The Mail Bag
Confidence starts with the manager!!
Comments (18)
As someone who has regularly defended David Moyes as a good (not great) manager with sound integrity and dignity and obvious ability to generate excellent team spirit, I now find myself in a difficult position.
I firmly believed last year's shenanigans were totally down to a Board that had not supported David Moyes with one penny of their own money, nor shown any capability to generate any through proper management of the club, which I believe caused Moyes to seriously consider his future and consequently made it difficult to motivate the team.
And to be honest, when I look at this season 10 games in (counting our friendlies and Europe), I see a similar pattern... but this year I am more concerned.
I see a very frustrated manager who feels he has been given a major mountain to climb without any ropes. His honesty is his weakness because I believe he wears his heart on his sleeve and therefore cannot contain his frustration from the players. Unfortunately, as I stated last year, if he cannot do his job in those circumstances, he needs to go — and quickly.
Before all the brickbats arrive stating he was won 3 LMA awards and gotten us places in the league we could only dream of with what he has to spend — I TOTALLY AGREE.
This board at EFC are the worst in my lifetime of 50+ years supporting the Blues — both in terms of having no money to support the team, and more importantly, in terms of having the ability to generate those funds — let alone the constant aura of deceit that emanates from the corridors of power...
However, David Moyes's job is to manage whatever is thrown at him; while I did not expect a top-six finish this year, I certainly did not expect to get only 3 points from four games — at least two of which we'd have won last year.
Now a lot of you may say, "It's too early to panic"... but I see three problems:
1. A classic Moyes sulk leading us to crash out of Europe and the League Cup because I believe psychologically he has geared things up to put the Board in a position of "Back me or sack me" come January; he clearly knows this squad is inadequate to challenge on all 4 fronts.
2. We're all pinning our hopes on Jags, Arteta and the Yak to come back as good as new... whereas anyone who has experience of the type of injuries they have had will tell you that they will be unlikely to find the same form this season and may not fully recover for next season.
3. I believe that the Destination Kirkby decision will cause such a rift between fans and fractions within the club that concentration on the pitch will be hard to maintain.
I would like to close in saying this is not an anti-Moyes rant in fact I see Moyesy as a managerial equivalent to Big Dunc— only he doesn't have the tattoo on his arm. I truly believe he loves the club and supporters but is getting worn out by the constant bullshit upstairs.
If THAT is the case, as I said earlier, he cannot sustain his position and needs to do the honourable thing. I think that may be a short-term disaster but we cannot continue to build the club on sand... and in my opinion, sand is where it's at right now.
Jay Harris, Posted 14/09/2009 at 20:50:15
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There’s no way on earth that is the case, but our central defenders resort to it more often than not. Sometimes it’s required to clear, other times there’s no pass on. Biggest culprit is Yobo, always has been. Second was Judas, and he’s worth £24 million apparently.
I’ve heard Moyes in nearly every game screaming ’pass, pass!’ and getting frustrated at his players (you can hear it easily at Goodison on match days!), plus commenting after games that he was pleased as we kept the ball on the deck and passed it around.
Plus, for all those elsewhere complaining about 4-5-1, it puts one of most popular players in his best position, namely, Tim Cahill.
They really are shocking at the minute, but to suggest that Moyes sets them to play that way really is myopic (to steal Brian’s word!).
Also Jay, the worst board in 50 years? Do you really want that twat Johnson back? I don’t think so.
If your saying that Moyes didn't go for the win cos he’s sulking with the board then he’s as bad as they are and needs to get real!
And anyway, the two money players he brought in sat it out on the bench so why give him the dosh to replace Hibbert and Osman when he seems determined to play them anyway?
Sorry, but our club aren't the Mersey Millionaires any more and we need a manager who will accept that and work to the best of his ability with what he’s got. If that's not Davey Moyes then sadly, and I really mean that, we need to look for someone who will.
If the players ignore the managers instructions from pitch side why the fuck does he pick them week after week? Don't tell me about a small squad, he doesn't change the team even when he has the chance.
It may take such a drastic step to get Evertonians of their fat arses and frothing at the mouth over the shambles that this club hs become at boardroom level....
or maybe we could get Tony Mowbray in — his teams play nice attractive football — oh hang on a mo... West Brom went down. But they passed it nicely didn’t they?
