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I remember being on this board during his first spell. I think we lost to Tottenham, maybe it was a cup game, and the unanimous opinion on here was that he should be fired.

We stuck with him, didn't regret it, but never got to see what he could have done with money and backing.

You could argue that he's finally been given a ~£30m centre forward and Barry is shite. But I don't blame Moyes for that transfer.

Looking back over what Kinnear said in September:

“Charly Alcaraz, Thierno Barry, Adam Aznou, Mark Travers, Tyler Dibling and Merlin Röhl are some of the most exciting young talents in European football, with great potential for the future"

“They will need time and our patience to settle and adapt to the rigours of the Premier League, but I have no doubt in their ability to make a positive contribution this season, and that their contribution will only grow over time."

“Their transition will be accelerated under the guidance of David Moyes. His desire to champion young talent remains as strong as ever."

“David was central to all our recruitment efforts. The first into Finch Farm each morning and the last to leave at night, he meticulously assessed every player proposal, data assessment and video review.”

Not sure what to make of that. I don't think we should have a DoF model but big question marks about how joined up our transfer committee was.

One thing that's not been said much is that Moyes 1.0 he brought in very highly rated coaches as his assistants. Steve Round was widely considered to be one of the best and was poached from Newcastle. I'd feel much more bullish about Moyes if he was doing the same again, rather than a mix of old favourites (McKinley and Irvine) and a club legend to put the cones out (Baines).

Moyes/McKinley/Irvine is a bit like the Dyche/Woan/Stone shit show. Old, stale, etc.

IF (and it's a big if) Baines is there on merit and is genuinely considered to be a future PL manager and IF Moyes is grooming him as a successor then stability is much more appealing. IF our technical team truly rate Dibling/Aznou/Barry/Rohl/Alcaraz and consider this to be an adjustment season and next year they will hit the ground running then that would be quite exciting. It doesn't make sense to me, but that's what I will cling to.

Next year will be Moyes' final season, maybe he'll hand over some media duties to Baines. We finish 8th and qualify for Europe.

Pickford
RB, O'Brien, Branthwaite, Aznou
Armstrong/Rohl, Garner, KDH,
Dibling, Barry, George