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Decisive Moyes Needs a Shirt Seller

Moyes is not a ditherer nor has he been neglecting his duty as suggested by some. He is as decisive as he could possibly be with such an indecisive board behind him. His transfer strategy has been thrown into disarray in my view, due to uncertainty around Andrew Johnson and how much his transfer budget is.

I imagine, from reports and looking at what he brought in from the sale of McFadden in January, that he had been allocated around £20 million to spend. Although BK said he had money at the beginning of the summer, I think there was doubt about where the money would come from initially. If Everton had secured the stadium at the date they were supposed to I think the club would have released funds then. As the decision was put back, I think they had to source the funding from 'bridging loans' rather than have it from the board.

By the time the money was allocated Moyes got wind that all was not right with AJ. Moyes's transfer strategy therefore would depend on how much AJ would bring in and how much he would then commit to either a midfielder such as Moutinho, or replace AJ with a similarly priced striker. The bids therefore for Moutinho would have to reflect the balance left over once he has replaced AJ and Carsley which are the priorities. If he can loan a striker for the year this would leave more funds for increased bids for Moutinho.

He got a good price for AJ, enough to bid for Moutinho and have around £12 - £15m for other players. It now transpires that he may replace AJ with loan signing Love - £2.5m, spend £6m on M'Bia to replace Carsley, pad out the squad with Smith for £2m and have some money left for a cover defender and goalkeeper. Perhaps also he is waiting to see how much he has over before making a further move for Fernandes.

If he had £30 m at the outset he would have been in a better position to decide his actual strategy. Chelsea, Man City and Spurs didn't have this problem and bought early. They have also sold early. He clearly has players in mind, but the ever shifting sands that are the Everton Board don?t provide the solid foundation for him to go into the market early and also don?t allow him to make any mistakes whatsoever. That?s why we see so many loan-before-buy moves at Everton ? a good strategy given the limited resources at the club.

My own view about the Everton hierarchy though is that we need to sign ?shirt sellers?. Those players that up the turnover at any club. On the back of a great season last time out we should have allocated Moyes enough money to attract the media, the youngsters and ticket and shirt buyers. We all know that our club is safe in Moyes hands so the guy should be backed to make the right buys with good money and generate enough excitement to fill the stadium when the likes of PSV visit for a friendly. We should also think big pre-season and join or arrange a tournament to raise our profile and be seen on TV more.

Let?s hope Moyes can now resurrect his transfer strategy, get the players he needs in, and push on to progress us further up that table. I for one back Moyes all the way, let?s hope he signs the dotted line himself this week. COYB

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