10 years ago Bill Kenwright took the decision to appoint David Moyes as Manager of his beloved Everton. Oh how those times changed since David Moyes took charge. In the season of 2001/’02, the Championship was called Division One, topped by Manchester City and MK Dons were still Wimbledon. 8 of the teams in the premier league are not there today, Leeds United the highest profile. ITV Digital went into administration and the financial world of football changed.
David Moyes over his tenure at Goodison Park has always had a tight budget but all around him he’s had to watch enviously as the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City get blank cheques from their super rich owners. Also he’s had to deal with the big money of sponsorship boat sail by with the likes of Manchester united raking in £20milllion a year from Aon. Even those neighbours across the park have splashed the cash in those 10 years.
Everton and David Moyes have been very shrewd and calculated over that time. Rarely diving heavily into the market, focusing on free transfers, loan deals and blooding youth. These smart moves in the market however have meant that the wage bill has raised 80% in Moyes’ term, that is still only a quarter of the likes of Man. City and Chelsea’s bills today. Big money from the Manchester clubs however has helped Everton balance the books over the years with £24m+ transfers of Rooney and Lescott. Fantastic signings of the likes of Cahill, Neville, Martyn, Howard and Jagielka on shoestring budgets have been instrumental in the stability and ethos that Moyes has installed in his team.
A huge pat on the back must go to Bill Kenwright during those ten years though. How often can we say in modern football that the chairman has stuck by their manager through thick and thin? At the end of the 2003-04 season Everton finished 17th and avoided the drop by just 6 points. How many managers today would have made it until January let alone May in a season like that. Kenwright stood by his man and was fantastically repaid the following year with Moyes leading his men to 4th place and even sweeter above the champions of Europe, Liverpool. The 2004-05 so far has been the stand out achievement for Everton under David Moyes, which to some may sound a bit mediocre but being surrounded by the money guzzling teams of today shows how fantastic an achievement it truly is. The fairytale wasn’t to be though as Villareal prevented Everton making the financial gold mine of the Champions League group stage. What a difference that would have made to Everton
What does the future hold for Moyes? The fact of it is the gulf in finances between top clubs and where he and Kenwright want the club to be is growing year on year. Without the funds to build a new stadium to bring in the revenue that gap is never going to get smaller. Moyes is clearly a great manager and there is a mutual love between himself and the fans. I seriously doubt in those 10 years that other clubs haven’t come looking for Moyes’ signature but he has repaid his chairmans faith in him but for how much longer can he keep looking up at the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham and even Stoke and Newcastle. In recent weeks there has been talks of Moyes replacing Harry Redknapp at Spurs if he takes the England job. I for one, as a Spurs fan would be very happy but slightly sorry for those Evertonian fans as I would love to see David Moyes lead the ‘Peoples Club’ to some silverware.
Greg Mackett
No comments:
Post a Comment