Yes, and can't we add to that the second-worst home record and worst start to a season, ever? He's brilliant, that's for sure.

Come now, Michael. I distinctly remember you telling fans and critics of Moyes alike that we should you can’t judge a team until the end of a season. If we’re still in the top 6 come May, that’ll be four top 6 finishes in six years. Very decent by anyone’s standards.

What our current form proves is just what an effect Moyes?s miserable contract wrangling had on the squad. His own demeanour has changed quite amazingly too. Shame on him.

It was shear genius the way he arranged for Vic, Vaughany, Saha and The Yak to receive injuries and then finally put out a team with a more pleasant way of playing football ? ie with the ball at least occasionally on the grass between ours and our oponents penalty box. Pure geniuis and worthy of a Knighthood.

I am sure that with the imminent run of games he will prove his worth and tactical genius by out-thinking the Fat Waiter (twice), Wenger and Sir Alex. Must congratulate him also for not putting up a fight for Stephen Apiah having gone to Spurs for a training and not getting him up to Finch Farm.

Steve Callaghan, I take it you?re tapping Moyes?s phone? How else did you find out that Moyes didn?t put up a fight for Stephen Appiah?

As you most probably know, Moyes has the honourable policy of never discussing transfers until they are complete (if then!). For all you know he has been in constant dialogue with Appiah and his agent, but the lad chose to train with Spurs instead.

In view of Redknapp?s despicable practice of talking about players belonging to other clubs, I think we should be pleased we have a manager with a little more class.

Rumour has it Appiah likes the same things VDM likes and we don't want another one of those, thank you very much.

Our season at present is looking much much better than it was 6 months ago though; I myself think the current system was forced upon Moyes through injuries and the like but we are consistently doing well [over the last few seasons], so there must be something Moyes is doing well. If i was an outsider looking in, apart from the top 4, we have been the best team in the league for most of his tenure.

While I agree with MK to an extent, it has to be said (or at least I am going to say it!) that ? with just a modicum of good fortune and getting the results we would have reasonably deserved on the day ? we could have easily had 7 additional points from our home games this season.

This modicum of good fortune should not in actuality be too much to expect given the points our neighbours have gained so far this season when they didn?t deserve them on the balance of play. Every mistake made seemed to be punished by the ball ending up in the back of our net at times while nothing seemed to go for us at home.

I am not asking for the Blues to be lucky for that is in the lap of the football gods. I am only asking that we remember when Everton have been decidedly unlucky!

On the other hand, I can think of 4 points away from home that we were lucky to get and while I appreciate all this is very subjective, overall we could have been 3 points better off than we are now and what would this website have looked like then?!

Brian, In the same way that you assume he did enquire about him... Anyway, he is NOT injured ? so that rules out any chance of him coming to us. Finally, I would give up ?a little more class? in my manager for him to have done something similar to what Redknap has done, ie actually win something.

So, before we go overboard with the plaudits and Manager of the Year award, let?s see how the next make or break five games go ? this is where he can prove he is actually on the way to becoming a great manager.

So, Steve, if he is on the way to becoming a ?great? manager, do you agree that he is already a ?good manager??

What?s more, are you sarcastically suggesting that Moyes has had good fortune with his 3 first choice strikers all being injured at the same time? I would argue that this would be cause a headache for any manager. Moyes has proved his worth by adapting to the problem, successfully.

Please excuse my support for the manager I support.

Micheal,

Whislt i understand your point about the home form which, I'm sure everyone would agree has been far from impressive, I would be interested to hear your point of view (and anyone else with similar views) with regards Moyes.

I seem to remember at the start of the season and beyond you were extremely critical of Moyes, if not directly calling for him to be sacked then at least insinuating it. I am therefore curious what your view of him now is, now that we have climbed up the league and successfully negotiated the 3rd round of the Cup.

I seem to remember one of your biggest concerns was the hoofball we were playing earlier in the season, which again I won't deny that was the case. However, as we are now in 6th and starting to play attractive football, has any of your faith in the manager been restored and how do you feel about him. Would you still like to see him replaced?

Can anyone remember any other top flight team which started games without a recognised striker? Centre backs have been put up as strikers - but 4-6-0? Would any manager ever have innovated this if he didn?t have to? I wonder.

