FAN ARTICLES
David Moyes ? the Canny Scot?

Just how much he has, when he got access to it and which transfer targets where real are all just speculation. But how we got there at this moment is not going to make a great deal of difference to how the team plays this week. It?s certainly not worth going over the reasons for why and who is to blame, they?re well documented and commented on already.
I picked up on a post that made me think about how we break into the top 4, how we fund players, how Moyes appears to be approaching the challenge of finding players to break the top 4 and what then?
As already stated in a previous post, I believe Moyes is a very shrewd cookie. He has managed to consistently get the most out of good players who have been close but no cigar. His next step is to break the hold on 4th spot and qualify for the CL because that opens the door to finance and the affordability of high quality players
So let's just say for arguments sake he is on pretty limited funds, somewhere between £10-20M; this allows him one, possibly two established players who have the pedigree to raise the team in key areas of midfield and a forward. In the meantime he picks up two or three good prospects of the Cahill, Lescott ilk and hopefully they have the ability to raise their game as well as bringing on one or two younger prospects.
The real objective is get to the Champions League that?s where the money is from gate, television and the higher we go the more we get. I agree that the likes of Spurs, Newcastle, Man City are spending considerable amounts using a bring in and players of high quality for a fast route to the CL. Except as stated previously it hasn?t worked for any team outside the top four because quality players still need a good team to link in with. Bring in to many players and it will take time to knit and therefore does not guarantee success unless you have more money than sense and do a Chelsea but at what cost?
So Moyes may well be a canny Scot and his strategy is based more on punch above your weight until you can afford the quality in depth. It's not a bad strategy and his track record of doing so has been good so far, so why abandon it? We are likely to have a stronger squad than last season if he gets it right. I can?t help think he would have loved a few class players but I think the events of the summer meant he has to build with what he had available. Irrespective of the management issues of the club in general, I think Moyes may well deliver again despite the BS, raised expectations and showmanship of BK.
Living with Moyes as a manager means a few leaps of faith but on average he has got it right more than he gets it wrong. As for me, I am praying he gets it right this year, I suspect the board are never off their knees praying for miracles to take them to the ?promised land?. I for one am hoping they get carted off sooner rather later whilst the fans, the players and David Moyes play for a miracle. The Champions League; Here?s to the team ? keep punching guys.
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Carsley for Castillo
Jacobsen for Stubbs
Saha for AJ
Obinna for McFadden (IF they win the appeal)
...IF Moutinho replaces Fernandes, we’ll have a much stronger squad than last season
Bang on as usual. I was beginning to despair but it looks like we will tie up Saha and Obinna this weekend which will take us up to four decent, if not earth shattering signings.
Lets hope DM has one rather large rabbit to pull out of a very cunningly concealed hat on the last day and we?re all set.
Come On You Blues
ps: Can?t Believe we got Standard Liege in the Uefa Cup Draw!
...does refusing to sign a new contract class as putting pressure on BK?
I think it does. I quite firmly believe he wanted 3 to 4 real quality players to push us on to "the next level". However the confusion over (or lack of) funds and transfer kitty has meant a drastic change of strategy. He’s basically back to where he was 3-4 years ago...filling squad numbers and hoping to strike gold on a bargain purchase.
The question is: How long will Moyes want to do this before another big club offer him the chance to spend big and match his personal ambitions?
"If the new guys are any good it?ll be Christmas at least before they settle."
Do you make this up as you go along Andy?
Yakubu came this late in the window and settled easily last year towards the end of September.
Sometimes I really think people ought to stop looking at the negative side of EVERYTHING. The difference between realism and negativity is a fine line, but usually common sense helps you to choose the right one. Here Andy I’m afraid you’re completely wrong.
Anyway, I basically agree with the article. I think what’s going on at the moment is Moyes is trying to get as many decent players in on the cheap as possible before say Sunday, and then see where he stands. Then he’ll spend his (limited) transfer budget in the last couple of days, but on whom depends on where the remaining gaps are. If the squad is still small, it’ll be 2 or 3 signings around £3m to £4m, while if it’s bigger then maybe one big signing.
We won’t be able to judge the success until Tuesday. These cheap but decent players will look like good signings if accompanied by at least one quality signing, and will look bad if theres nothing else.
When will people give some credit where credit is due? We needed a right back, got one; needed to replace carsley, did it; needed to replace AJ - looks like we?ve done it. Needed a bit more depth in midfield / out wide and I will bet my last fiver we pick up another couple of players by Monday.
If we can squeeze out a hard fought win on Saturday, there is a break for internationals when the players will have a few days before and after to sit down, watch vidoes, train together and start to gel. It's not like we will be radically changing the style of play, just putting round pegs in round holes.
I agree Moyes is shrewd. This summer wil have been as ball aching for him as the rest of us. The players we are signing this week will not have been his first, second or even third choices. But that said from what I’ve seen the Nigerian looks to be one hell of a player.
The plus is were not looking as desparate now and that will help negotiations with Rennes and Lisbon. Come on give us Mbia and Moutinho!
Rubbish.
Well here we go boys. Moyes hasn’t even seen Castillo play.. Nev is going back into midfield.. and there’s only a ’little’ money available..
