David Moyes has returned to the club where he cemented his managerial legacy. The new Everton manager rejoins the club on a two and a half year deal.
The Friedkin group axed Sean Dyche hours before their FA Cup match against Peterborough. This left a hastily put together management team of Leighton Baines, Seamus Coleman and Baines’s acoustic guitar to take charge of the game.
It’s a move that’s very on form for the Friedkin group. You only have to briefly look at their work at Roma to know their record at manager hiring a is dodgy at best. Bring back a legend is a tune they’re currently playing in the Italian capital too. Moyes managed Everton for a long time, so while he’s largely remembered fondly it was long enough for a portion of fans to be glad he’d gone. Dithering Dave has never been known for his fantastic football. Even his brand of football has to be better than what Evertonians were being forced to watch week in week out.
Make no mistake, this is an upgrade for Everton. David Moyes is a better manager than Sean Dyche. Moyes tends to unfairly get lumped in with “Brexit” Football types. The likes of Sam Allaryce, Tony Pullis and even Dyche himself. But Moyes had managed at a higher level than those. While his football may not have the absolute fluidly of prime Guardiola, it does get results.
Moyes should be able to get a better tune out of Everton’s squad. It’s not exactly dripping with talent, however so that’s not guaranteed.
Is the timing right?
In short, no. It’s a weird time to pull the trigger on a manager. Everton weren’t going down. They’ve got too much talent and the teams below them are terrible. The season is already a write-off so Moyes will essentially bring the survival they were already going to achieve. At that point Everton will find themselves at the point West Ham were when they re-hired Moyes. If they are ever to become a club with designs on the top half and bothering the European spots. They’ll find out that Moyes can only take them so far.
Moyes took West Ham pretty far, however. Won them a European Trophy and brought the fans two European adventures that the club desperately needed. However, Moyes last season at West Ham was concerning. While a manager that can usually be relied on to bring Defensive solidity, that left him. West Ham took some real pastings in Moyes’s last season there.
The timing of the Dyche sacking, seemed to me like Everton thought they were in with a chance of landing Graham Potter. Ultimately they were beaten to the punch by West Ham though. Then, sat with a lame duck manager they decided to twist rather than stick. Potter and Everton is a horrible fit, he’d have been mad to take that job. They don’t have the calibre of players the Hammers do. It would have been a hiding to nowhere for him.
Of further concern is how Moyes failed to get a decent tune out of some serious attacking Talent. With players like Bowen, Kudus, Paqueta and Antonio, West Ham struggled to score goals with the fluidity and regularity you’d expect for such talent.
That comes to the strategy of the whole piece. It’s such an odd time. Dyche was leaving at the end of the season anyway. They were never going to keep him on beyond the season. Waiting until the summer to replace Dyche would have given them a whole host of managerial options.
The Friedkin Group haven’t been at the club long. In football terms they’ve barely got their feet under the desk. In fact, to labour the metaphor, they haven’t even sat down yet. The coming months could, and should see them make an array of changes to the team’s sporting structure. They’ve never struggled to put their money into clubs, so this summer could be big. That money is not going to be spent buying players to suit a style, or philosophy. It’s going to be given to David Moyes. While that will no doubt improve the squad, at some point Everton will want to upgrade on Moyes. That means more money will need to be spent on players for that upgrade.
Summer Options
Don’t get me wrong. There’s not exactly a smorgasbord of managerial talent out there. We’re very much in between the eras of great managers. Clubs need to think long and hard about the managers they appoint. The sporting project above the manager needs to be strong and the various key decision makers, data and scouting teams all need to be in place. Appointing Moyes feels like Everton have decided to Eschew building a sporting project. Current Director of Football Kevin Thelwell will likely be given more money to spend than he ever has. He’ll have the ability to strengthen every department under his care.
The Friedkin Group haven’t exactly shown that much desire to build a sporting project at Roma. Perhaps they’re hoping that stability under Moyes is a good place to start from. Talk amongst journalists is that the Friedkin Group are hoping to build something under Moyes. At 61 years old, that surely can’t be a long plan.
They’re certain to survive now, but they pretty much were anyway. They were never going down under Dyche. The universe doesn’t seem to want Everton to be relegated. Worse Everton teams than this one have somehow survived. Ultimately, you have to ask the question. If the Friedkin Group had been a bit braver, could they have skipped the David Moyes step in their development.
Building a sporting project is difficult, however. Just ask West Ham fans how difficult it is to move on from Moyes.