Leighton Baines?s comments on the OS recently give an insight into the success of this system ? he can pass the ball to Arteta or Pienaar and get forward with confidence, because we aren?t just going to give the ball away. I fully approve of this.

6th in the Prem! Only the "Sky Four" and Villa above us who haven't been playing well and have been relying on mistakes from other teams... Jags and Lescott to name a few. Yes, Moyesy didn't sign a contract, which affected the team at the beginning of the season but no one would have signed a contract if they didn't have the assurances of cash to spend, even if it's for a McDonald's coffee. Moyesy has done a fantastic job at our club and if the idiotic doubters that frequent this site can't see this they might as well stop drinking Chang and go and drink Carlsberg.

Michael,

You are correct to highlight that our home form this season is not acceptable.

However, what do you mean by worst start to a season ever? You wouldn?t be making things up just to have a pop at David Moyes would you? Very naughty.

It?s time you perhaps gave a bit of credit where it is due. Those living in the real world can see what a fabulous manager David Moyes has been and continues to be.

People are still quick to look for reasons to jump on Moyes?s back! What has been achieved from throughout the season is remarkable. Don?t forget from the start of this campaign we were missing Cahill and Pienaar, arguably two of our most effective players. Fellaini was signed and needed time to settle in, our defence and keeper were making uncharacteristic errors which cost us heavily, the panic buttons were being pushed frantically by all except for Moyes himself!

Now we are playing decent football, have adapted well to losing Yak, Louis and JV, ignoring the clamour to use untried kids Lukas and Agard and still he gets no credit. We never lost to Utd or Chelsea as we did last season so we can perform against the "top 4" teams and deserved to win at least 1 of them. We were awful v RS, granted, and robbed by Villa but we?re a very good team in good form and DM has earned the plaudits he?s getting from certain pundits, even if a section of Evertonians are loathe to do so .

The 2nd worst home record but only Chelsea and the legue leaders have a better away record so 3rd best.

Swings and roundabouts eh?

Personally speaking - I can see merits in both arguments. What would set Moyes aside is if his squad is given a clean bill of health before both derbies and he manages to secure his first victory or two on their ground. Now, that really would be something to shout about and give him a lot more credibility in my eyes.

He has his faults and, of course, good points ? and is probably the best manager we could hope to have in our present financial predicament. At this stage, however, to suggest he can do no wrong and ignore some of the bad days he has had is somewhat naive. But here?s hoping he lives up to some of that praise that comes his way from the National Press if not from some quarters of our fan-base.

I think most if not all of our fan-base want DM to achieve great things, but not all are blinkered to his more obvious faults.

His greatest mistake was to allow Yakubu to claim an automatic place in the team whilst he was contributing little or nothing. It may be coincidence but, since he has been out of the side, Everton have begun to look more of a team; DM seems to function at his best when there are fewer players available for selection.

Great managers are ruthless and have a clear vision of how they want their team to perform, they make no concessions to individual players or to the clamour of the supporters. They anticipate problems and pro-actively sort them out.

DM cannot claim to have all of these qualities all of the time.

Regarding MK?s worst start to a season ever .. he is correct regarding our home results 2008-09 was the only time we have reached Christmas with only one win at home in all competitions.

What satisfies Evertonians has clearly changed over the last few seasons. I was ready to gnaw my Everton shirt to pieces a few hours before the summer transfer deadline. Yes, our home form has been cack, yes, our away form is amazing, yes, we have no strikers. The fact is ? we are still in the hunt for a VERY good league finish after going through the summer with a relegation budget and I am excited about the two RS games rather than nervously reaching for copious amounts of loo roll.

And if Moyes had just signed his contract and got on with his job in June, then there would have been no upheaval, no bad start, so stop congratulating him for starting to rectify a mess he created of his own doing in the first place because, in all honesty, we would be above Villa now, still in Europe, and not out of the League Cup at the first go.

I thought it was the lack of transfer budget, kirkby, and Bully leaving that caused the upheaval, not Moyes faffing with his contract...

I am amazed out how truly blessed we are to have such a wonderful manager, whose arse the sun shines out of.

Moyes spent all our transfer kitty on Fellani which was a big mistake. He even signed Saha knowing fine well he was just as injury-prone as Vaughan, if not more so. Whatever excuses you make for Moyes it?s his fault we have no fit strikers at the club ? and when we do have one, it?s only the ever impressive Anichebe. I?m sure our final league placing at the end of the season will reflect his outstanding managerial ability but when we finish tenth we will hear how amazing it is for a club of Everton?s size to finish so high. I truly do not know how this guy gets away with it.