At least Saha has cost nothing so far.. It’s about how much the glass man is worth!
What are you going on about? We are 2 games in with 3 points and are now getting a few decent players in to add to what we already have! We just need to get past Portsmouth tomorrow! The likes of Spurs and Portsmouth got their extremely expensive signings in ages ago, what good has it done them?
Ric, if we have three or four players settled into the side by the end of September I?ll be very surprised but delighted.
It is also stated that we got Saha for "no cost" what ever that means. Obviously Man U know he cannot play more than a few games a year and it reduces their wage bill and physio bill!The final telling statement is as follows, when referring to more transfers:
"I don’t think we are finished yet," he declared. "There is a little bit of cash there to spend."
Note the "little bit of cash"
As we have spent almost nothing to-date it is clear that we have and never have had more than about £10 million tops to spend, so any dream of a last minute "rabbit out of a hat" forget it!!!Finally, the whole tone of the article, in my humble opinion, is one of someone totally pissed off.
Signings smack a bit of desperation but at least there are fresh legs in. Needed a RB, ST and DCM most of all and these are now covered. If Saha could get fit that would be a quality signing - damn sight better than AJ anyway.
Is DM being "canny" saying we only have a little money left - what’s happened to the £10m we got for AJ, we haven’t spent a penny yet!
He may have a valuation in mind for players such as Moutinho and M’Bia as other clubs have had for Arshevin et al. and maybe in the current ’stupid money’ climate, chairmen and outside investors are beginning to think "Fuck off you cheeky bastards!" when dealing with agents and greedy selling clubs, not to mention the often ridiculously exorbitant wage claims of the players themselves.
Now I don’t know whether that is what has happened at Everton or not but FFS the price of success is getting out of hand and as much as I think Billy Bullshitter is a twat, he does have a point when he says it is now clubs who have billionaire owners (who are willing to part with cash) who will come out on top. After all its not fuckin rocket science!!!
Be pissed off, speculate etc but dont pretend you know what is happening or that you could do better. The only thing we can do as supporters is get behind whoever pulls on the shirt of a weekend! End of fuckin story!
C.O.Y.B
If you were knew you were about to sign Berbatov wouldn’t you want to free up some extra wages to ensure his arrival. Manchester united are operating in a financial blackhole so letting Saha go makes perfect sense.
As a result a wealth of up-to-the-minute information is made readily available for managers and supporters alike resulting in deals being made or broken in an uploaded.
If we have the money to bid for SWP/Milner and enough to also bid for M’Bia, then logic suggests that we have at least £18m (otherwise we would look stupid had the clubs and players agreed to the transfers).
Rival managers are like used car salesman and unlike Rafa, Moyes knows how to play a hand. Therefore the "We have a little money" quote should really read we have the money to buy Moutinho on our terms, and we won?t be held to ransom by Sporting!
Read between the lines guys! Possibly three, 1 year deals which cover key positions from adequate players. Louis Saha arrives for free and gets paid a lot less than the wages left over by Johnson, Gravesen and Fernandes. Neville to be moved centrally could mean that the M?bia deal is also dead.
Everything this past week has been geared around a massive cash splash on 1 or 2 players!
Are we about to sign Moutinho and/or another??? Canny Scot indeed Christine!
This is what I’m on about:
We ended last season with a threadbare squad which hung onto fifth place on thelast day of the season.To make the step up to champions league we needed to sign at least two quality,proven players and three squad players.Instead we sold AJ,a committed Evertonian whose career was blighted by chasing no hope balls to the corner flag punted there by solid defenders who cannot play the ball out of defence.
Weeks ago it was pretty obvious that quality players were not coming our way.At that stage,not after the opening game of the season,it was clear to me that any dream of the champions league was dead.
Now,we have signed the journeymen and the season will be ok but we are not going to move forward.This is not negativity,it is living in the real world.Is there any Evertonian out there who truly believes that we have a champions league squad?
Come Christmas,I will be happy to eat the largest helping of humble pie ever served but I cannot see it happening.I support Everton 100% and always will but will not pretend all is well when I genuinely believe that this has been a poor summer.
The market is still open and we haven’t spent a meaningful penny in anger yet... but when we do it will be good!
Re Moutinho
Apart from Everton,I dont know of interest from any other club,wonder why, is it just the price Sporting are asking?
None, I reckon. Although not bad signings, not the quality of players that Moyes wanted. They have signed now just to bolster numbers only.
We’ve signed 3 players and have so far not paid a penny for them. They are all low risk gambles. But they are gambles 2 of them played 18 games between them last season due to injury and the other player the manager has only seen on video!
But the question you should ask are low risk gambles good enough for EFC? Moyes has admitted himself that he wanted the players in easy - it’s a risky strategy waiting so late. But I suppose if we pull Moutinho and the Nigerian kid out of the bag a lot of us will be pleased.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum? Well, I suppose we’ll only know after 10 or 11 games when we know who we’ve actually got and how they are performing. We defo need Tim and Pienaar back asap though.
He hasnt the finances to buy a cluster of £8 - £12 Million players like Villa and City are doing.
