David Moyes

Moyes

It came as no surprise that David Moyes failed as the manager of Manchester United. Not to Evertonians anyway.

During his reign at Goodison Park he turned Everton from perennial relegation strugglers to a team that finished consistently in the top half of the table. He replaced an ageing squad with a younger, hungrier group of players. He brought respectability and pride back to one of England’s traditional ‘big clubs’. And on the back of all this, he became the third best paid manager in the Premier League whilst at Everton – and then landed the United job ten months ago.

His achievements at Everton did not go unnoticed; largely due to Moyes’ own ability to spin a very credible and plausible tale. He was doing all this with one hand tied behind his back. He had no money to spend. He was operating on a shoe string budget. He had to sell his best players.

He convinced the media, and he convinced the majority of Everton fans, myself included, that finishing in the top half of the Premier League was ‘job done’ at a club like Everton.

The facts somewhat betray the ‘miracle’ that he and his friends in the press would have us believe he presided over though. Indeed, Everton were not punching ‘above their weight’. They were finishing in a league position that was in and around the amount of money they were spending in comparison to their Premier League rivals.

Other than Wayne Rooney, he was able to replace any player he sold with someone better. He was given the resources to break the club record transfer fee on several occasions. And, he was never undermined by his chairman, or the supporters.

His Premier League record was decent, but closer analysis of his performance at Everton clearly provides evidence that he was a ‘bottler’.

In his eleven years at Everton, Moyes failed to win a single game at Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or the Emirates. He took Everton in to the Champions League in 2005. But his side were knocked out in the qualifying Round.

Though he led the Blues to an FA Cup final against Chelsea in 2009, his side failed to show up on the day, weakly surrendering despite taking the lead within a minute of the games start. Often overlooked, he scraped through to the final with a penalty shoot out victory over Man United’s RESERVES!

In 2012, he was back at Wembley for another semi final, this time against arch rivals Liverpool. Again Everton took the lead. Again, they lost the match as they went in to a second half meltdown against one of the worst Liverpool sides I have ever seen.

In truth most Blues supporters thought it was time for him to go then. He had taken Everton as far as he could.

Unfortunately the clubs chairman was not among that number, and we were ‘stuck with Moyes’ until United came knocking – but not until he had led Everton to an FA Cup Quarter final battering to Wigan.

On his final day in the home managers dug out at Goodison, he was given a heroes farewell by those of us who had accepted his ‘managed expectations.’ The Everton faithful recognised that when the biggest club on the planet come knocking…

There was a guard of honour, a standing ovation and a bloody great send off for a guy who had actually not won us a single trophy or even an away ‘derby’ game in eleven years. He left on the crest of a wave, head held high and with our very best wishes. But then!

It took Moyes eleven minutes to destroy a reputation that it had taken him eleven years to build. In a remarkably stupid press conference at Old Trafford he criticised his former club, the club that had made him, the club that paid him a salary that was the third highest in the league, the club that had given him that rousing farewell only weeks earlier, for not being grateful for a nickel and dime bid for two of their leading players.

He tried to bully Everton in to selling Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines on the cheap. He disrespected Everton in a way that would have been unacceptable for any manager to do, let alone one who had enjoyed the long association he had enjoyed with the club.

Not surprisingly Evertonians best wishes evaporated, replaced by the contempt he had shown them and their club.

Long before this though, and long before the disaster that has been the last ten months at United, I knew the Old Trafford job was too big for him. United fans often told me Moyes would succeed Sir Alex and I always, always said ‘that job is too big for him’. So it proved.

The manner in which he was dismissed was appalling, and not in keeping with a club of Manchester United’s stature. However, some may say ‘what comes around goes around.’

Many pundits have argued that Moyes hasn’t been given enough time. In my opinion, ten months or ten years, he would have been unable to hack a job where expectations cannot be managed; defensive football not tolerated. Even inheriting a Premiership winning team, albeit one in decline, he still failed to win at Anfield, the Emirates, Stamford Bridge or, fatefully, Goodison Park.

And if there was ever any more evidence required to prove that Moyes and United would never have worked, you only have to look at Everton since he left, under the leadership of Roberto Martinez.

Gone is the pragmatism, the negativity, the dampening of ambition. The Spaniard oozes positivity, confidence and hope. He dares his club to dream; recognising rather than dismissing its rich and proud history.

He does this whilst his team on the field of play perform in a swashbuckling style that has seen the phrase ‘school of science’ return to Goodison Park, replacing the more conservative ‘people’s club’ motto coined by his predecessor.

David Cameron once said to Tony Blair across the dispatch box of the House of Commons “You were the future once.” Martinez could have shouted the same thing across the dugout of Goodison Park to Moyes as he managed United for the final time.

The Old Trafford hierarchy may not have covered themselves in glory over Moyes’ dismissal, but give them credit for recognising relatively quickly that he was the wrong man for the huge job that is manager of Manchester United.

That does not make Moyes a bad manager though, and I expect him to return to a hot seat soon with a Newcastle, Villa or Sunderland and do a fantastic job for them. That is his level, and he, along with thousands of Evertonians and United fans, should know that now too.

The highs, lows, laughter, tears and downright frustration of Football

Football

I have been a football supporter for as long as I can remember – and an Evertonian even longer than that.

As a kid, my Dad always told me that whoever was top of the table at Easter would win the league. If that still holds today, then in a few weeks time Liverpool will be crowned Champions.

This week on Merseyside football fans have gone through every single emotion that the beautiful game can throw at you.  At Anfield on Sunday, Liverpool finally overcame Man City 3-2, and then in mid week watched their Manchester rivals totally blow the title with a disappointing performance against relegation bound Sunderland resulting in a 2-2 draw.

