Progress under Moyes ...

Without wishing to point out the obvious and say ? ? ?told you so ?? there has (happily) been a noticeable lack of Evertonians screaming for Moyes?s head now that stability and a decent set of results has been achieved. Now as much as I agree that everyone has a right to express their opinions, my laboured point is merely to prove what a fickle bunch of people football fans are and I include myself in that group.

However, for once I think we should give credit where it?s deserved ? David Moyes is a human being like the rest of us mere mortals and is therefore not without faults, and whilst some of his transfer dealings have been less than successful (Davies, Kroldrup, Beattie, Van Der Meyde) there have been many others that border on genius ? Cahill, Lescott, Baines, Peinaar, and Arteta to name just a few.

But what I really admire about David Moyes is his impeccable integrity. When he has made a public statement about an incident during a game that turns out to be untrue (for whatever reason) he is the first to hold up his hands and retract it ? usually with an apology. When incidents occur during games he never says ?I didn?t see it ?? like Mr Wenger, he never calls other teams a ?Small Club? like Mr Benitez, nor does he defend players publicly when it?s obvious they have been out of line either on or off the pitch, and dressings down and subsequent punishment are dealt with in a discrete, professional and no-nonsense manner.

I suppose what I?m saying is that as well as currently being a very good (and in the future a potentially brilliant) football manager, Mr Moyes is a decent human being as well, and that comes across within his style of management. He keeps his feet firmly on the ground yet is quietly optimistic but is canny enough to know that as yet he has achieved very little in terms of winning trophies, and therefore shows commendable humility.

So to Moyes?s critics I?d like to say, the next time you sit down at your keyboard to dash off an emotionally fuelled e-mail to this site or others, just think back 6 or 7 years to when we were a club consistently battling with relegation. Recall those nerve-jangling end of season dog-fights when you had to watch the game at Goodison with a transistor radio strapped to your ear to check how other teams around us were doing just to know if we stood a chance of surviving ?.

And then think how far we have journeyed under Moyes, and how the same emotion and frustration will be displayed ? but this time it will perhaps be because we haven?t quite made it into the Champions League. It?s called progress my friend ? progress ? it takes time, but when it finally arrives embrace it and be thankful for David Moyes.

Reader Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer