David Moyes will soon realise he is returning to a very different Everton that he left over a decade ago to join Manchester United with the Toffees looking to turnaround years of turmoil
A lot has happened since David Moyes last stood in the dugout as Everton manager.
England have reached two Euros finals, we’ve had one pandemic and heavens knows how many Prime Ministers. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact Moyes is still a damned good manager.
It’s the reason the great Sir Alex Ferguson hand picked Moyes to replace him as Manchester United manager back in 2013. Fergie made his choice for numerous reasons, but the main one was because of the remarkable job Moyes had done at Goodison Park where he took a club struggling near the bottom of the Premier League and transformed them into European regulars.
To a lesser extent, Moyes did something similar with West Ham. He even won them a trophy, their first in 43 years, in the shape of the Europa Conference League in 2023. West Ham, who have just sacked Julen Lopetegui and replaced him with Graham Potter, won’t be winning a damned thing this season, but their decline started the moment Moyes left.
It’s fair to say Moyes doesn’t always get the respect he deserves, mainly because his reputation took such a battering at United, where he was chewed up and spat out within 13 very difficult months. But time has gone on to show that bigger managerial names than him have failed at Old Trafford while a lot of the problems Moyes had to contend with at United were not of his own making.
But Moyes going back to Goodison feels like it’s come at a good time. Once again he will have to do a remarkable job if Everton are to be christening their new stadium with top flight football next season because he is inheriting a side which has won just three games all season, and scored just 15 goals in the process.
There is much more than just his reputation on the line – his legacy from his first spell is now in danger, too. While Moyes’ first three games in charge will be tough ones, against Aston Villa, Tottenham and Brighton, there is also the small matter of how shambolically run the so-called ‘Peoples’ Club’ still is.
Evidence of which could be found in the classless way the new owners sacked Sean Dyche. Three hours before a game, without a word of thanks for keeping them up the last two seasons, despite having little or no money to spend. Seriously?
It’s difficult to think of a more dysfunctional club than Everton, now Chelsea appear to have got their own house in order. It’s one Moyes will barely recognise from the one he left back in 2013 and it’s also one that needs Moyes much more than he needs them.
But Moyes is no fool. He knows the game inside out and is too intelligent not to have done his due diligence on the job he is walking back into. The romantics will want him to succeed. To keep Everton up and build the foundations for a brighter future.
But he can’t do it all on his own, and will need significant and constructive help from his bosses at the Friedkin Group. So let’s just hope these people show him more gratitude than what Dyche got.
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FA Cup replays – or lack of them – are back in focus following events of the third round. Mainly because non-league Tamworth took Tottenham to extra time, before losing 3-0.
Had replays not been scrapped, on the insistence of the so-called ‘Big Six’ clubs, then Tamworth would have trousered an estimated windfall of around £5m from a game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That’s presuming Tottenham fans would have bothered to turn up to watch a replay, of course. Which is doubtful, considering how crap they were at The Lamb Ground on Sunday.
But the cruellest irony of all is that Tottenham were one of those clubs who lobbied for replays to be done away with, due to concerns over fixture chaos. The same club that flew all the way to Australia a few days after the end of last season, to play an utterly meaningless friendly with Newcastle. You couldn’t make it up.
Further evidence, if any were needed, of just how self-serving the likes of Tottenham remain, leaving the game in a rotten state. And while we’re at it, if replays are to remain scrapped, then do the same to extra time and go straight to penalties to decide ties in future.