View from the Blue
Columnist: Lyndon Lloyd

David Moyes: far and away the best thing to happen to Everton for many years

Amongst the barrage of angry mail concerning Paul Holmes's article was one reader's suggestion that, although we use the "open fans forum" argument to justify posting pieces as controversial as "Curse of the Bambino", we must believe to some extent in the argument in order to publish it.

As hard as it it may be to believe, we do post contributions we don't agree with or believe in and Paul's latest piece of devil's advocacy is a case in point.

For while I agree that David Moyes bears some responsibility, however small, for Wayne Rooney's departure, I cannot accept the notion that Everton made a mistake in signing the manager to a five-year contract.  In many ways, it is probably the second best thing Bill Kenwright and the Board have done in their entire tenure... the first being convincing the man to take the Goodison hotseat in the first place.

It is common knowledge that Moyes and Rooney had a turbulent relationship.  The former was trying the Sir Alex Ferguson approach to shielding his immature protégé from the media glare brought on by his meteoric rise to fame; the latter was, perhaps inevitably, rebelling to some degree against those paternal instincts and becoming frustrated at not being allowed to start every game.  The first real sign that Moyes was losing the battle was Rooney's 18th birthday party — a lavish, celebrity-studded affair that went against all of the manager's advice and wishes.  From that point on, Moyes's influence gave way to the malignant manipulations of Paul Stretford and the loss of the Blues' best home-grown talent in decades became alarmingly inevitable.

Indeed, the seeds of his transfer to Manchester United appear to have been sown last spring, the nadir of Moyes's Everton reign so far.  The team's form was tanking, there was talk of a dressing room rebellion against an intransigent manager and, but for three teams being worse off in terms of points, the club would have deservedly been relegated.  If Moyes's relationship with a number of the old guard was deteriorating, you can be sure he had lost the respect of the hot-headed 18-year-old on whose shoulders rested the hopes of the Everton faithful.

And when the squad was healing its wounds and re-unifying over beer and karaoke in Houston, young Rooney was thousands of miles away in England recovering from a broken bone in his foot and maintaining a strict Stretford-induced silence about his future.  So, it's fair to assume that there might still have been some tension between player and manager, particularly when Rooney was led to believe that the club wanted to sell him before the August transfer deadline and that Moyes was complicit in that plan.  After all, hadn't Bill Kenwright practically hung Moyes out to dry by saying that the only way Rooney would leave was by the manager's say-so?  Rooney yelling, "Go on, f**king sell me, then!" at Moyes on the Bellefield training ground in the week before he left is especially telling in this regard.

No one knows except those involved, but I'm inclined to believe that Moyes was being truthful when he said he didn't want to sell Rooney and that he was mightily disappointed to lose him, especially when it meant that the Club would receive just £10M up front, almost all of which would go straight towards paying off existing debt.  The fact that the conspiracy theory asserting that it was Kenwright who engineered the sale to stave off administration is so easy to put forward doesn't lessen its probability and, if it's true, it would effectively absolve Moyes of blame for the whole unsavoury saga.

The fact is that David Moyes is Everton Football Club at the moment.  In a sea of mis-management, mis-information and under-achievement that puts the club's motto to shame, Moyes is the rock to which we are all clinging.  He has epitomised the ambitious spirit of the club and galvanised a disillusioned fan-base behind a determined team of players in the most stunning manner.  Everton were many people's favourites for relegation before the season started but we have occupied a place in the top four for five months now.  That was simply unthinkable a year ago let alone in the wake of such a tumultuous and potentially destructive summer.

While the club is open to criticism for leaving so many players' contracts un-negotiated going into the forthcoming summer, it cannot and should not be chastised for securing its most important asset.  Make no mistake: Moyes was the guiding light at Goodison even when Rooney was still around; with the wunderkind gone, the man stands head and shoulders above anyone else at the club.  If he could be Chairman, CEO and team manager all at the same time, you'd bet Everton fans would vote him into all three positions.

And I offer all that high praise in full acknowledgement that Moyes is not perfect.  The manner in which he seemingly "lost" the dressing room last season was worrying but he moved to address that with impressive humility and self-analysis.  His tactics are occasionally frustrating but when you look at his record at Everton overall, how can you argue?

There is also a huge question mark over his failure to add sufficiently to the squad during the recent transfer window.  His faith and backing for the players that got the club into the lofty position it currently occupies is laudable, but with injuries and suspensions threatening to undermine both our FA Cup run and challenge for Champions League qualification, that indecisiveness in the transfer market could prove very costly.

While I agree with the policy of not paying over the odds for players or buying sub-standard options just to add squad numbers, there is some merit to the argument that more loan options could have been explored to prevent the "down to the bare bones" situation we now find ourselves in.

But, even with all that taken into account, Moyes remains our one true hope for the future.  Offering him the maximum-term contract possible was absolutely essential.  Lose him now and you can more or less kiss goodbye to any hope of challenging at the right end of the Premiership table.  Those prospects for European qualification can disappear as quickly as Moyes engineered them and then would be right back where we were 8 years ago when Joe Royle was dismissed — desperately seeking a manager who would take up the poisoned chalice.

With the Fortress Sports Fund saga turning into a sick joke and inward investment still a remote possibility, David Moyes could well be the one thing that saves Bill Kenwright's skin.  If Everton can somehow hold onto the 4th Champions League spot and qualify for the money-spinning group stage, the flow of cash will be like manna from heaven and would considerably ease the pressure on the Chairman.  Best of all for him, he's hardly had to lift a finger.  That's an evil I'm prepared to live with for the time being if it means that the Club moves forward in some shape or form, but I'll be under no illusions as to who made it all possible.  Take a bow, Davey Moyes, and long may you stay in the Goodison dugout.

Lyndon Lloyd

Reader Responses:

Nice to see that there is someone still left inside ToffeeWeb Towers who can write a sensible, balanced article that is fully supportive of the Club, the Team, and the Manager, but that is not sycophantic enough to gloss over the flaws that still remain, even though we are fourth in the league.  Well done, Lyndon; that truly reflects the Club's much ignored motto.  Paul Hardcastle

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