100% behind the man and Everton FC. It will be interesting to see how Potter fares at WHam (hasn't started well) but of the two my preference was for DM.

There seems to be considerably more recently, and not just surrounding Moyes, but the vitriol and some of the comments I read on here which are more suited to the 'X' cess pit than ToffeeWeb have to cease in favour of constructive criticism.

I found MK's comment at #3 quite disrespectful, not just to Moyes but also to his loyal readership.

He joined us from Preston, we were near the bottom of the table. Walter Smith had sold all our young players, we had a team with Gough, Weir, Gazza, and Ginola, our team was a retired home for geriatrics.

He turned the club around, on a shoestring budget, with Kenwright selling our best players. He had us always in the top half of the table, and always short 2/3 players to bring us to the next level – that was down to Bill Kenwright.

He stayed 11 years, knew he couldn't do any better with Kenwright still at the helm. I was not impressed with the way he left, but he went to the best team in England, at the start of their decline. Fergie knew what he was doing.

So he's a coward and used us, for keeping us near the top having balanced the books for 11 years? Unbelievable.

Nick Page is 100% correct, even though he was there under Kenwright, Moyes turned the club around working under a chairman who sold anything that moved.

As for high horses, we could flip that around to those celebrating the return of our former manager as if we have won something and telling all stupid people that they’re stupid because they didn’t want Moyes and differ in opinion. That is objective.

As for Kenwright, I’d be careful about labelling individuals like Don. Again, he, like all of us, is entitled to his opinion. I know many. Evertonians with very similar views. You have to understand. I was never as ferocious, not in the early days, but the lack of leadership and saga of ownership rumbled on until he found someone who would allow him to stay. Nearly forty years of steady decline, that nearly cost us on four occasions.

As for our new interim manager, his cozy double act relationship with Kenwright didn’t help with certain elements of the support base.

I don’t remember if he ever called us a small club, but between them, they indirectly gave rise to the plucky little Everton narrative.

Anyway, match night tomorrow and Goodison under the lights. Savour it, as there wont be many more.