Royle's team looked good for an all too brief period but we'll never know if he could have turned around the slump we were in when he resigned had he stayed instead. Royle also wouldn't play Limpar and Kanchelskis together (at least, not after a couple of unpleasant defeats). In fact, most of the complaints about functionality/too direct/too many draws/not adventurous enough that get thrown at Moyes, were also being thrown at Royle during various phases of his reign.

It will get more expensive with better players, as it did first time around. It's also likely that, once again, people will fail to fully recognise this because their perceptions will be coloured by the filter of the pragmatism of the early set up.

Moyes isn't perfect, but he's the best we've had over any period of more than a season or two since 1987. He's also perfect for where we are now. My worry is that he won't be afforded the patience or time he was last time in order to give us a decent platform to build from again.