4 games in we are 3 points behind were we were a year ago. Panic panic panic — give us a break.
But I’m starting to get fed up with Moyes’s sulks. He’s on £65k a week and should be damned grateful for that.
Pull your finger out Moyesie.
I really cant comprehend how many people here are so short sighted, its unbelievable – facts are with zero net spending for the last two years Moyes got us to 5-th twice in a row, QF in UEFA Cup, SF in Carling and FA CUP final. There isnt one of his peers to have achieved that feature on a constant basis - nor MON, nor Redknapp, nor Hughes – managers with net net spending of more than 15M per year for the last two seasons, MON thre 8 points advantage into 7 points deficit in just 5 games, Wenger for all his fancy football hasn’t won anything since the implementation of strict financial policy at Arsenal, nor even Benithez for that matter. Name me one, just one of his peers who outperformed Moyes for the last 3 seasons
Make no mistake with zero net spending per year Moyes is doing the best possible job, the lack of depth in Everton squad, the injuries and lack of investment are hindering the team, but he is never sulking or complaining about all the problems, the spin of his squad was taken away last season, he was deprived from strikers for 2 months, he lost his best midfielder and set piece taker in the middle of the season, and for the crucial run in his best defender and still managed to eliminate MU take us to FA CUP final and finish 5-th.
The day Moyes leaves the club will be a very, very dark day and unless Irvine is called as his successor, we will be fighting relegation within 2 years, I can bet on that.
"A chairman can't stop players playing Hoofball can he?"
By consistently failing to back his manager when we desperately needed funds, he has indirectly reduced our options. How many years have we needed a box-to-box midfield General type player. But instead Moyes is forced to reinforce in other areas as other players leave.
Brian Noble,
"But I’d be no more confident of us ’breaking through’ if we had Man City’s money and Moyes as manager!"
Utter shit, If we had City’s money we could’ve got the likes of Glen Johnson, Gareth Barry, Robinho. Imagine some of those players playing instead of Hibbert, Neville and Osman. Ok, that's extreme amounts of money but if Moyes had just a net spend of £15M (that's the Lescott funds + £15M) we could’ve pushed on. This year is just like the last and I don't see Moyes taking another summer like this again.
Ciarán McGlone
"Believe it not - Moyes walking could be a good thing for this club..."
As crazy as it sounds. This may be the only thing that would stir Everton fans enough to do what needs to be done NOW. Moyes to quit (or leave for a more ambitious club) and say "I wanted to stay but was serially misled over club finances". We all know he’s thinking it, but saying it now would probably get him sacked.
I’ve said this a thousand times but if our current Chairman wasn’t a "lifelong Blue" and a local lad, but instead a Yank (for example), people would be screaming for blood. But because Kenwright can spin the old "I only want what's best" yarn, a lot of people lap it up.
SACK THE BOARD!!!!!
And we’d probably all be very happy right now..
Say what you like about the board but its the Club as a whole is the reason why we are being held back, Liverpool isn't London and our name doesn't represent the city in which we play.
I voted No for Kirkby but IF, and its a big IF, IF we could maintain our core support in a move to Kirkby, Everton could become more of a brand name than it currently is and potentially worth the investing of some Oligarch. History is in the past and worth remembering but our future is bleak.
No I wouldnt want Peter Johnson back but he wasnt Chairman for 9 years in which time with a bit of investment we’d have no doubt been a top club again.
But because of Kenwright’s failings we’re always the "Nearly men" who blow every opportunity we get.
Also bear in mind Kenwright was on PJ’s board of directors so in fact has presided in one way or another for over 20 years.
Oh, Kenwright used to sit in the boys pen after coming on uncle cyril’s bike.
KENWRIGHT OUT
He wants a top 4 job but will never get 1 because he would be out of his depth. Managing Everton in it’s current plight is his strong point. He thrives on adversity. Something terrible has to happen before he wakes up and gets the point. It happens every fucking year.
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1 Posted 15/09/2009 at 08:14:45
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Moyes plays this way and the buck stop with him. Whenever we get the ball down and play, we look half-decent... only to revert back to type in the next match. It's driving me around the bend.