David Moyes: I have no plans to leave Everton

Mar 22 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

DAVID MOYES has reassured Everton supporters he has no intention of leaving the club.

But the Goodison manager admits that talks with the board this summer will prove influential in shaping his future plans.

Speculation over Moyes’s position has intensified in sections of the media during recent weeks, with his current deal due to expire at the end of next season.

Although chairman Bill Kenwright has intimated he wants to extend the Scot’s stay at the club that began in March 2002, negotiations have yet to formally begin over a new deal.

Moyes, however, yesterday allayed fears he could walk out on Everton.

“It’s up to the board when we come to any contract talks, but we have said we will wait until the end of the season and look at it,” said the Goodison manager.

“In an ideal scenario everything will be sorted and I will stay here.

“I am interested to find out what the next stage is for Everton. That will be part of the discussion I have with people. I still have a year to go, so it’s not as if it’s running out tomorrow.

“What happens at the end of the season could dictate what finances we have. There shouldn’t be any fear among supporters that I’ll be leaving. It is not in my mind and not anything I have ever considered.”

Moyes will aim to guide his team back on level points with fourth-placed Liverpool this evening with victory at home to West Ham United.

Everton will give late fitness tests to Tim Cahill, Manuel Fernandes and Victor Anichebe, but Andrew Johnson is almost certainly absent with the groin strain that forced him to hobble off against Fulham last Sunday.

And Moyes said: “I’m not overly confident that we’ll have various striking partnerships available but I’m sure we will sort something out.”

Should Cahill prove his fitness, he will then join up with the Australia squad ahead of their World Cup qualifier in China on Wednesday – just four days before the Merseyside derby at Anfield.

“I know that Tim is in the squad so we will have to abide by the rules,” said Moyes. “If he is fit he will have to go away with Australia, yes.”

Iain Turner and Andy van der Meyde are injured, while Moyes has confirmed that James Vaughan will miss the rest of the season following his cartilage operation in America earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Moyes wants the Football Association to show more respect towards players and clubs if they are demanding better standards from within the game.

The Everton manager has found himself at odds with officialdom in recent seasons over various issues, and has viewed the treatment of fellow clubs by the ruling body this term with disappointment.

The FA’s campaign for greater respect from players to referees has been highlighted this week by the uproar over Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole’s petulance towards top official Mike Riley in the 4-4 draw at Tottenham.

But Moyes said: “Managers and players are quite rightly expected to show respect to referees, but we quite often ask them for honest opinions and we don’t always get them, as I can vouch for.

“It can’t be a one-way street and the FA throw out regular incidents where we feel things have been incorrect.

“I am all for anything which improves it and gives a better understanding, but are we going to get a better understanding from the FA and referees.

“When it comes down to it players have to respect referees as do managers, but you can lose it if you don’t feel referees are being honest with you and if people aren’t straight with you.

“We are all unconvinced about the offside rule.

He added: “We are at loggerheads with that. No one has clarified that issue so there is always going to be criticism then at the end of the week or the end of the game because we are not sure of the rules.”