Charlton were relegated in the season following Curbishley’s farewell and have subsequently undergone managerial upheaval and endured a three year spell in the third-tier. That outcome to the loss of a cornerstone in Charlton’s upwardly mobile early to mid-noughties era is treated in many quarters as firm evidence that any dreams of improvement should be shelved in favour of pragmatism and meek acceptance.
That this example is regularly drawn on six years after the event to counsel against change might actually be testament to the rarity of such a catastrophic turn of fortunes emanating from similar action.
Equally relevant is the case of Roberto Di Matteo. The Italian won promotion with West Bromwich Albion in his first term at the helm and enjoyed a strong start to the 2010/2011 Premier League campaign with the Baggies. Nevertheless, after an unsatisfactory run of results left Albion outside the relegation zone only on goal difference with 13 matches to play Di Matteo was dismissed.
That decision sparked the ritual debate about the lack of security in football management and the impatience of chairmen and fans alike. Roy Hodgson was appointed to ensure West Brom’s safety – a feat he assuredly accomplished, guiding the club to 11th spot and a full eight points clear of trouble.
When it was winning matches, supporters were happy to accept Tony Pulis’ brand of unattractive football. Now results are negative the style looks ugly, incohesive, and hopelessly devoid of guile and imagination.
Surely, fans are fully entitled to question the methods of a manager who is in control of a team that is evidently short on ideas of how to win games or score goals. More damagingly, there is little immediate reason for optimism that circumstances will change for the better at Stoke City.
Evertonians meanwhile have experience of being told what is good for them. When Walter Smith was overseeing his moribund era at their club, and the team were serving up some of the more directionless and woeful football Goodison Park – or indeed any football ground – can have witnessed, the regular cast of talking heads were quick to defend the ‘dignified’ Scottish manager who they contested was operating ‘with his hands tied behind his back’.
When Bill Kenwright finally put a desperate support out of its misery and replaced Smith with his compatriot, David Moyes, the transformation in Everton’s on pitch demeanour was marked. A bolder and more energetic approach quickly brought tangible reward and inspired renewed cheer throughout the club.
Over the ensuing eleven years, Moyes has reformed wider perceptions of Everton and simultaneously ratcheted up the expectations of their followers.
In the wake of Saturday’s staggering F.A. Cup capitulation against Wigan Athletic which has condemned Everton to another barren season – a disappointment accentuated by a downturn in league form which has rendered early season talk of potential Champions League qualification entirely redundant – has brought to the surface some simmering supporter dissatisfaction with the 49 year-old.
Sadly, what appears increasingly likely to be Moyes’ final season at Goodison is in danger of casting his legacy as of having presided over a team which has habitually choked in the face of opportunity – as much as time will reflect favourably on eleven years of sustained advancement. Furthermore, the manager hasn’t endeared himself to fiercely loyal Toffees by leaving his own contract situation hanging in the air at a decisive point of the campaign.
There can be no doubt that replacing Moyes – a man whose stamp runs firmly through every level of Everton – will be an exacting task. Any successor will require patience and understanding. Why though, should Evertonians be told that what they have is as good as it can get? Why can’t they be allowed to believe that a fresh approach from the managerial office might just bring an F.A. Cup to Goodison, or qualification for European competition which is capitalised on rather than tossed away in rigid surrender to a blur of fleet-footed and technically proficient continental foes.
A measure of wider supporter frustration can be attributed to the ceiling that is now in place on what can realistically be achieved by any club which does not exist in the opulent Champions League set. Without access to similar riches – a situation that implementation of the ill-considered Financial Fair Play rules will ensure can’t be made good by outside investment – those excluded from UEFA’s cash-laden competition cannot hope to compete at the top end of the league. The occurrence of Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, or indeed Everton, being English Champions is consigned to history.
Notwithstanding that unhealthy status quo, supporters should not be chided for holding a burning ambition for their club. The hope that things will improve is what keeps them coming back. It is only in the past 18 months that an Arsenal fan can express grievances concerning Arsene Wenger without fear of being shouted down as being an ingrate possessed of a short memory.
In an ever more reactionary society there will always be individuals ready to turn on their team after back-to-back defeats or the raging voice on the phone-in decrying a manager’s tactics only to reveal he hasn’t attended the game which has stoked his ire.
Equally though, there are a great number of supporters who invest a large chunk of their lives in their football team and accordingly are in possession of far superior knowledge of events surrounding it than Alan Shearer, Mark Lawrenson, Robbie Savage, and any other pundit who might seek to upbraid dissenters more well-versed on their subject.
Pulis latterly admitted that the need for continual improvement is a feature of his job – without being able to resist imposing a caveat which indirectly conveyed a message to Potters that they should know their place.
‘You have to accept there’s going to be criticism if supporters want more. They want improvement year after year but someone has to take a reality check now and again.
‘I went to watch Bolton last Tuesday. Look at Wolves on Friday night – and Blackburn last Saturday. Three clubs who have been relegated and we are fortunate to be in the Premier League.
‘The problem you have is that the more successful you are in terms of what we have achieved and the size of the club, people want more. That’s life. If you don’t accept that you shouldn’t be a manager.’
Setting aside Pulis’ disingenuous reference to the three clubs most recently relegated from the top-flight, his sentiments are correct.
Accept your lot and watch more ambitious rivals pass you by or strive to improve and succeed? Put like that, surely there’s only one option.
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