Failure to bring David Moyes back to Everton key turning point
The failure to re-appoint David Moyes as Everton manager was a huge mistake and the situation at Goodison may still get worse, says Ben Grounds.
The Sky Sports journalist has compared the situations at Everton and West Ham to suggest that the Toffees could be in the Hammers’ position had they taken their opportunity to bring back the Scot.
Writing on his personal Twitter account he said: “Not reappointing David Moyes when the club had the chance will be the biggest ‘what ifs’ of [Farhad] Moshiri’s reign. West Ham were just as big a mess. Now look at them”.
Worryingly for the fans, he suggests that “Everton haven’t reached rock bottom yet” because there are not strong candidates to replace Rafael Benitez.
What could have been
The outstanding job that Moyes is doing in East London will surely have many around Merseyside casting envious glances at the top end of the Premier League table.
What will sting all the more is that two chances were missed to bring back the man who spent over a decade at the club previously.
The unsuccessful reign of Marco Silva at Goodison started and ended while the current boss at the London Stadium was out of work.
And almost to hammer home the point that they missed their opportunity, Moyes ended his first spell in charge at West Ham in May 2018, the month Silva was appointed, and began his current spell there in December 2019 during the same month that the Portuguese had been fired.
But hindsight is a wonderful thing and it is easy to see that things could have been very different if he had been brought back, now that West Ham are concerned with the top of the table rather than the bottom, while a third manager looks to be impending at Goodison since Silva.
Moshiri and Bill Kenwright have made their fair share of errors over the last few years but this one is perhaps more excusable.
Following his exit from Everton, Moyes’ career appeared to be on a downward slide as his disastrous attempt to fill Sir Alex Ferguson’s shoes at Manchester United was followed by short reigns in charge of Real Sociedad and Sunderland which were short on success, and even steering West Ham clear of relegation in 2018 did not suggest he would be able to achieve what he now is managing.
But that will not make the stark contrast any easier to swallow for the fans now.
In other Everton news, Sky Sports man believes star player will be looking for a way out of Goodison.