Sport
Stability Over Style: Why David Moyes Still Matters
David Moyes is arguably the most disrespected Premier League manager of modern times. Since leaving Manchester United just seven months into a six-year contract in 2014, he has struggled to regain the universal kudos he had built at Everton.
Now, 11 years on, he is back in charge of the Toffees, via Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham twice. Only one of those jobs, at the Stadium of Light where he oversaw relegation from the Premier League, could he be considered a real failure. But he has found true acceptance hard to come by, despite regularly improving the state of the clubs he works for.
Before and after his two spells at West Ham, they battled relegation, yet he led them to a European trophy and regularly had them challenging for the top six.
His time at Manchester United did leave irreversible scars, though. He never felt like the right man to take over from Sir Alex Ferguson, who chose him by falling foul of a very common misconception.
Effectively, Moyes’ Everton legacy was similar to his fellow Scot’s at Old Trafford, but on a much smaller scale. There were no trophies, but consistent competition on a tight budget over a prolonged period; the idea was he’d be able to achieve greater things with better backing.
But it is rarely that simple; added backing brings added pressure, to win immediately in a certain style. Being an underdog is one thing, but dealing with expectation is quite another.
Moyes spent much of his first summer chasing Leighton Baines, his Everton fullback, and his only major signing was Marouane Fellaini from the same club. Rio Ferdinand tells a story about how, in training, Moyes stopped him to tell him how Phil Jagielka used to do something he wanted from him. Hardly the way to get a multi-Premier League winning, world class centre back on side.
If coaches are to scale up their success, they need to adapt in a suitable way. There are so many examples of top clubs taking a chance on someone at a smaller club and not seeing the benefit because the coach just repeats how they worked before. Although Moyes has rebuilt his reputation to a point since his United days, there has always been a perception of limitation around him. Meaning, if you want to compete at the very top, he’s not your man.
That is why his last three Premier League jobs, albeit two being at clubs he’d worked for previously, were ‘firefighting’ roles. He was expected to steady the ship and slowly build. Moyes’ teams have always been very solid and hard to beat, rarely exciting and expansive. After a point where he has implemented the first phase, it can be easy to want more; West Ham have twice discarded him for more ‘exciting’ options and paid the price.
Even though he has Everton once again pushing for Europe this season after years of financial instability and relegation battles under Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche, some fans are still critical of the way he has done it.
Fans should never be patronised, because they are the people who pay to watch their team. But looking at the relegation battle this season, involving West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham, three teams who would all have aimed to challenge towards the top of the league this season, there is a reminder that Moyes’ brand of boring stability still has its place.
More than that, even. Not so long ago, Everton were on the brink of relegation and flirting with financial oblivion. Now, they are looking up again. As usual, Moyes’ work has been understated and effective. He has his limits, sure, but nobody should take for granted just how important he can be to a club’s long-term future.
