Posted this on another forum in response to a Manc lad I know asking why the worm had turned as far as our opinion of Moyes is concerned. Thought it might be worth posting it here in the hope of an Amen or two.
I loved Moyes. Loved him. For younger fans it's easy to forget just how bad the pre-Moyes era was. From about 1993 to the day that Moyes took over (with the exception of a couple of Joe Royle years in the middle of it), being an Evertonian was a largely crap experience. We had been winning the league less than a decade beforehand and yet we were consistently in the relegation mix every season. Bad management at board level and a succession of poor managers and laughably bad players for a decade made being an Everton fan a chuffing chore.
Then one day, Moyes walks into a press conference, throws in an accidental soundbite, wins a few games and things suddenly seem optimistic. The following season he finishes 7th, Rooney emerges and we all see it's the real deal. A relegation fight the following season and Rooney leaving after it brought us all back to earth but on the back of that he manages to finish 4th the following season. There's still a few bumps along the way after that, but essentially we stabilised as a club from then on. Moyes' signings were generally good, we had a few cup runs, some big results (at home) against the bigger clubs and we were a consistent top 8 side. He helped me feel proud about being an Everton fan again because, as previously mentioned, my formative years were a chuffing nightmare as far as the blues were concerned. He did all this with an air of dignity and integrity. Phil McNulty described David Moyes as the only Everton manager who had never lied to him. When he got the United job I was gutted. I was slightly surprised but devastated all the same. I didn't, however, feel any ill will because he was leaving. He'd have been mad to turn that job down I understood why he was leaving. On the appointment of Martinez, I thought he was the best candidate of a bunch of very average names. I thought the quality of the football might improve, but results might suffer in at least the short term. Anyway, I digress...
What has happened since he took the United job has been little short of a disgrace. He has a new club to manage now, of course, but there is no need to do that whilst disrespecting your old one.
Firstly - he maintains he found out about the United job 4 weeks before the end of the season. I believe SAF has already debunked this in his new book? I don't see the need to continue with the lie. I'd even understand if he'd admit he was tapped up well beforehand, I would still understand him taking the job.
Secondly - the Baines/Fellaini bids. Yes, the initial bid was a complete pisstake. Nobody knows whether Moyes had anything to do with the valuation of the bid since the trendy thing appears to be to put the blame at Woodward's door, but suffice to say that if Moyes enjoys the same level of control at United as he did at Everton, he most certainly had some input into it. His subsequent comments about the failed Herrera bid and how he didn't feel the player was worth the buyout clause would seem to support the theory that he has some involvement here. It's not the bid itself which most peed me off though, it was his comments about it...
Asked if he had sympathy for Martinez, Moyes said: ‘I definitely do. But I also know that if I was the Everton manager and Sir Alex had come asking for Baines and Fellaini, I would have found it very difficult to keep them. I always felt the right thing to do was what was right for the players. All we can do is our job here. Roberto is in a new job and I am sure he will get to understand how Everton work. I know exactly how Everton work. I signed every player at Everton."
The hypocrisy of the statement is just unbelievable. Moyes' comments when Man City were chasing Lescott would show this to be utter lies. He was outraged at Man City's pursuit of Lescott and had a public war of words with Mark Hughes about how he was the one who would decide whether Lescott went or not. On the flip side, even if this was bravado if Moyes was being honest and he would indeed have bent over if SAF had come calling for Baines and Fellaini then I'd be annoyed anyway.
Thirdly - his attempts to label us as "plucky little Everton" since he left. "You want to get out of O*d T******d alive, that used to be our saying, you know." His comments about how he felt taking on the "bigger clubs" was like taking a knife to a gunfight. Yes, United is a bigger club and a bigger job, but there's ways of saying things.
Finally - His recent comments, suggesting that he should be taking the credit for Everton's good start...
"Everton fans see a direction that their team is going in but they need to remember I signed a lot of them"
"But to be fair to him Roberto is doing a really good job keeping things going at Everton"
"I told Roberto that I left such an organised team behind that they could play without a manager and still win"
If continuing success is so easy, then perhaps Moyes could explain why he took over the Champions and currently finds himself in 8th place?
In summary, he's thrown away the respect I and most Evertonians had for him. I always used to have a soft spot, in a way, for United. Perhaps it was an anti-Liverpool solidarity thing or something. Dunno, but whilst Moyes is there it's completely gone. I wish nothing but failure for him.
