Monaco are playing by our rules, not breaking them

They averaged less than 6000 fans at home games last season. They have only just been promoted back to the top league in France. They have never won the Champions League. They haven’t qualified for that competition for nearly decade. They don’t pay their taxes!

So much incredulity, anger and astonishment have surrounded AS Monaco over the past few weeks. This tiny club are putting more noses out of joint than Carl Froch’s jab. We’ve all seen the bleating, moaning and outrage surrounding Radamel Falcao’s decision to snub the Premier League and head to the sun drenched principality instead. What a waste of a promising career. What a money grabbing unambitious man he has proven himself to be. And what about young James Rodriguez? Every team in England wanted that skilful youngster and he’s thrown it all away for a bigger pay day. There are few things more amusing than a chronic lack of self awareness and the reaction to the rise of AS Monaco has had me in stitches recently.

On Twitter we’ve had Chelsea fans bemoaning the mercenary ways of Falcao. We’ve seen Spurs fans crying relative poverty as Joao Moutinho snubs his long anticipated move to London. Man City fans who excel at Football Manager have long wanted James Rodriguez, who the hell are Monaco to steal him away from them?

James and Moutinho: Monaco's £60m additions 

Well, they are the new Manchester City. The new Chelsea. In time they may even dwarf such clubs. After all, what footballer would rather take sodden trips to the Trafford Centre or Westfield than park up at the Monte Carlo harbour with additional millions in his bank account and stroll through the picturesque principality bathed in sunshine? Even from a professional standpoint, what is going to stop Monaco from becoming a super power of European football over the coming years? In ‘the beautiful game’ when millions are spent, trophies inevitably follow. We’ve seen these billionaire backed successes before. Hell, we invented them.  

Despite the poor attendances and relative lack of standing in the game, AS Monaco are just the latest nouveau riche club to join footballs elite. Top players are already packing their bags and flying into Nice airport for the promise of untold riches and success galore. It may take a year or two for success to follow but make no mistake, it will happen. This unheralded, tiny little club will follow in the footsteps of every other billionaire’s football plaything and feast on the carcases of those clubs who can no longer dine at the high rollers table.

Falcao is set to become Monaco's next big signing

French football, providing Monaco get through their court case with the Ligue Professionnel de Football (LFP) regarding their tax issues (they don’t seem too worried about that), will become more enticing to fans the world over. PSG and Monaco will be like Barca and Real in Spain, like Chelsea, City and United over here: Footballing behemoths with the means and ambition to attract the best players in the world and reap the rewards.

The snobbery of supporters in England towards Monaco is mind boggling. If any country should be well versed in seeing just how quickly a billionaire owner can propel a club to the top of the game then it is this one. Perhaps our collective memories are short. Do people even remember Chelsea pre Abromovich or City before Sheik Mansour rocked up? There were not Juan Matas or Sergio Agueros back in those days. Champions League finals and Premiership trophies weren’t about either.

As synthetic as Monaco’s rise undoubtedly will be, no one in England should look down their noses at that club nor berate players for moving to the South of France for a pay day. They are merely following the blue print of how to obtain immediate success, money and power in football which was drawn up on these shores long ago.  

Replacing Moyes: Mission Impossible?

It was always going to happen. It was always likely that this season would be David Moyes’ last at Goodison Park. For 11 years he has gallantly swam against the mighty financial tide of the Premier League and led Everton to top half finishes over and over again.

As many have pointed out, he never won a trophy of course, and ‘big games’ often left Evertonians with a sense of missed opportunity and frustration at what was perceived to be an overly cautious approach.  The truth is, before his arrival the only ‘big games’ Everton had were relegation six pointers.

No current manager in England has punched above his weight as consistently as Moyes and while a not insignificant portion of Everton’s fan base have grown frustrated at his inability to break into the top four since 2005, the reality is that Everton have repeatedly over achieved during his tenure. His departure won’t leave a hole on Merseyside. It will leave a chasm.

Moyes departure from Everton is bitter blow for Bill Kenwright

There are good managers available of course, there always are. Despite their financial restrictions, Everton remain an attractive proposition due to their history and substantial fan base. The main problem for whoever the incoming manager is will be how to go about the task of replacing and replicating the success of the often under-appreciated Moyes.

While Everton look set for yet another top 6 finish this season, their squad will likely require an overhaul over the next few years. Key players like Steven Pienaar, Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin and Tim Howard are no spring chickens. Their leading lights Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines will be courted by larger clubs. The squad currently at Everton is one that suits Moyes’ style down to the ground. They are exceptional when play is in transition. They can go from back to front as quickly and effectively as any team in England bar Manchester United. Every player has been used to Moyes’ playing style and has a clear understanding of what is required of them. They are a team totally in tune with Moyes and his brand of football. The new manager could well seek a completely fresh approach and new players to implement such a change. It will be a mammoth task to keep Everton where they are, let alone to improve them.

