Many Everton fans could have been forgiven for thinking David Moyes’ departure was inevitable the moment Manchester United identified him as a replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson.
Even more concerning for them was the matter of replacing a man who they hired as a relative unknown in Premier League circles from then Championship club Preston in 2002. It was this season that Everton were one of the favourites for relegation. The club hasn’t looked back since. Moyes has taken them from perennial strugglers to top half finishes in all but one of his 11 seasons at the helm of Goodison Park. This left a gaping hole in the club once he vacated his position to take up the same post at Old Trafford, bringing several of his background staff with him to enhance the loss in Merseyside.
Everton’s chairman Bill Kenwright was quick to identify the ideal replacement he felt could bridge the gap for his beloved club. That man was Wigan manager Roberto Martinez- a man who had just pulled off one of the shocks of the season in defeating big spending Manchester City in the final of the FA Cup. Despite this, it looked likely that he would also be taking Wigan down to the Championship and would have to endure the clear dent in his CV that inevitably came with it. Wigan were eventually relegated in a classic display of the highs and lows one can experience in a very short space of time in the world of football.
This did not put Kenwright off his number one target. If anything Everton’s position was strengthened by the fact that Martinez was a manager who was playing the ‘correct’ style of football with Wigan that was surely too smart for him to remain a boss in the Championship. Despite relegation, it is clear Wigan won many admirers for their passing style during their remarkable 8 year stay in the Premier League. If anything Martinez received even more plaudits.
Meanwhile, season after season the same, often boring words were bounded around about Moyes and Everton. ‘Everton will challenge for a top six position but nothing beyond that’. ‘Moyes needs more resources to be able to compete in the very highest echelons of the Premier League’. Some football fans could be forgiven for forgetting Everton in the Premier League. The question is, did the immense progress made by Moyes in the earlier stages of his time at the Toffees eventually become stagnation? By the time the call from the Old Trafford hierarchy came around, it was the right time anyway for Everton to say thanks but no thanks to Moyes and employ someone whose style of football could challenge the very top of English football.
In some eyes the move towards a manager like Martinez could be seen as risky. Wigan were known for their rather blasé defending style which often resulted in them shipping silly goals. However, at the same time Manchester United were not exactly filling the coffers of supporters with a defending master class last season. Neither were any of England’s other Champions League teams. This era of shambolic defending is understood by Martinez in his attacking style. He has already drawn upon the services of three former Wigan players in a bold move to enforce his style upon the current crop at Everton. Meanwhile, Moyes has faltered, if not been embarrassed in the transfer market so far.
Martinez’s fluid style will provide Everton with more adaptability than they possessed under Moyes- the sort of risk that is needed to make that giant leap into a top 4 or FA Cup win. Meanwhile, Moyes will inevitably stagnate the Manchester United side he has at his clutches if he does not learn to encourage his players to take a few risks. In the past few seasons Moyes played it safe at Everton and got away with it because he could fall back on the lack of resource at Everton. Yet Martinez at Wigan always had inferior resources and wowed the football public at times with the quality produced at the DW Stadium, which worked for a club who were always viewed as the whipping boys before the start of the season and went on to prove everyone wrong with their flamboyant style.
This season, don’t be surprised to see Everton closer to Manchester United in the table than you think. Simultaneously, it will be Martinez winning all the respect for the fluency of his Everton side whilst Moyes simply plods along behind the wealth and resource at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Man Utd and Everton fans are the signs there?
