Last week David Moyes celebrated 11 years at the helm of Everton Football Club, a club that many believe on their tight budget have continuously over-achieved under the leadership of Moyes.
But with Moyes’ contract at Everton running out at the end of this year’s campaign has the Everton man decided he has done all he can at Everton and must now leave to take on a new challenge?
During his tenure as manager of theToffees he has won LMA manager of the year on three occasions in 2003, 2005 and 2009, making him joint first with Sir Alex Ferguson. This goes to show just how well-respected David Moyes is in the world of football particularly interesting when you note that Everton have never won a major trophy under Moyes’ leadership.
Everton’s last realistic opportunity of winning some silverware this year was the FA Cup however they found themselves on the receiving end of a 3-0 thrashing against Wigan at home and missed out on the opportunity of a trip to Wembley in the semi-final.
After this defeat the crowd at Everton booed their players off the pitch and some disgruntled fans could be heard for the first time questioning Moyes and his commitment to the club. He said: “It doesn’t alter anything. The decision at the end of the season will be made by me and the players and how well we all do together, how high we finish in the league. It’s never changed.
[quote]I want the players to do well. You can see the way they’ve spoken this week, they’re saying they’re ambitious to finish as high up as they can, qualify for Europe if they can – well that’s the same as the manager and that’s what we’re going to try to work towards.[/quote]
There have been reports that David Moyes will leave at the end of the season and take a sabbatical as he waits for a new job to arise. It is also interesting to note that there is no mention or sight of David Moyes in the Everton season ticket renewal brochures, which have been sent out this month. This may be seen as just a coincidence or a sign that the Everton board has no clue if Moyes will be the Toffee’s manager come the start of next season.
The Scot has been heavily praised during his time at Goodison Park for his work at Everton, exceeding all expectations due to the little amount of money he has at his disposal. Everton have finished 8th and above in the last six seasons and have reached the FA Cup Final in 2009, losing to Chelsea 2-1.
It would be a seriously interesting prospect if Moyes were to leave Everton in the summer and join a ‘Top Four’ club. Of course his options are limited in the ‘Top Four’ at the moment but to see Moyes managing at Chelsea with millions of pounds at his disposal in the transfer kitty would be intriguing to say the least. Many have reserved their opinion on Moyes until he does move on, to see if he can win silverware with a new club. Maybe at the moment he is a big fish in a small pond and needs to jump into something where the pressure of expectation will be higher and he isn’t perhaps as comfortable as he is at Everton now. No job is tougher than the Stamford Bridge vacancy that will be open for applications come the summer and the end of Rafa Benitez’s controversial reign. There have also been some rumours of Moyes replacing Arsene Wenger at Arsenal but not very credible ones.
Over the past 11 years David Moyes has provided Everton with stability, security and a familiarity which is a fantastic feat in a footballing world that will see a manager get the sack in November after just a few months in the job (just ask Chelsea fans).
It is very rare for a manager to be so highly rated by fans, journalists and pundits a like when he has never won a trophy with Everton but somehow he is. He has shown he is a fantastic manager and no matter what happens wherever he is managing next season his chosen football club will have a cracking manager on their hands.
