It's possible that we (including me) have blamed the wrong person for our impotence in the transfer market. As the football man, isn't it likely that DM would have the final say in the valuation of players? And that's essentially the problem - our valuations have been too low.
My preliminary impression of Moyes is that he's determined to keep his job, and thinks the best way to do that is to stick with what he knows and take no risks.
He's maybe looked at our squad, and believes it's good enough to get second or third, and possibly even nick first, if Chelsea and City don't do the business, with the inexpensive addition of someone like Fellaini, who he knows can do a job. We're unlikely to do much in Europe, but he won't get fired over that - even Fergie hasn't done well in the CL in recent years.
He won't take chances in team selection - no kids; or in player acquisition - no flair players like Thiago or Ozil; or even in asking for a club record sum, say £40m, for Cesc Fabregas, who could fail conspicuously and leave him vulnerable.
Keep your head down, do what worked for you at Everton, don't spend too much of the owner's money,
and you should navigate the tricky waters of your first season to the safe harbour of CL qualification.
I'll make the daring prediction that we're not going to spend big money on
anybody before the end of the window.
{£80m bid for Gareth Bale tomorrow.
}
