1st September, 2009. The last time that Everton spent money on signing a first team player. Since then they have brought in various loans, free transfers and a couple of youth players, but not since John Heitinga swapped the Vicente Calderón for Goodison Park has a cold, hard transfer fee strengthened their first team.
Stoke and Wolves, two teams much newer to the Premier League, with smaller grounds and far less merchandising potential than a nine times league winner, spent over £30M between them this summer. Watching such profligacy must be galling for the Toffees as their side scramble to complete a loan deal for Denis Stracqualursi (yes, I looked up the spelling).
It has been particularly bad since that summer of 2009. The sale of Joleon Lescott to Manchester City funded the purchase of Heitinga, Sylvain Distin and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, with a little over four million left in the bank. In 2010/11 there was little movement either in or out, the January sale of Steven Pienaar to Tottenham ensuring that, again, they ended the season with a transfer profit of over £4M. This summer has seen their already thin squad pared to the bone. Stracqualursi and Royston Drenthe were the only arrivals, while Jermaine Beckford, James Vaughan, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Joseph Yobo and Mikel Arteta all headed for the exit.
Between 2002, when David Moyes arrived at Everton from Preston, and 2009, the Goodison Park club spent managed a net spend of £52.33M, despite the record sale of Wayne Rooney to Manchester United. In just two years since, more than half of that has been recovered, a net transfer profit of £26.44M hinting a just how deep run the financial problems in the blue half of Liverpool.
Under such financial restrictions, there can be little argument that David Moyes has done a superb job in his nine years at Everton. Only twice (2003/04 and 2005/06) have they finished outside the top eight, and they are odds on for another top ten finish this season, despite the depleted nature of their squad. There may have been times when the football hasn’t been the most inspiring – I understand the fans’ dread of the inevitable period in every season when Everton have no fit strikers – but there can be no question that Moyes has done more than could have been expected of him as Toffees boss.
The question that now faces the 48 year old Glaswegian, however, is whether the time is ripe to move on. The third longest serving manager in the Premier League, Moyes’ contract is due to run until the summer of 2013. He has been touted as a potential replacement for Alex Ferguson when eventually he puts away the chewing gum and retires to a quieter life. If perceived wisdom is to be believed, however, that job is Jose Mourinho’s.
A more attractive and more realistic prospect may be the Tottenham job. Everyone and his dog seems to believe that – tax problems permitting – Harry Redknapp will be dumping White Hart Lane for Wembley following Euro 2012 and should he do so, Daniel Levy could do far worse than to look towards Goodison for his replacement. Despite the financial constraints placed on him at Everton, Moyes has managed a win percentage of 41.72%, not far short of the 42.19% that Redknapp left his second spell at Portsmouth with.
Suggestions have also been made that Moyes could be lined up as the next manager of either side of the Old Firm. As a former Celtic player, although one who made only 24 appearances at the start of his professional career, some Rangers fans may have a few problems with that, but Moyes has previously stated that he would be happy to manage either club.
Now, however, is not the time for a manager of Moyes’ rising reputation to waste time in the SPL. He may have stated a desire to one day manage in his home nation, but moving from the financial impotence of Everton to a situation potentially even worse north of the border would not be a smart decision.
A move to Aston Villa to replace Gérard Houllier might have been worth a look, but Randy Lerner’s scatter gun approach never hit Goodison Park, instead lurching from Roberto Martínez to Alex McLeish. A move to United remains unlikely, and I for one don’t see Moyes taking the Steve McLaren route and leaving British shores.
Everton though, is a sinking ship. As Bill Kenwright struggles to secure new investment the club seems destined to be stuck in an endless rut of selling players to pay off debt. If Moyes wants to move up the ladder, Spurs is by far the most realistic option, and perhaps then he may finally be afforded the luxury of a transfer fee once again.