We are at a decent level following this strategy - its frustrating but we have to cut our cloth accordingly. I just hope his brinkmanship works out and we get Moutinho - you can see the stress in Moysie and he looks knackered.
Get ready for the ride !
off the pitch we have smashed the club transfer record a number off times we have located our training ground to a much larger purpose built facility which is a pleasure to walk around and we are currently in the process of moving grounds for the first time over 100 years. All this has been achieved in less time than it has taken taken Leeds to sink to obscurity. I do not think things are rosy in the garden but i am realistic enough to realise that two decades of poor management and a forty million deficit do not go away overnight. Do the pessimists really think that kenwright is creaming the profit away from Goodison and that moyes is completely unaware of what Everton have been through in the last twenty years.
I only know one thing for sure David Moyes loves Everton and will do everything in his power to improve us and Kenwright also loves Everton and from a different position will do everything to improve us . So if its Castillo and Saha brought in by Kenwright and Moyes lets just remember where the F*** we have come from and where we could be !
Now people are talking about DESPERATION BUYS..... Consider this?.
DM buys nobody, blames funds or availability... whatever... DM sees out his time and is snapped up by some other ambitious club, down on their luck with a few bob to spend. Wan?t DM?s fault after all
Or
DM looks at the pot, looks at what players are available? gets what he can and IS JUDGED ON THAT?.. if DM falls flat on his face after doing that?. Other ambitious club LOOKS ELSEWHERE
DM is not burying his head and is bringing in the ?value? that is available to him
What I am saying is that Premier League Management is not some game where you can completely screw up out of desperation and then walk smugly into another high profile job?. Every penny spent is a measure of the man and he knows it? His future depends on what he can achieve in the following season and I, for one, believe that every decision made (that is within DM?s control) is based on sound football and economic judgement.
I would have loved SWP at Goodison? but 80k a week ? I don?t think so, I lapped up all the press reports about M?bia .. and his heartfelt desire to come to Everton?. er?unless anybody else would pay what he thought Everton would pay?
We finished 5th last year, we can all list a number of Prattenburg moments that, on another day, would have secured 4th. Our team is at least as good as last year and hopefully getting better.
Lets get behind them, COYB IMWT?.. and, come December, we can all do this again and see if our opinions remain the same.
At last a post that actually feels like it came from a fan of a team i also support ...Everton....and i should underline support!!
So negative on here at times ...no wonder we dont win cups etc
You only have to look at Newcastle or Liverpool to see teams who throw money around, but don’t achieve what they set out to.
Moyesie has always done best bringing players on when little was expected - not just Cahill and Lescott, but people like Pienaar, Tim Howard, and even the likes of Bent, Martyn and Kilbane produced far more than we expected.
There’s some potential, some experience in the player signed, a couple of whom are insurance in case we don’t get Moutinho or M’bia.
Of course he won’t be saying we’ve got loadsto spend. He’s keeping his cards close to his chest. IMWT.
So the most crucial signing for this season may be Steve Round.
’1 major signing to announce our intentions’? Come on!?! Who gives a f*$k what people think our intentions are? (they are to finish top 4 / win a cup by the way)
Have you seen Bull Durham? ’I want to announce my presence with authority!’ You must be making a joke and I’m taking the bait here. Are you saying you want the club to take a huge (possibly fatal) risk just to look tough? It’s the definition of being a blowhard.
It’s only at the end of the season that we will be able to START to evaluate the success/failure of this transfer window. Moyes trails only Wenger in transfer fees paid / points won, and that’s enough to give me faith.
It worked with Pienaar though so the jury is out a little.
How long before Saha and Jacobsen get on the pitch with their trcak records of being injury-prone.
This stinks a bit of... let’s get anyone in to appease the fans (but make them bloody cheap!)
Moutinho would have been great... I think we have a good SIZED squad now.... but the quality hasn’t been improved much at all... another creative central midfielder would have been great... oh well, nevermind, get well soon Peanuts and Tiny Tim! You are needed!
Fair enough about the Champions League, that will be very tough, but in your first post you basically say even the Uefa Cup is out of reach. Do you think this is a slight over reaction two games in to the season? I think it will be tough to get into the Uefa Cup too, but let’s not give up before we have started. Letr’s have a go, see how it goes. Let’s get behind the boys. Here’s hoping for a win today.
You think that morale being at a ridiculous low is all part of a canny plan? Have you not seen the man in his recent interviews? He looks like he is about to top himself!!
And if it is a plan (which as we have just gone 2-0 down at home to Portsmouth and looks like a second home defeat in August) it look a bit of a stinker and somebody needs to be answerable.
Christine, I have played football. I can assure you that the sale of 2 likeable players such as Carsley and Johnson, as well as the non arrival of any replacements, will have done its damage already.
And please stop clinging to the players we have signed as being the answer, at least until we have seen them play.
It?s bad management at both board and on hands level.
Well done to the people running Everton Football Club. You are getting everything you deserve.
The new signings are too little too late.I believe that Bill Kenwright is not fit to be the custodian of our club.Anyone still fancy us for a eufa cup place?
1 Posted 29/08/2008 at 14:34:56
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