ToffeeWeb - Season 2008-09

The Mail Bag

Nearly there...

There are four unsackable managers in the premier league: Ferguson, O'Neill, Wenger and Moyes. At the end of September, David Moyes would have been on my list as one of the most sackable. His recent performances have, in my view, made his early petulance forgiveable and forgetable. I'm happy to be wrong.

So, what about this close season? I believe that the "big four" is breaking up and our time is nigh. We've got good young players who will be better next season. We've got Fellaini, who will be much better next season and we've got a solid defence. How do we move up without huge investment? It can be done.

In a dream world, Jô would produce the goods and we'd get him on loan for another season. Unlikely, though, so we buy him at a knock down price.

We win the FA Cup, or at least reach the semi final and make a few quid. We somehow continue the policy of spending a reasonable amount on one quality player, and buy another creative midfielder (Moutinho?). We buy Chris Eagles to give us affordable width and pace. We bring in a utility defender on loan.

Then, next season we qualify for the Champions League and begin the gradual re-development of Goodison Park. It's quite simple really...
Andy Crooks, Belfast Posted 16/02/2009 at 16:37:54

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Michael Kenrick

FM Alert!!! Here's a special thread for the Soothsayers and mystic megs...

Dave Whitwell
1 Posted 16/02/2009 at 13:33:19

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There's been a few posts recently talking abouts moments that change a season, and if only we had started better etc, etc. So I though it was worth having a look at the table since that tackle by Neville, it reads as follows:

1. Man Utd      pld 17 42 Pts
2. A Villa          pld 17 37 pts
3. Liv'pool       pld 17 34 pts
4. Everton       pld 17 32 pts
5. Chelsea     pld 17 29 pts
6. Arsenal       pld 17 28 pts
7. Wigan         pld 17 26 pts
8. Fulham       pld 16 23pts
9. Spurs          pld 17 23pts
10. Man City   pld 17 21 pts

Andrew Magner
2 Posted 16/02/2009 at 13:58:33

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Let's take a look at the next few months fixtures.

Aston villa's fixture list.

UEFA Cup
Aston Villa v CSKA Moscow
Aston Villa v Chelsea, 12:45 
CSKA Moscow v Aston Villa, 
Aston Villa v Stoke, 15:00 
Man City v Aston Villa, 19:45
Aston Villa v Tottenham, 16:00
Liverpool v Aston Villa, 16:00
Man Utd v Aston Villa, 15:00
Aston Villa v Everton, 15:00

Evertons fixture list:

Newcastle v Everton, 16:00
Everton v West Brom, 12:45
Blackburn v Everton, 20:00
Everton v West Ham/ Middlesbrough, 
Everton v Stoke, 15:00
Portsmouth v Everton, 12:45
Everton v Wigan, 15:00
Aston Villa v Everton, 15:00

I'd love it if us and villa could finish in top 4, but that's doubtful. Looking at these fixtures we've seriously gotta be able to catch Villa up, they also haven't been through their bad patch yet. The way we are playing to, I'd say game on.....

Brett Bradshaw
3 Posted 16/02/2009 at 21:05:32

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For FM purposes, and before I start picking who I want in it, how many players are we allowed?

Stefan Tosev
4 Posted 16/02/2009 at 23:31:52

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Brett, as many as you want, you can also have access to the special FM database in accordance with the Club having exclusive deal with its creators :))))

Graham Atherton
5 Posted 17/02/2009 at 08:53:57

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On the ?petulant behaviour? remark. There was much more going on last summer than was made public and changes happened as a result of the Kirkby ?call-in?.

Kenwright has hinted several times that buyers (yes more than one) were seriously interested and have since cooled their ardour. Presumably stadium/credit crunch problems.

If I were the manager and I were in daily contact with the Chairman I would be asking what the chances of a takeover were, and most likely be getting an answer something like ?there are a few interested but they are waiting for the outcome of the stadium project?. In those circumstances I would stall on my contract to see what was happening ? a change in ownership drastically effects my employment conditions. A buyer would have also drastically effected the transfer budget.

Then the man with a huge input in contracts offered ? the CEO ? was sacked/resigned days after the call-in.

Moyes was then quite possibly left with a situation where no-one knew exactly what was going to happen (until Kenwright got definite ?not interested at the moment? signals from the buyers) and the man who knew what the budget was and who negotiates contracts had left.

This is exactly the situation that Moyes abhors ? he is a man of obsessive preparation and detail and to be left with not knowing what he can afford or who he can bring in with no new faces in the squad halfway through a pre-season and the new season staring him in the face would have been extremely unsettling. His professional pride was damaged and he would be thinking about the future.

In short he would be entitled to be pissed off! A contract was drawn up eventually that covered Moyes in the event of the club being sold and all seemed happy.

Everyone ? the team and the manager ? went into the new season under prepared. Not physically (as we now know the team are as fit as ever) but mentally, with several key players coming back after injury (Cahill, Arteta) and a new player who has had to find his feet during the season.

There were several factors causing the poor start this season. Yes, they do ultimately fall at the feet of the manager and his chairman but the improvement came as a result of several things starting to work better.

Simon Walker
6 Posted 17/02/2009 at 09:17:46

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I still think it?ll be Villa that we overtake to get an assured Uefa Cup spot, and like you say, Champions League at the end of next season.

I?ve never had anything but absolute faith in Moyes, we don?t need to cast our minds back far to some of the previous managers to realise how lucky we are.

Ever Optimistic :)

Rob Szlaz
7 Posted 17/02/2009 at 11:40:41

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Agreed Simon. There used to be time when I looked at the fixtures at the end of a season thinking ’where are we going to get the points to stay up!’
Now it’s ’top 4 is possible’
We have Moyes to thank for that.

Alan Clarke
8 Posted 17/02/2009 at 12:30:50

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We’ve a hell of a lot of points to make up on Villa if we’re to catch them. I would have said it’s more realistic that we might catch Chelsea especially if we can get something at their place. I’m hoping Villa beat Chelsea on Saturday, then we beat Newcastle and we’ll only be 6 points off them. Arsenal have got an awful run in so I’ve discounted them already.

Brett Bradshaw
9 Posted 17/02/2009 at 12:29:12

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I just saw that Micah Richards has been linked with Villa. How much is he worth? £10m?

Put him in the team as a RB and let him and Hibbo fight it out.. plus he covers CB.