Take the front runner Roberto Martinez, for example. He likes to create a team whose football is almost exclusively on the ground with short passes and an emphasis on attractive, expansive play. This Everton squad would be ill suited to such a style. It would take time for such a different brand of football to become second nature to Everton’s players and time is not something that football fans are too eager to give a manager these days. If a different approach could potentially make Everton better, they would probably get worse early on. The transition would likely be a slow and painful process.

Martinez is the favourite for the Everton hot seat

The alternative solution on offer to Bill Kenwright is to appoint a manager who can continue in the same vein as Moyes and attempt to carry on a seamless transition. In theory that is fine, but in reality is it likely that anyone can make this current squad as successful as Moyes has by merely seeking to continue his work? Could Mark Hughes or Neil Lennon realistically get more out of this Everton team than the Manchester bound Glaswegian? Probably not.

As David Moyes waves goodbye to Goodison, Everton are left at a daunting crossroad. Do they stick with what has served Moyes so well and hope that decline doesn’t set in or do they take a new route, overhaul and trust in supporters patience and a new manager’s new style?

After eleven years of stability and over achievement, David Moyes will be a hard act to follow. Evertonians who bemoaned the lack of a trophy under their outgoing manager could well be looking back on the Moyes era in a few years as a relative golden period.

With Financial Fair Play looming and United, City, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool all far better off in monetary terms, the notion of Everton finishing higher than 6^th in the Premier League any time soon seems unlikely. Whoever Bill Kenwright selects as his next Everton manager faces as tough a task in replacing Moyes as Moyes does in replacing Alex Ferguson. 

Pass master Coutinho is a perfect 10

Philippe Coutinho may not have been able to salvage a victory for Liverpool in the Merseyside derby last weekend but his flashes of brilliance over the past few games offer Brendan Rodgers a solution to a pressing matter.

Early in the season Brendan Rodgers addressed live4liverpool.com and others about how he would be seeking a traditional ‘number ten’ in the coming summer. In January, just a couple of months after he made that statement, he signed a gifted young player who may have solved that conundrum ahead of schedule.

Since is arrival, Coutinho has played predominantly from the left hand side for Liverpool as he did on loan at Espanyol last season but, as we see more and more of the young star, it becomes increasingly obvious that he is even more threatening from a central position. He has shown he has the ability to contribute greatly from wide areas of course but his main attributes are his vision, imagination and passing rather than crossing or stretching the play. Liverpool have a star on their hands and must get the best out of him.

Coutinho receives his second successive LFC player of the month award

Against Newcastle and Everton he was allowed to play mostly behind Daniel Sturridge in the role that the number on his back suggests he should excel in. Excel he did. Despite still being in the embryonic stages of his Liverpool career he has quickly become the Red’s main source of attacking penetration in the absence of Luis Suarez. His defence splitting pass that led to Jordan Henderson’s goal at St James Park took the breath away. His dribble and flick for Sturridge’s first goal that day was mesmerising. Even in a subdued, tight Merseyside derby a week later he managed to unlock an Everton defence on top of its game with a stunning pass that should have led to the opening goal. With one impudent flick of the outside of his right foot he guided the ball expertly through a previously impenetrable block of blue shirts straight into the path of Sturridge for a clear cut opportunity. Had Liverpool’s striker given the pass the finish it deserved then we’d probably have seen Coutinho’s handiwork hailed as the ‘pass of the season’. On a day where defences were on top and genuine quality was in short supply, that moment shone like a diamond in the dirt.

Still slight of frame and yet to quite manage 90 Premier League minutes without a drop off in his physical condition, Coutinho has great scope for improvement. He should only grow more influential as time progresses. He is still a kid with an extraordinary talent that Liverpool must harness, but what a talent his is. With the amount of versatility on offer in attacking players such as Suarez, Sturridge and Henderson, it is surely in Brendan Rodgers’ mind to use Coutinho as his focal point going forward and create a team that is designed to get the best out of the Brazilian. Given how impressive he has been so early in his Liverpool career, one can only feel excitement at just how good Coutinho can be for Liverpool over the next few seasons. If he can continue to improve and is afforded the opportunity to go about his work in a team that supports and enhances his talent, the possibilities are endless. The thought of Liverpool going out to find a playmaker to play off a front man next season suddenly feel remote given Coutinho’s impact.  

