The Blues boss opened up on the value of Everton reaching Europe this season
David Moyes celebrates Everton's first goal against Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
David Moyes celebrates Everton's first goal against Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
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David Moyes has his mind firmly set on the final six games of the season because he knows the value of the prize within Everton’s grasp.
Qualification for Europe would be a major coup for the Blues, an achievement that would arrive ahead of schedule for a club rebuild that is being handled with care.
For Moyes, it would also hammer home the message the club has been transformed - it would be a success that would garner respect from the outside world.
That is important to Moyes and Everton. Twelve months ago, the Scot had led Everton clear of trouble and the club was preparing to celebrate the final games of Goodison Park free from the burden of the relegation battles and financial crises of previous years.
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With new owners the Friedkin Group resolving the longstanding money problems and ahead of the summer move to Hill Dickinson Stadium, those inside the Blues bubble knew the club was on an upward trajectory.
It was tough selling that progress to those beyond Merseyside, though, Moyes conceded after a summer spent missing out on transfer targets. Qualification for Europe could change that, he believes.
Asked what value he would place on returning to football on the continent, ahead of a Merseyside derby in which a win over Liverpool would make achieving that goal look realistic, he said: “It would hopefully get the club back to somewhere where people have more respect for it. Not a club that’s seen as having financial problems but has built a new stadium and is trying to regroup.
“I know the outcome of what it does for the support, not just here but globally, if you get European football. It’s a big thing because of the coverage of European football. It would be a big thing for us and for our owners and for the new people here to see what Everton Football Club is really like.
“It is a different club now to what it’s been over the last three or four years, however long it’s been. It has been a competitive club for most of the time I can remember. I want us to get back to that.
“We have always struggled to spend as much as a Liverpool or some of the other clubs but we’ve always tried to make ourselves competitive and I’d like to do that again.”
While the demands of Europe would stretch Everton - even after another summer of improving the squad - the belief is that it could turbocharge the club’s progress by enabling Moyes to attract a higher calibre of player.
That would be necessary to help the Blues sustain their rise up the Premier League table.
Being able to offer European football would help with that, Moyes believes, having spent the opening months of last summer fighting a losing battle against rivals who appeared to have more to offer.
On the difficulties of convincing players to join last season, he said: “It was a surprise. I want to bring players here who the Evertonians can see will make a difference and can bring something new, and I found it really difficult at the start.
“If you look back on the numbers we took to America last summer for the Premier League tournament, we had very few players with us at all. It was a job that I knew was going to be difficult but became increasingly difficult every time I was on the phone.
“I must have had conversations with 12 different players and I can’t remember how many said no but thankfully Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall] and Jack [Grealish] said yes. It must have been me putting them off when I spoke to them! But Jack and Kiernan have shown big things for us.”