We were out of two cup competitions in the first round again, not a surprise considering his past record in cup competitions ? it?s worse than a disgrace. He talks us down all the time, I hate him! The two seasons before he arrived we had two FA Cup quarter-finals... he has won five games in the competition.

He does not belong at Everton. Better than Catterick? Better than Royle? ? People believe this... honest, I?m not making it up! The financial climate we are in and the money he is on, we could get better.

This is just a thought but maybe his dire record against Liverpool is because his Preston (Shankly Kop) and Celtic days, he shows them far too much respect, he is of a small club mentality which has rubbed of on the fans, the club, and how we are perceived.
For the record, the manger I would love to be in charge of Everton for our upcoming games with the shite, is the manager of Standard Liege... I wonder if he is on three million a year?

Darrel, I think you are right. I suggested early in the season that we might be in a relegation battle by Christmas. I?m happy to admit I was wrong.

I also suggested that, like it or not (personally I didn?t), we had David Moyes for the foreseeable future. Therefore, I hoped he would grind out some results and restore team spirit that seems to thrive in the face of adversity. This is what David Moyes is excellent at; battling the odds and keeping us safe. Fair enough.

Can we aspire to more than that? I believe we should. DM?s qualities do not, in my view, include the ability to create a side that could be successful at the very highest level. It's not just money. It?s style, self-belief and boldness. Can anyone describe David Moyes as bold?

I genuinely feel that summer was the time for a change. Does this mean I should go drink Carlsberg?

All I can focus on is the fact we have the second-best away record, cause for me our season lies a few hundred yards across the park in the coming month... I'd like ta think Davey wouldn't take the knighthood being a Celtic man 'n all...

Send the kids out to break legs in the first leg and rough up their season, and go for 'em in the cup. Would he even consider that? Are point deductions possible if Hibbert leads a quartet of sendings off? Don't bend over, Davey lad...

George, see responses from Anthony, Darrel and David above.

I?m American. I have lived in Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania for 8 years. That city is extremely similar to your Liverpool in one glaring respect. There is a subset of human being that lives in its confines that is inheriently negative. Example: No matter WHAT the Steelers did it wasn?t good enough.

That American football organization is the MODEL for stability and what is right about sports. A blue collar team, no one is over-paid, stable managers (4 in the last 35+ years), and an ownership team that can see the forest through the trees. Yet Pittsburghers ? the born and bred ones ? ALWAYS found something wrong or something to bitch about. Yet they were fans of a truly storied and great franchise.

Everton is the exact same thing! Fans who will complain about anything and everything! Moyes is absolutely fantastic. With a threadbare squad, no overpaid asses, a fantastic work ethic ? in short a TEAM! Everton and what they do with the funds available, the stability they choose to run their club with, the ridiculously lopsided economic system that is the EPL ? they are performing fabulously and punching above their weight. Do I get frustrated with them? Of course. But overall you HAVE to love them!

I am SO proud and so HAPPY to have "adopted" this team. I?ve never loved the way a team is run more or the way they approach their sport and task at hand.

You craddle-born Liverpudians need to take stock, and stop it with the negativity. Be proud of your team, your manager, and its players because you have SO much to be proud of!

Smile. Have a beer to start your day instead of that sack of chit you eat hence spoiling your mood. I swear if the sun ever came out in that area of the world you?d bitch it wasn?t raining!

BTW - I live in Florida and it was 80 degrees today and totally sunny. :)

POSITIVE, PRIDE - COYB!!!!

The season has turned around for one obvious reason: ARTETA

If Moyes had played him in his favourite position (centre mid) at the start of the season, we would have been ok.

It also helps Yakubu getting injured, because we can't play the lazy bastard now, hoping he will score a lucky goal to warrant his place in the team.

Scathing attack there, David Mathieson. I?m no pro-Moyes myself but I would rather we add 1 quality player each transfer window than 3 average journeymen. Of course if he picks up the odd Arteta, Cahill and Martyn so much the better.

It?s not his fault that we?re blessed with crock Vaughan and crap Anichebe. The only decent academy player we produce gets sold on the cheap ? not his fault either. Saha was free, except we decided to pay his wages during his nursing periods also (why??). He probably never heard of Castillo until autumn 2008.

