Not everyone was enamoured with the appointment of David Moyes last January. Most of us, however, felt a sense of relief when Sean Dyche was released from the burden of managing Everton (although now we do begrudgingly acknowledge the job he did at holding us together during the darkest days and keeping us in the Premier League against all odds).
There were sceptics (there always are at Everton) about the return of the red-haired messiah. Many felt it lacked ambition, was a step backwards, and some expressed the view that he was past his prime – and had failed at Man Utd, Sunderland, Real Sociedad, and even at West Ham – where he won a European trophy.
However, our upturn in form last season proved that Moyes was the man for such a time as this. He gets us. He understands the club. He says the right things in the press conference room, he gets the team to fight for every challenge, work hard, and even when we get beaten we are never played off the park. You can point to the new ownership, new stadium, new revenue streams, but most of the improvement at Everton has come from Moyes’ sheer will and determination.
Many of you will remember the last time we had loads of money and the scattergun approach to improving the team: Amongst others, in walked Davy Klaasen, Sandro Ramirez, Fabian Delph, and Gbamin! At one point, we had five number 10s on the books – quite what Sam Allardyce (not known for his forward-thinking football) was supposed to do with that, we don’t know! There were successes, of course – not least Jordan Pickford – but many more misses than hits. In the impoverished era that followed, there were even worse purchases – probably starting with Cenk Tosun and ending with Neal Maupay.
This transfer window has been much more sensible: Round holes filled by round pegs. Alcaraz offers not only squad depth but future promise. Quality buys in Dewsbury-Hall, a world-class loan signing in Jack Grealish, and perhaps a future world-class player in Tyler Dibling. Other squad signings arrived for cover (King & Travers) and current and future projects (Röhl & Aznou) with the unknown talent of Thierno Barry, who, alongside Beto, are obviously works-in-progress, but hopefully with bags of effort and desire to improve.
It was Moyes cutting a frustrated figure at the summer league series in Atlanta that gave me hope. He was demanding more players and better players. He repeatedly said we needed 10 additions (we got 9). Once 2 or 3 were through the door, Moyes was not happy. He publicly demanded more signings (then followed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Grealish), and he was still downcast. Eventually, Tyler Dibling and Merlin Röhl followed – showing us a level of ambition that we have not witnessed since Carlo Ancelotti – and probably a long time before that.
Moyes is determined to drag us up the league. He has ambition – he wants European football. He thinks we should at least be in the top 10. It will be hard enough getting past Fulham, Bournemouth, Brighton, and Crystal Palace, without even thinking about staying above West Ham, Man Utd, and Spurs. Usurping Newcastle and the big boys may be for another season or two – although I’d fancy us finishing higher than Brentford, Villa, or Forest right now. We’ll take this immediate improvement and increased hope for the season. We owe a great deal of thanks to Moyes and his determination for dragging us back towards the place every Evertonian knows we belong. Moyes has us dreaming again.
