2003-04
If his first full season had been a pleasant surprise, Moyes's second was something of a reality check for all concerned and the manner in which his team's form collapsed in the final weeks of the campaign amid speculation that he had "lost the dressing room" would pose his second daunting challenge as Everton manager.
Things went awry for the Blues more or less from the outset of the 2003-04 campaign, with a return of just one win from their first five games. As Moyes tried to find the right balance in a team that now featured the precocious talents and attitude of one Wayne Rooney, that record didn't really improve until a purple patch of three wins and a draw from five league games in December that, in hindsight, kept the club in the Premier League that season.
The standard of football exhibited by his players deteriorated into a more direct approach that was short on guile and long on grit and physique while his increasing emphasis on hard work, effort, work rate, and other such industrial metrics didn't appear to sit well with many of his players, including — crucially — some of the veteran players.
The manager's intransigence in the face of resistance from his squad and the consequent impact on morale saw the Blues slump to the lowest points total in a season (using 3 points for a win) for any Everton side in over 100 years! Things had degenerated to such an alarming impasse that, as soon as the security of 39 points was attained, the players appeared to have given up in a sulk, culminating in the atrocious 5-1 at
Manchester City on the final day.
