Most managers outside the so-called Big Six may ban talk of European football in fear of jinxing it – but Everton boss David Moyes is taking a ‘why not?’ approach and wants his players to reach for the stars.
The Toffees are eighth in the table ahead of Tuesday’s home clash against Bournemouth and would end the evening sixth – above rivals Liverpool and Brentford – with a win.
Given a top five finish is likely to get Champions League again, it means sixth, seventh and eighth could get European football.
Moyes does not fear jinxing it by openly discussing a continental tour – and wants everyone at the club to have an optimistic goal.
‘I think Everton should be kicking around those places, I really do,’ said Moyes. ‘All the years they were not were wasted years. Everton should be attempting to be (in Europe).
‘We might not be good enough to be it, we might be short, people might write something (later in the season) because I was talking about it but I have been trying to make Everton more positive.
David Moyes has floated the possibility of Everton challenging overseas during their next term
The manager has said that he is here to inject positivity into the club – and stressed the importance of not discounting a strong run as a pathway to Europe
‘A better look, a better feel, better results all in the hope that… hey, you never know. It might be too soon this year. We could lose two games and I’ll be saying it’s great we have avoided relegation!
‘But at the moment, the position we are in, we have to keep thinking we can challenge the top. I am trying to drive that through and want the players to hear it. That’s the plan.
‘Fifteen years ago (in Moyes’s first spell) it was terrible, we could not break the ceiling of the top teams. We were trying to break it, be better than those four or five teams. Every year, getting to the Champions League felt impossible just about.
‘We did it once (in 2005) so it wasn’t. But now, the competition in the mid-band of teams, someone in 15th could maybe still get to Europe if they go on a run. So if we can just keep nudging the points along… we’ve had a couple of disappointing draws but they’ve helped.’
For the first time in many months, Moyes has a clean bill of health aside from Jack Grealish, who is out for the season. The Scot reckons that at 62 years old, he is no longer in management just for relegation battles and only wants to look up.
‘Looking back I think now, “My goodness, those years in Europe made some difference to West Ham (his former club) as a football club”,’ added Moyes, who also reckons European football is a gateway to tempting better players to sign.
‘Some difference to the finances, the way people see it. We had a semi-final, a quarter-final and final in three years.
‘Next weekend, because we are knocked out of the FA Cup, I’ll be sitting twiddling my thumbs so I want us to be involved. I am too old to sit here and say I’m just going to try and keep us away from the bottom of the league.’
