HAVING spent an increasing amount of the campaign dismissing speculation of his players moving away from Everton, David Moyes found the spotlight turned closer to home this week.
Such has been the impression of the Goodison outfit’s New Year revival that Moyes has been touted as a replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
While Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp put his Everton counterpart forward for the Old Trafford job, one report suggested Ferguson himself wants to be succeeded by his fellow Glaswegian.
Nonsense, says Moyes. After all, his vote for Manager of the Year is going to the man sat in the opposition dugout tomorrow afternoon.
Roy Hodgson brings his Fulham side to Goodison having guided them, on limited resources, to the brink of their first-ever European final after drawing the first leg of their Europa League semi-final at Hamburg on Thursday.
A sparkling season has also seen the Cottagers firmly ensconced in Premier League mid-table respectability and reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
And when asked for how should be named the leading manager of the campaign, an appreciative Moyes says: "I think Roy would get my vote. Roy’s performances with his resources and what he’s done have been excellent.
"Watching them in the semi-final, I felt admiration for what they’ve done. I know from experience how hard it is to win games in Europe.
"I’m not saying he’s found it easy but he’s beat Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk, he’s playing Hamburg.
"It’s not as if he’s clawed through with a few Mickey Mouse teams, certainly not. He’s probably played the cream of the tournament. He gets my admiration for that.
"He has got a good squad. In the early rounds he didn’t play his top players. He was able to play a different team in Europe, that tells me how strong a squad he’s got."
Those European commitments means Hodgson is likely to ring the changes at Goodison ahead of one of the biggest games in Fulham’s history, particularly given their arduous road trip to Germany.
That should in theory help Everton’s cause as they continue to hope for a fourth successive European qualification, the target of which was confirmed as a seventh-placed finish after Portsmouth’s appeal against failing to be granted a UEFA licence was rejected on Thursday.
With three games remaining, Moyes’s side are seven points adrift of sixth-placed Aston Villa and five behind neighbours Liverpool, who currently occupy the final Europa League berth.
But Moyes says: "Is it between us and Liverpool? I don’t know. We will just keep on chasing and see what happens.
"My aim is to win the games left and see where it takes us. We’re just a little bit behind it and come the end we might look back and say if only for this or that, but in the main I don’t think we can fault the players.
"Over the last 18 or 20 games the players have played really well. They’ve dipped here and there but I think they’ve done well.
"We’ve only had two defeats, one at Anfield which I’ve talked enough about and one at Tottenham where we missed an open goal late on to make it two each."
