Everton’s outgoing boss, David Moyes, has indicated that he would be in favour of his successor in the Goodison dugout being chosen from one of the club’s former players currently working on the coaching staff.
The Scot doesn’t believe that lack of managerial experience should be any bar to the potential claims of Alan Stubbs, David Weir, Duncan Ferguson, or even Phil Neville, to the Merseysiders’ top job. That despite the fact that Moyes’ body of work at Everton across more than a decade, and before that his four years in charge at Preston North End, formed the man who Manchester United believe is most aptly suited to fill the enormous berth vacated by Sir Alex Ferguson.
The next incumbent of the premier job in British club football explains his assertion regarding the internal candidates for the soon to be vacant Goodison post thus;
‘I would always recommend the people who are around me. A lot of them know how things work, how we move things forward and the restraints the club has.
‘It can be done because there are a lot of things in place. The level of the players here, the standards set. What they have to make sure is they get themselves as prepared as possible.’
Moyes’ sentiments are consistent with his unyielding loyalty to each individual with whom he works. Unusually for such a considered and scrupulous man, however, there is little evidence of any deeper thought behind the 50 year-old’s musings.
If the same criteria had been applied at Old Trafford, Moyes would not be six weeks away from taking on the challenge of his life. If Everton can boast of possessing a squad which is both chock-full with quality and working to self-imposed exacting standards, then the same is true at Manchester United – only the league champions are blessed with a greater number of talented footballers and have in their ranks men who are used to lifting the game’s biggest prizes.
By extension, if the self-governance and skill that are exhibited at the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground every day are enough to sustain the United juggernaut, then surely Sir Alex’s replacement could have been drawn from one of the lieutenants already in situ at the club.
Dutchman Rene Meulensteen has been Ferguson’s assistant coach for more than six years, and was employed to work with United’s youth teams and then reserve side between 2001 and 2006. Former player, Mike Phelan, has been a familiar figure on the Old Trafford touchline since 2001, two years after he returned to the club to work with the Centre of Excellence.
Neither of these men would have entered the thoughts of the United hierarchy as they sought a man capable of replacing their ennobled leader. Nor indeed would the credentials of a string of Red Devils’ playing legends. Not the retiring Paul Scholes, or the indefatigable Ryan Giggs. Similarly, figures of United lore who can point to strong managerial backgrounds of their own did not fit the exacting criteria.
Roy Keane and Mark Hughes have middling C.V.’s to show for spells in charge at a range of teams. Nevertheless, both are privy to the daily workings of Ferguson, and exactly what is required to keep Manchester United at the forefront of world football. Steve Bruce has that same insight and, with it, a record in charge at seven different clubs to demonstrably provide evidence of his being an astute manager. Still, not good enough.
It was Bruce who Wolverhampton Wanderers famously opted to overlook at the last moment in favour of Mick McCarthy’s number 2, Terry Connor, when the Molineux club sought a successor to their Yorkshire bred boss with 13 games of last year’s Premier League campaign remaining. With Wolves desperately requiring fresh ideas and a new voice in the dressing room, Connor’s elevation appeared a curious choice. That suspicion held true. The west Midlands’ side drew four and lost 9 of those closing fixtures.
Of course, promoting from within is a different matter entirely when that decision is taken with the club holding a position of strength. Liverpool’s fabled ‘Boot Room’ would be the exhibit thrust forward by any proponents for managerial appointments being kept ‘in-house’.
When Bill Shankly retired after 15 decorated years in charge at Anfield the Reds opted to ask Bob Paisley, then one of Shankly’s subordinates, to assume the reigns. Nine years, and a mass of trophies – including 6 league titles and 3 European Cups – later, Paisley was replaced by Joe Fagan, who himself was succeeded by Kenny Dalglish. Both of those men were already on the Anfield staff, and both sustained Liverpool’s domestic hegemony.
More recently though, Roy Evans couldn’t impart his Boot Room wisdom to any enduring tangible effect, and Dalglish’s second incarnation in the Anfield hot-seat was marked more for his becoming embroiled in off-field issues rather than any notable on-pitch cheer. During a respectively barren period on the red side of Stanley Park, the club’s silverware has been delivered by men with no previous history at Liverpool – Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez.
