there have been so many false dawns over the past 35 years when expectations have been raised to a frankly unrealistic level after a decent season or the acquisition of a new manager or player. Aside from Joe Royle's time in charge in which there seemed grounds for cautious optimism, the pattern has often been small, temporary improvements followed by crushing disappointment. The exception has been Moyes' first spell where we achieved regular top 8 finishes. Then of course we failed spectacularly to take the next step after he left.

He inherited a much weaker squad than he left and it isn't his style to make big changes quickly. This might be a good thing. I would expect next season to be the first we don't seriously worry about relegation for a while - but not one in which we establish ourselves as "best of the rest", start putting teams to the sword with scintillating attacking displays or anything like that. Think the overall quality of the squad will be better by the time the window shuts, but quantity will be reduced and we may be prone to injury crises at times. Harder to beat, more of an attacking threat, more home wins than last season would do for me. Finishing 10-12th would be fine. Then another season or two of Moyes fine tuning the squad and laying foundations for the future before handing the reins over to a younger successor.