After the euphoria of an incredible performance and win over Arsenal less than a fortnight ago, Everton seriously dented their prospects of joining their neighbours in the Champions League next season, falling to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of lowly Crystal Palace.

Amidst all this was the twenty fifth anniversary of a football related tragedy that remains an indelible stain on the English game – Hillsborough.

Far more qualified writers than me have put into words just how much of a catastrophe that totally unnecessary and wholly avoidable horror was. Those that lost loved ones have finally secured a modicum of justice and content through their sterling, relentless campaigning work.

Weather you support Leeds, Blackburn, Burnley or Carlisle, you will admire the work of those families. If you were going to big football matches during the seventies and eighties you will have thought at some point ‘that could have been me’.

It took twenty five years for the 96 who were killed at Hillsborough to get some kind of justice. It took about twenty five weeks before the powers that be recognised that if it was to survive as a sport and as a business football could not go on treating fans like cattle, sub human, cretins.

Today we have 21st century state of the art stadiums, sensible policing and clubs that by and large recognise the need to ‘entertain’ before and after the match even if what you are watching during the ninety minutes of play is not particularly riveting.

All the regeneration, television money and razzamatazz have made football a safer sport to watch in terms of your physical well being. Emotionally, it can still kick you in the guts when you’re least expecting it. And that’s why it’s still the greatest game on the planet.

Justice for the 96. And don’t buy the Sun!

Time for a serious EU debate

EU

According to opinion polls following both the radio and television debates between Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg on the UK’s future in Europe, the UKIP man won fairly handsomely.

This should surprise nobody who knows a little bit about how the media works, and how much easier it is for a non – politician who talks in populist sound bites to impress over a much discredited Deputy Prime Minister who has forgotten that his advantage as a fresh faced alternative, back in the day of the first televised party leader skirmishes in 2010, has long disappeared.

The Farage bluff and bluster bears no scrutiny and, as UKIP probably counted on, it got none from his Liberal Democrat opponent who offered two performances that aspired to bland.

As a pro European my heart sank the moment I heard Clegg would be ‘batting’ for my side. No credibility, no substance, no chance sums up ‘I don’t agree with Nick’ nowadays.

In truth we learnt little about the real issues facing Europe or the UK’s membership of the European Union from these two debates. Insults were traded and outrageous claims made, but no real analysis of a UK isolated from Europe was undertaken. That type of serious discussion wouldn’t have suited either Farage or the media channels who acted as the event hosts.

The poll results, for what they are worth, demonstrate that pro EU politicians do need to start to articulate the positive benefits of European membership rather than simply saying we will ‘reform from within’.

Outside of Europe we would lose jobs, investment and influence, which is why the Prime Minister and the Leader of the opposition both support our continued involvement in the EU. They need to start to explain to us why they support EU membership in much clearer terms between now and next year’s General Election. The minor players have had their moment in the sun, a spat of little consequence in my view. It’s time the grown up’s got involved in a debate that, worryingly, currently fails to register as a key issue of interest among the vast majority of the British electorate.

April Fools?

April Fools

The new Combined Authority was somewhat appropriately launched on 1st April, and though our political masters finally saw sense in terms of the name of the organisation, dropping the ‘Halton, ‘Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens, Liverpool & Wirral Combined Authority’ title in favour of the rather more apt ‘the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’, they could not resist snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The crowning of Wirral leader Councillor Phil Davies as chair of the new organisation did not impress Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson, who is threatening legal action over the process that was adopted to reach this decision – he and the leader of Sefton council missed the vote as they were between three and seven minutes late for the start of the meeting – depending on who you believe.

Whatever the truth, how the council leaders representing around 50% of city region residents can be excluded from such a decision is baffling.

All of this would add up to a good script if we were talking about an episode of Yes Minister, but for a city region that has ambitions to win millions of pounds of government investment for much needed infrastructure projects across the region it is bordering on negligent.

I argued that Joe Anderson should lead this new body in my blog ‘the special one’ and nothing I have heard or seen since has changed my mind. That seems unlikely to happen now, and Liverpool’s Mayor is just as unlikely to put in jeopardy the potential additional investment Combined Authority status brings by withdrawing the city’s support. That is a truth that the four district leaders who continue to put parochialism before common sense are counting on.

Nevertheless, the experience that has been the Combined Authority journey so far offers lessons that ought to have been learnt long ago. We need to learn to wash our dirty laundry behind closed doors. We need to stop acting like the basket case Westminster politicians and opinion formers think we are. We need to grow up!

Leeds’ ambition deserves Westminster backing

Leeds

The strategic economic plan recently produced by Leeds is evidence that innovative, entrepreneurial and deliverable policies can emerge from regional agencies – but equally demonstrates the frustration that Northern city leader’s face when trying to implement positive change.

An executive summary of the Leeds city region document can be read here and it is clearly an ambitious, realistic strategy that articulates the huge opportunities and potential of Leeds and its surrounding areas. It is a plan strengthened because of the broad support it has from an increasingly cohesive, co-ordinated public sector and a private sector that is keen to see economic growth accelerated.

In recent weeks there has been much talk about the growing North-South divide. To address that unhealthy chasm then, government should welcome and back ideas such as getting on with HS2, investing in major infrastructure improvements, building more housing and making Leeds an IT and digital centre of excellence. But more than this, Westminster needs to give the city region the tools to get on with the job.

Funding for transport projects, allowing Leeds to retain the receipts from the disposal of HCA assets across the city region, allowing the newly established Combined Authority to recover VAT and returning revenue funding to the Local Growth Fund are all reasonable asks that the government should agree.

Without these relatively minor changes at central government level, without a degree of decentralisation of finance, decision making powers and responsibilities, and without a recognition that Leeds knows what is best for Leeds, then this impressive plan will only be partially delivered – and that economic imbalance between North and South will get worse rather than better.