Is it time for David Moyes to leave Everton?

Everton boss David Moyes looks to be keeping his options open

Everton suffered a last-gasp 2-1 defeat yesterday at Norwich on another frustrating afternoon for the Toffees. Grant Holt’s 94^th minute winner was almost inevitable, as Everton looked shaky yet again.

Frustrating

This season has been very frustrating at times for Everton supporters. The Blues have thrown away far too many points from winning positions. It almost feels like they have a mental issue with hanging to a lead.

Everton are so close to becoming a force in English football again. At their best they can beat any team in the top flight, but then they seem to struggle to motivate themselves against the lesser teams.

Everton are the Premier League’s draw specialists alongside Stoke. Had the Toffees claimed victory in half of those games then they would be second in the Premier League. Unfortunately Everton have failed to find that killer instinct in games.

Doubts

There are doubts over whether David Moyes is going to stay at Everton with his contract expiring in the summer. It seems that the Scot is keeping his options open. If this was a motivational tool to get his players to perform it really has backfired.

As the season has worn on the players haven’t been producing the same performances as at the beginning of the season. They look like a different team to the one that looked like realistic challengers for the Champions League spots earlier in the campaign.

The doubts over his future seems to have distracted the Everton players, much like the situation at Spurs last season when Harry Redknapp was constantly being linked with the England job.

Money

David Moyes has done a superb job in stabilising the club; on a tight budget by top six Premier League standards. He has never had major money to spend, because Everton simply don’t have the money.

Moyes has assembled a very decent team. Unfortunately he hasn’t really got much of a squad. The Scot has been working with one hand tied behind his back at times and he was notably frustrated by not being able to bring in any real quality in January.

Moyes needed to give the fans and players a boost in January, as Everton’s top players seemed to running on empty. However, the Everton board wouldn’t or couldn’t give the Scot any sort of financial backing.

Nearly

Everton have so often been the nearly men of English football under Moyes. The Toffees have made the FA Cup final, semi-finals of both the FA and League cup, but have never been able to claim silverware under Moyes.

Everton have also finished just outside the Champions League and European spots on a number of occasions. The one season Everton made it into the Champions League, Moyes wasn’t really given the financial backing to take the club forward.

It seems to be the story of David Moyes’ Everton career. When Everton do have the chance to move forward and become a real force in English football they are hamstrung by the lack of financial muscle.

Progression

David Moyes is desperate for Everton to progress, but it seems he is now at the end of his tether with the situation at Everton. It seems that he can’t achieve much more on Merseyside and he is considering pastures new.

Speculation

David Moyes was heavily linked with the vacant Tottenham job last summer, but Spurs decided to appoint former-Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas instead. However, Moyes has also been linked with the both the Manchester City and Chelsea jobs.

Moyes may not end up at the Etihad Stadium or Stamford Bridge, but it starting to look like he will end his decade association with the club in the summer. Maybe Moyes now needs a fresh challenge.

Vital

Everton’s season hinges on Tuesday’s fifth round FA Cup replay with League One Oldham. A home tie against Wigan awaits the victors. It’s not exactly the toughest draw and should Everton defeat Oldham then they will be confident of progressing in the competition.

The Everton players owe their boss and the fans a big performance after collapsing against Norwich on Saturday.

Time

I don’t believe that anybody could say that David Moyes hasn’t moved the club forward in his ten years in charge. However, I think the summer will be the right time for everybody for David Moyes to leave Goodison Park.

Winning the FA Cup would be a really nice way to sign off his time on the blue half of Merseyside, but before Moyes can even think of winning the cup Everton need to get past stubborn Oldham on Tuesday night and that’s unlikely to be an easy task.

Is it time for David Moyes to leave Everton?