We broke the transfer record for Beattie, AJ and the Yak. Only the Yak is anywhere near decent and now is a diving lazy fat twat too. I wish we could pick half a dozen Cahills at the local grocery but it doesn?t happen anymore.

Fellaini is ace, and if you?ve played football at any level you can see his got shitloads of quality. He doesn?t run blindly around the pitch but neither did Zidane (or Sheringham for that matter). I would pay a club to take Anichebe off our hands but we don?t even have enough for the taxi. COYB

So David Matthieson, I assume you will apologise profusely if Moyes delivers his fourth top 6 finish in six years?

You bang on about the absolute certainty that we will finish around 10th, conveniently forgetting that the man you so love to hate has already led this club to 4th, 5th and 6th place finishes in the last few years.

Fellaini? he has been described by Alex Ferguson, no less, as one of the most exciting talents in Europe. Saha? He was free, for fuck?s sake and has already made a decent contribution despite his clear problems with injury.

In the end, I have very little time for anyone as petty and small-minded enough to use Moyes?s background at Preston (and tenuous associations with Bill Shankly) as a reason to attack him. Your post was a disgrace and exposed you as a bitter character blinkered to the realities of the game.

Dave Mathieson let?s pick a flavour of the month manager to replace Moyes... obviously the Liege manager is this month's choice (Spurs did that with Ramos and look what happened.) Last month it would have been Phil Brown after his 10 games managing in the Premier League... JESUS. I completely agree with Jamie Crowley (I may as well be from another country being born in Wigan) our core scouse support really are fucking depressing.

Get Moyes OUT! Being on course for his 4th Top 6 finish is not good enough. Especially considering his net spend is less than half the Premier League.

Total disgrace! We should be playing better football than Arsenal and winning the Champions League with the resources our highly competent and (as if you have forgotten) ?True Blue? Bill Kenwright has provided.

No excuses, Moyes has had long enough, and all the money necessary to make EFC offically the greatest and most successful club in the World EVER.

Forget the fact we can't afford to buy a single player without selling for the 3rd transfer window in a row. That's irrelevant, Moyes needs to go. We missed out on Nigel Clough ? he would bring back the good times. Have you seen his record at Burton Albion?

Ok Michael, I have read the posts you suggested. Obviously all these posts are very critical of Moyes. So therefore I presume that as an answer to my original post, you (along with Anthony, Darell and David i presume??) would like to see Moyes sacked?

As I say I am only asking out of curiosity, not as the basis to start an argument. Also, if he should go, who do you think should replace him?

David Mathieson, my favourite part of your rant, was where you blame Moyes for all the injuries to Yak, Saha, JV and Vic.

Do you think Moyes could be suffering from the disease ’Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy’?
Look it up people!

Brian, you are crazy, if you really believe Moyes has done well to finish in the top 6 a few seasons (oh and remind me where they finished not in the top 6? yeah that?s right...) then that?s fine, but not for a club which is one of the most successful Britain has ever produced. You say he?s doin well but apart from the League Cup last year, he gets us knocked out of every cup competition very, very early... and in Europe, please!! He hasn?t gotta clue. We want trophies to celebrate ? not top 6 and getting knocked out of the Uefa Cup at home playing defensive-minded as you would in an away leg.

Oh and to whoever says DM wouldn?t of known the players he has are brought in are injury-prone needs to get a grip ? he only needs to check there background,5 mins if that ? YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!
DAVID MATHIESON, YOU ARE A LEGEND, WELL SAID LAD, WELL FUCKIN SAID!!
Oh and getting back to the topic, we haven?t conceded in the last 5 games cos we have no bloody strikers playing ? just a team full of defenders and midfielders playin a formation of 4-6-0, kickin the ball high into the box every chance we get ? dead exciting!! Who cares what Sir Alex thinks by the way, Brian? This is Everton, not the scum from up the road.

Anthony Bond,

while i agree our Cup record under Moyes is poor. However your statement;

" ( oh an remind me where they finished not in the top 6, yeah that?s right) then that?s fine, but not for a club which is one of the most successful britain has ever produced"

...is totally irrelevant. How would comparing us to another EFC side of a different era mean Moyes should be winning the Premiership?
How does that make up for the financial constraints the present day EFC has, compared against 8 other more financially powerful clubs?

