Has Everton's Time Come Again? A Look Ahead to the 2009/10 Season By Steven Yates At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

There was a time when Everton's midfield of Kendall, Harvey and Ball was undoubtedly as good as any in the world. The School of Science. A few years later, though, and the Everton team was not so affectionately known as The Dogs of War – intimidating, ferocious and only loved by their own kind.

Now, though, as the season 2009/2010 approaches, David Moyes, arguably the best Scottish manager in the English game (under 65), has put together a team that, in many ways, combines the qualities of both. It has been a long time waiting for Everton supporters since they won the FA Cup in 1995. Even the most guardedly pessimistic of them must surely believe that they won't have to wait much longer.

Despite an injury list that was almost as long as an inventory of Real Madrid transfer targets, Everton came close last season – failing to get past a rejuvenated Chelsea team in the FA Cup final at Wembley. Surely, with better luck on the injury front and a few judicious purchases, the Toffees can go one better next year, can't they?

I hope so, for David Moyes' sake as much as anything; I firmly believe that if any manager deserves success it is he.

For a start, he never ever used the injuries as an excuse. The team lost the superb Spanish playmaker Mikel Artete for almost all of the season, the hugely improved centre back Phil Jagielka in the last few weeks and endured many other injuries to key players such as Yakubu and Saha. And yet Moyes just got on with it.

In fact, it allowed him to bring into the team young players who showed just how much promise there is in the youth ranks of the Merseyside club. Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling look to be tremendous prospects – the latter with a winning goal against Liverpool on his CV already. And, but for injuries, James Vaughan would surely have made even more impact.

Additionally, you can't but help admire the way that Moyes and his coaching staff have been able to improve players. The aforementioned Jagielka – who didn't look much like an England international when he signed from Sheffield United. Joleon Lescott and Leighton Baines now have every right to be aiming for next year's England World Cup squad because of the developments in their game. Or there's the way that Philip Neville, previously not one of Merseyside's favourite sons by any manner of means, was signed and made into such an integral, even inspirational, member of the squad.

Transfer dealings will always be key for David Moyes. At a club which does not have a seemingly endless 'magic porridge pot' of foreign money, Everton's signings have to work. So Tim Howard has been transformed into one of the most reliable goalkeepers around. Jo, who never looked like scoring at Manchester City, turned into a proper striker at Goodison.

So, I hope Everton can win something this coming year. For the sake of David Moyes. And Bill Kenwright – an old-fashioned kind of chairman at the club he's loved all his life. And for supporters who have had to put up with merciless taunting from the red half of the city for far too long.

And because Goodison Park, with its quaint old 'Johnny Todd' tune playing when the teams come out, is a ground full of atmosphere that deserves a bit of success.

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