Everton have first-hand experience of the likely peril that is attached to sticking with what you know. When, in 1987, Howard Kendall brought his wonderful first spell as the Toffees manager to an end, one Evertonian legend was swapped for another. Colin Harvey, who as Kendall’s first-team coach was integral to the Blues’ mid-1980’s trophy haul, – and who as a distinguished Goodison midfielder for eleven years won a league title and F.A. Cup – took the helm at the then champions.
In today’s footballing climate, league finishes at Everton of 4th, 8th, and 6th, and a run to the F.A. Cup final would be deemed a fine accomplishment. For Harvey’s team it proved to be the start of a fall from the very top that the financially limited club is still gradually seeking to reverse. Harvey was not helped by the loss of some key players, and the dwindling powers of others, but his inability to replicate the achievements of his great friend, before he was dismissed early in his fourth season, is a lesson that Everton’s current powerbrokers should heed.
Of lower profile, but equally pertinent, Chris Hutchings twice failed to carry on Paul Jewell’s good work when he emerged from the shadows to replace the Scouse manager at Bradford City and then Wigan Athletic. The ex-Chelsea defender’s respective tenures at those two clubs spanned five and six months.
Sammy Lee didn’t last six months when Bolton Wanderers plucked him from the coaching staff to follow in Sam Allardyce’s stead as manager at the Reebok Stadium.
Southampton have taken the internal route twice, with the same inauspicious result on each occasion. Stuart Gray took the full-time post at St Mary’s in June 2001, having previously been operating in a caretaker capacity since March of the same year subsequent to serving under erstwhile bosses, Dave Jones and Glenn Hoddle. Gray was sacked three months after his unveiling.
Undeterred, in 2004, Saints’ then chairman, Rupert Lowe, gambled on Steve Wigley as the right choice to take over from Paul Sturrock. A respected coach, Wigley had been working for the South Coast club for more than three years. His time as manager was ended after four months.
Having employed a revolving door on their manager’s office, even by today’s giddy standards – Southampton are on their 17th boss, excluding caretakers, since January 1994 – the club’s more recent managerial recruitment policy is perhaps a pointer to the way ahead for Everton – and the raft of clubs who will be searching for a new man this summer.
In common with the Toffees taking Moyes from Preston North End, Saints looked down the leagues when picking Nigel Adkins as the man to rescue a team which was ailing in League One in 2010. That decision was vindicated by back-to-back promotions and the consequent restoration of Premier League football to St Mary’s.
Adkins’ superseding by the unheralded Argentine, Mauricio Pochettino, was widely lambasted by football sages as an absurd and high-risk move. As events have transpired, the ex-Espanyol boss has further invigorated his new team to the extent that the Saints are one of the English game’s more purposeful and exhilarating units.
Bill Kenwright’s task of selecting the appropriate man to pick up the Everton leadership baton from Moyes, is the hardest he has faced as Goodison chairman since he determined that Preston’s red-headed 39 year-old manager had the tools needed to lift a stale club.
This is no time for a misty-eyed and blue tinged appointment, made from the heart. Norwich City, Swansea City, West Bromwich Albion, and Aston Villa have all looked beyond their boundaries to find the men capable of continuing to push them forward.
Now, the chiefs of the pack and this country’s most famous club, Manchester United, have done exactly the same. Everton’s high-calibre squad alone – their best for over 25 years – is not sufficient to guarantee the safe guarding of Moyes’ legacy. In today’s fast-paced and ever changing environment, footballers need a steady but firm guiding hand. They require contemporary leadership.
Following Moyes might not be a burden to compare with stepping into Ferguson’s shoes. Nevertheless, the job at Goodison Park entails taking charge of the sixth best team in the Premier League, and carrying the hopes of a fiercely passionate, loyal, and sizeable support. A group of classy players, including Leighton Baines, Marouane Fellaini, Phil Jagielka, and Steven Pienaar, to name a few , expect to work under the tutelage of a man capable of keeping Everton in their now familiar lofty sphere.
The time of Neville and Ferguson et al may come, but it is not here yet.
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