He may not have imagined it when he signed the 20 year old, but in Philippe Coutinho Brendan Rodgers may have already found his perfect ten.

Moyes finally gets his shot

If, as expected, David Moyes leads Manchester United out at Wembley Stadium for the Community Shield match in a couple of months time, he will shoulder a responsibility that the few thought would ever be his to bear: he will carry the hopes and dreams of British coaches up and down the country.

For so long now there has been widespread dismay and anger at how promising British managers are not afforded the opportunities in their homeland that they deserve. The managerial positions at England’s biggest clubs over the last 15 years have almost invariably gone to foreign men like Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, Arsene Wenger, Roberto Mancini and Gerard Houllier. No longer.

The biggest job in the country will belong (as it has for the past 26 years) to a Scotsman. David Moyes has not just broken through that metaphorical glass ceiling, he has shattered it. For all the talk of Sir Alex Ferguson’s admiration for his fellow Glaswegian over the years and the petitions in the media for Moyes to be given a ‘top job’, the notion that he would become United’s next manager still seemed fanciful until the seismic developments of the past 24 hours. Taken at face value, his move from Goodison Park to Old Trafford makes little sense and appears to go against everything that United stand for.

Ferguson with Uniteds 20th title and his last 

The current English champions are built to win. For the past 23 years, since Ferguson won his first F.A Cup back in 1990, they have known nothing else. Trophy after trophy has arrived, win after win has been chalked up. Their next manager knows little of such things. His undoubtedly successful tenure on Merseyside with Everton was never a cake walk of consistent victories or routine wins. It yielded not a single piece of silverware and produced just one disappointing F.A Cup final. Moyes’ only experience in Europe’s top club competition was a stomach churning two legged defeat in a qualifying round back in the autumn of 2005. United have been in three Champions League finals since Moyes last even threatened to take a team into that competition.

Given the differing levels of tangible success between Manchester United and David Moyes over the last decade, it is little wonder that many Mancunians are underwhelmed with Sir Alex Ferguson’s apparent successor. At a time when continental managers like Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are in vogue and proven winners like Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti are guns for hire, you can understand the surprise and maybe even the initial disappointment of United supporters regarding the imminent arrival of Moyes. Put simply, his C.V isn’t of Manchester United quality.

Dig a little deeper however, and his appointment is quite a logical step. United have made it clear that Ferguson’s replacement would be an appointment made for the foreseeable future and not merely a quick fix. They seek a new dynasty and a seamless transition from the Ferguson era into the future. Moyes has the potential to spearhead such ambitions. For all the dearth of success in terms of trophies won on Moyes’ C.V to date, he has proven things at Everton that have obviously facilitated his date with destiny and met United’s current requirements.

David Moyes looks set to leave Everton 

He has shown that, given time, he can create a squad in his image that is able to compete with sides who have greater financial resources. His eye for a bargain in the transfer market has been evident throughout his Everton days. He has improved players like Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman and Marouane Fellaini markedly. He created his own dynasty at Everton that will take some beating (good luck to Bill Kenwright on that one) even if he did not ultimately provide a trophy. He was fiercely loyal and dedicated to his project while managing the Toffees. Stability and steadfast self-belief were ever present even during tough spells. Perhaps most importantly, while demonstrating all of these traits, he earned the respect and admiration of Alex Ferguson who will have been instrumental in appointing his own successor. United want and require evolution, not revolution. They obviously see Moyes as the man to implement this, and not without reason.

Importantly, Moyes will take over a club that does not require major upheaval. The infrastructure built by Ferguson at United will endure. Nothing will be torn up and started again from scratch (something that would have been a real possibility had Jose Mourinho arrived in Manchester). Moyes is no short term appointment or a knee jerk choice. Mourinho, Klopp or Ancelotti may have set the hearts of fans fluttering a little more had they been selected to succeed Ferguson, but Moyes is an eminently logical if slightly unsexy choice.

Like any manager entering a new job, there is no guarantee that David Moyes will succeed, but he has undoubtedly earned his shot at the big time and Manchester United should be praised for allowing him the opportunity to fulfil his ambitions in the Premier League when he seemed destined to have to follow his dreams abroad. United have not taken the easy way out of hiring a world renowned proven winner who would have appeased the majority of their fans in the aftermath of Ferguson’s departure. They have instead been sensible and hired the man who they believe will be best for the future of their club. In doing so, they have also presented a British manager with a platform to prove that coaches from these shores can be every bit as successful in the upper echelons of the game as those from abroad. No pressure, David.