Hibbert&Ernie
Player Valuation: £10m
Moyes signed up on the 14th of March 2002 so in just over 6 months Moyes will celebrate 10 years in the job. In that time the domestic competitions have been won by
Premierleague.........................FA Cup.........................League Cup
01-02 Arsenal.......................Arsenal...........................Blackburn...............15th
02-03 Man Utd......................Arsenal...........................Liverpool................7th
03-04 Arsenal.......................Man Utd..........................M'boro...................17th
04-05 Chelsea.......................Arsenal..........................Chelsea..................4th
05-06 Chelsea......................Liverpool.........................Man Utd.................11th
06-07 Man Utd.....................Chelsea...........................Chelsea..................6th
07-08 Man Utd.....................Portsmouth......................Tottenham...............5th
08-09 Man Utd.....................Chelsea............................Man Utd..............5th
09-10 Chelsea.....................Chelsea............................Man Utd.................8th
10-11 Man utd...................Man City.............................Birmingham.............7th
The emboldened Chelsea victory was our only final appearance so far under Moyes' tenure. (The Poll Carling Cup night is another story)
So where do we stand, Moyes is fully responsible for the squad we currently have, and it is testament to the man that in our apparent financial unease he has been able to keep the better aspects of our squad.
Prior to the Moyes era our transfer record stood at £5.75 million, paid by Joe Royle to Boro. Moyes has repeatedly broken that marker, firstly in January 05 paying Southampton £6million for James Beattie. Andy Johnson summer 06 £8.6 million (C Palace). Yakubu £11.25 million (Boro). And finally Fellaini september 08 £15 million (Standard Liege).
These four then record breaking signings didn't all work out, Beattie was shipped out at a loss, Johnson at a small profit and despite great promise initially Yakubu it seems we cannot give away. So a one in four hit rate (Fellaini) for 'then' expensive signings is far from a shrewd return.
It appears Moyes is far more comfortable playing hardball for lesser known players, at more reasonable (see lesser) prices and pushing them into top flight regulars. It is hard to believe now that Lescott kept Baines out of the side for 18 months.
The likes of those two just mentioned (Baines, Lescott) along with Jagielka, Cahill, Arteta, Howard and Neville were all signings made for relatively low fees that have gone on to establish themselves in the respective starting elevens of the sides we have put out at those times. What has been noticable since is that Moyes has seemed to find it difficult to spot and promote a lower league player without having them poached by a club paying higher wages or offering a more regular standard of european football. (Think Kyle Naughton amongst others).
So has the David Moyes effect worn off? Not being able to throw huge sums around with no regard to losing it all (City - Jo, Man Utd - Hargreaves, Chelsea - Zerchov, Arsenal - Silvinho, Liverpool - Heskey, Nunez, Traore, Cisse, Diouf, Morientes, Krompamp, Gonzalez, Konchesky, Poulsen, Cole, Crouch, Babel, Pennant, Keane, Dossena, Riera, Aquilani) hasn't been a luxury we have been able to afford him, and with players establishing themselves as first teamers and subsequently being worthy of first teamer wages the financial restriction has bitten twice because of increased total wage expenditure compounding an inability to stump up the cash to actually be able to buy a player in the first place.
All that said, there was some measure of optimism last summer when we began the campaign, and besides having lost Pienaar in January and Vaughan this summer the squad is the same except for a couple of youth team players entering the fray.
Remember, Moyes signed to extend his contract in the summer of 2010 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/18/everton-premierleague) so decided to stay on knowing full well the limitations of the club, so either he signed for the money or he signed because he feels he can do more with the club.
So although we have experienced a lot of lows during his 10 years, and enjoyed too few highs we must keep in mind that the club was far from stable when he took over, that in spite of alleged record turnovers we have been one of the premier leagues smallest total spenders, and that with the merry-go-round of managers and owners of other clubs that we punch our weight (consider season ticket price freezes) that we have the grounding to aspire to higher things is due in no small part to our longest serving premier league manager.
Therein lies the issue, if big money was available, could Moyes spend it correctly? That big money isn't available makes the question academic, and being honest what kind of owner would need to appear for us to be able to outbid the Man City's, Chelsea's, Barcelona's, and Real Madrid's of this world. That fans feel able to bleat about 'investment' and are corralled by shepherds into 'board out, anyone in' cries just further detracts from the club and the atmosphere within and around it.
Big money has alienated fans, well before Oligarchs and Oil royalty turned the air toxic, that fans look to the bottom line to compare sides has detracted from the game to such an extent that the game itself has for huge portions of 'fans' become secondary. Obscene pay has corrupted more young athletes than could ever have been imagined, a corrupt media attempts to paint these sport stars as role models and then castigates and victimises them for not being the saints they never pretended to be in the first place. I hear and read people talk about the game needing reform, I disagree, the hoax that uses the game as a platform is what needs to go, but would I have written this or would you agree with me if our clubs owner was one of the wealthiest people on the planet prepared to throw the kind of money that would keep a fleet of hospitals open for a year away with scant regard and plenty of cash to replace it with? As supporters, has our Hypocrisy - our win at every cost attitude been the catalyst that has allowed the game to slip away from us never to be returned? It has come a long way from keeping the cricket lads fit in winter, eleven vs eleven and a referee. For the money it costs, is the game any richer?
