COMMENT: Contract conclusion will ease lingering fears of the Everton faithful

Oct 3 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

WHAT now for Everton? And, more pertinently, what now for David Moyes?

After the disappointing Carling Cup elimination at Blackburn Rovers was followed by a demoralising derby capitulation at home to Liverpool, a third successive loss last night meant the end of their European dream against Standard Liege.

By comparison, the latest setback was no disgrace against quality opposition and it could argued that it’s a sign of the progress during six-and-half years under Moyes that an early UEFA Cup exit has prompted talk of a crisis.

But it’s patently obvious there is something wrong at Everton right now.

This, remember, is a club whose owner wants to sell, whose chief executive has resigned, whose manager hasn’t penned a new contract, whose squad is too sparsely-populated, whose fans are on the point of revolt and whose future stadium plans have yet to leave the drawing board.

The current on-field woes can be tracked back to the summer when, for whatever reason, serious attempts to bring in much-needed reinforcements were only started when it was too late.

Nobody has really answered the burning question as to why this was the case. After all, a bid was made in May to sign Cardiff City youngster Aaron Ramsey which would indicate some money was available.

So why wait until just before the end of the transfer window before a signing was made?

That failure to sufficiently strengthen has hung heavy over the opening weeks of this campaign, with fears raised by Moyes during the tour to America that Everton would not be ready for the season having been painfully realised.

Moyes, for whom defiance and resilience have been watchwords of his achievements, has cut a strangely subdued figure, his usual tub-thumping replaced by an air of, while not resignation, then at times fearing the worst.

Of course, it’s ridiculous to suggest that, just six league games in, the campaign is now over for Everton.

But the fact is they are already out of the two competitions in which they most excelled last season with little chance of improving on their fifth-place finish.

Indeed, European qualification appears unlikely unless their form improves quickly.

And failure to secure at least a UEFA Cup berth could place in doubt the futures of several key players.

The continued speculation over Moyes’s contract has become too great a distraction, a point even the manager conceded in the wake of Saturday’s derby defeat.

Such uncertainty has spread to a team that is sorely lacking in confidence and cohesion and, dare it be said, the firm leadership with which Moyes has forged his reputation.