This is the whole point. Just because we won titles in the past, does NOT mean we can expect our present day manager to win titles when he is given such inadequate funding.
do you really expect us to compete with United when they have Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov, Tevez. Likewise Chelsea with their star players. Liverpool and Arsenal have also spent more than us. Similarly Spurs, Villa, Newcastle, West Ham and Portsmouth. Yet we usually finish 5th or 6th under DM. This is a great achievement. Agreed its nothing we can really celebrate as fans- but given the shit funding DM gets it is still an achievement.

Anthony mate, nobody disputes that we are "one of the most successful [clubs] britain has ever produced." The problem, and I’m sure you noticed, is that we were fucking shite for about 15 years before Moyes took over. Increasingly, the modern football fan has no fucking clue that we’re one of the most successful clubs in Britain. What does it matter if 9 times out of 10 we are battling against relegation?

I understand your frustration that we’re not winning the league, I really do. I rarely missed a home match in the 80s and still remember the buzz of going into the last few games of a season knowing we’re going to be champions. But you can’t impose some historical standards on our current manager. Everton today is a very different Everton to the one we remember, and that is nothing to do with David Moyes. It has a lot to do with the people who fucked over our club financially when we should have been pushing on and joining the big boys.

Moyes took over a club with no money, an ageing squad, a piss-poor marketing department and an array of other problems. Not only that, but the club was on its way out of the Premier League, playing some astonishingly bad football in the process.

In 6 years, Moyes has taken this God-awful football side and achieved 3 top 6 finishes (including a 4th place). Yes, there was one terrible season in there too - and one average season when we finished mid-table, but we also finished 7th place in 2002/03. We all wish we were winning trophies left right and centre, but it’s naive to think our club is in any kind of condition to compete at the very top. We all love the club, we all feel like we have a divine right to challenge for the top honours, but the game has changed. Given the financial constraints he has dealt with, Moyes has done remarkably well - and I think you know that if you’re honest with yourself. He’s not perfect, but compare him with any other manager outside the top 4 and he pisses all over them.

Anthony Bond, if you want your team to win trophies regularly then I?m afraid you?ll have to support a different team. There are only 2 (at a push 3) teams that are winning things and winning them regularly...Arsenal haven?t won anything for 3 years. Football for a lot of fans isn?t about being the best...it?s about being the best you can be and I honestly think Everton are that at the minute. It has to be about that or nobody would support your Stockports or your Macclesfields ? everyone would support whoever was top of the league.

Brian Richardson
When we finished forth, fifth and sixth we failed to capitalise. We were knocked out the Champions League qualifier, signings of Phil Neville and Per Kroldrup were hardly inspired, still we should of at the very least, made it into the Uefa Cup group stages that year. Phil Neville was signed to play centre midfield, says it all really about our manager.

Did you forget about Bucharest Was that our worst ever result in the Uefa Cup? 5-1, to go along side Moyes?s other records of worst ever home form up until Christmas, Lowest amount of goals scored in a season ever, yes since 1878! Worst Premier League defeat 7-0 and Longest serving manager without a trophy. Shrewsbury ring a bell? How about Oldham? The first round exit to Standard Liege, after Moyes saying we should play our home leg, like an away leg!!! He really is a fucking idiot, no wonder we went out.

Fiorentina away Moyes was outwitted, his master plan of playing Neville on the right worked didn?t it? That is why he deployed this tactic again in the Anfield derby.

The Fiorentina tie was lost at their place make no mistake about it because Moyes is simply not good enough, what has he ever won? He is a loser at the end of the day, proved time and time again like the play off final, some people are winners, some are losers, the truth hurts but that?s life.

Tottenham at home was the last straw for me and David Moyes. I would've sacked him after we finished 17th with the lowest goals scored ever, but since I was stuck with him give him another chance. Were you there Brian? If so what did you think about it? I won?t mention what happened just because I expect you to know.

After seven years I am more than entitled to form an opinion on our manager, if you differ from me then so be it, proof is in the pudding though.

Anthony Bond is right lad, trophies are what matters! As for Alex Ferguson, I don?t care what he says for one and he is not always right is he? £28 Million Wasted on Veron... enough said.

