MARK LAWRENSON: Board needs to match the commitment of manager

May 13 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE question for Everton at the end of the season shouldn’t be: ‘What does David Moyes want to do?’

It’s: ‘What do Everton as a club want to do?’

You can’t see Moyes wanting to leave and I can’t believe for the life of me that he won’t sign a new contract.

Aside from the issue of where he would go next to get anything better (unless Dr Thaksin’s promising him untold riches at Eastlands!), I don’t think anyone can doubt the commitment and passion he has for taking the club to the next level.

Now the board need to match it.

Reports of Moyes wanting £40million reflect just how vital the current crossroads is that Everton find themselves at.

It sounds like a lot of money in isolation but put it into context. Let’s say that amount is laughed off by Bill Kenwright and Moyes gets something in the region of £15-20million.

That’s not enough to get anywhere near competing with the top four. Their revenue streams are such that they can splash that amount on one player without even thinking about it.

So it’s got to be time for Kenwright to say, ‘okay we’re going to go for it’.

And give Moyes the money for the three or four quality players they need to be genuine Champions League challengers again.

The worst thing that could happen is those in charge at Everton mince around and go on about how great the current team is and how well the manager is doing.

Thinking that finishing fifth and getting into Europe again is as far as they can go.

Yes, the team have done really, really well and it’s a great achievement to follow up last year’s sixth-place finish by getting into the top five.

But it’s been done with a small squad, one that didn’t quite have the depth to stay the distance with Liverpool.

So the thought of what Moyes could achieve if he had the means to land his main targets has to be too tempting for the board to resist.

It’s all very well telling Moyes he has done well on a relatively restricted budget, but the 11 points between Everton and Liverpool don’t lie.

Without significant investment, you might as well forget even trying to narrow that deficit, let alone wiping it out.

It’s what Moyes achieves when he is given money to spend that people need to concentrate on now. He deserves that chance.

Generally, he has spent what money he has had very carefully in the past. He studies everything about the player, how they can fit into one or two different systems.

He doesn’t just toss it around and hope for the best.

And even when it does go wrong, like with James Beattie, he still manages to recoup a fair amount.

Every manager tells their chairmen they are always just a couple of players away from getting the squad they want.

And despite the relative success Everton are celebrating at the end of a gruelling yet exhilarating season, Moyes is certainly not in the mood for letting his bosses sit back, relax and enjoy the moment.

A satisfactory conclusion, yes. But there are still more questions, and when most of them are coming from the manager, the answers need to come pretty rapidly.

Mark Lawrenson was talking to NICK SMITH