David Mathieson

Selective stats to beat Moyes with... equally you could bring up the longest unbeaten run in Europe ever, the highest points total in a calendar year since 87, managing the only team ever to beat AZ Alkmar in Europe I could go on but I won?t because you won?t listen.

David Mathieson, You're basing your opinion of Moyes on one match three years ago? We actually lost the Fiorentina match on pens. We outplayed them at GP far more than they outplayed us in Italy.

Is it Moyes?s fault that every time we make a huge step he is given peanuts to spend. We qualify for the CL with the world's smallest squad. And he gets £10M to assemble a side good enough to tackle Europe?s elite. You also conveniently ignore that Villarreal went on to the semis and proved to be an excellent side.

Of course trophies matter but we can't afford the players that are good enough to win them. [Head hits brick wall]

The problem with that view, Phil, is that Moyes actually performs better when it?s backs to the wall, us against the world, and he has a very small tightly-knit squad to work with. Give him the big money and he looses his discipline and makes poor transfer decisions, especially on big-money strikers, who he has a problem with anyway because he wants to change their work ethic so they do more for the team than "just" scoring goals.

The problems in the summer were created by his brinkmanship with Kenwright over his Everton future... perhaps he was even actually looking for a better, bigger club but no-one wanted him and he had to take the obscene contract Kenwright was offering, having wasted 3 months of team-building and pre-season preparation. If he?d actually buckled down and done his job in that time, there?s no telling how high up the table we?d be.

George, much as I dislike Moyes, I have not called for him to be sacked and any discussion of a replacement is moot. This is not FM. Only the Chairman of Everton will make such decisions.

What I want is for Moyes to be a better manager, to be more consistent, to make Everton into a truly winning team with a winning mentality. After 7 years, I?m losing any faith in the mistaken belief that he can do it, because so much of what he does is the antithesis of that paradigm.

However, like watching those endless Hollywood films, watching Everton for me requires a suspension of my disbelief, at least while we are playing, and hoping that the much needed changes in his management ethos will come about. Part of me says these changes never will happen (amply supported by years of damning evidence), but I do have to go on believing he will change.

It?s like being in bad marriage you can?t get out of!

Has anyone come across the theory that opposites prove? If we can achieve what we have done under Moyes being ultra defensive, shit football whose achievements, most seem happy with!? We can do it playing good football. My argument is the way David Moyes sets about his business he will never achieve anything, ever. I hope I am wrong because I believe we?re stuck with him for a long while yet, starting to feel like Crewe. I don?t believe for one minute we are o so fortunate to have Moyes and anything that goes wrong is because we are small club or a poor club, it?s just bollocks.

I do not expect us to win the league but after seven years I would expect at least a trophy or a final. Maybe I expect too much for a club like Everton we are so small aren?t we? In comparison to the likes of Portsmouth and Tottenham.

Phil
The Villareal game was a tough draw, but you get what you?re given, you have to make the most of it. It is what separates the Men from the Boys. You conveniently have no opinion on the heavy loss to the European super power that is Rapid Bucharest.
I have found most Everton fans like to bury their heads in the sand and pretend some things did not happen. Keep them eyes closed am sure the problems will go away.

David, you could pick any manager in the world and list 4 or 5 games in their tenure that make a manager seem hopeless. As others have pointed out, you could also choose 5 or 6 major highlights that make the manager seem like a God. The truth, as you well know, is somewhere in between! Indeed, the most sensible thing, in my opinion, would be to pick out the manager’s final league positions - and yes, his cup record too - and match that against the circumstances he has worked under. Cup record? Nowhere near good enough, although a good run in the Carling Cup and a record run in the UEFA Cup are of note. League record? Astonishing given the circumstances.

You say most Everton fans like to bury their heads in the sand. Maybe. But seeing as you admit you’re in the minority in this situation, isn’t it more likely that you’re the one who is way off the mark on this one?

They all laughed when Christopher Columbus said the world was round. In short, no, not from what I have seen. Last comment, typed too much, I?m a busy person believe it or not. We will just have to agree to disagree.
Up the blues!

Brian, you ask us to compare David Moyes to any manager outside the top four. Please tell me that you have Martin O?Neil in the top four and not Benitez. I?d have been happy to see DM go in the summer but as a man and as a coach he stands head and shoulders above Benitez.

Can I ask David, why should we expect a final or a trophy after 7 years, when does longevity equal success?