“Dogs of War” are back
Following an eight-month investigation, Everton FC have received an immediate 10-point deduction after being found that the Toffees had breached the top flight’s financial rules.
After a poor start to the season, Sean Dyche’s side had improved and were comfortable in the table but have now dropped from 14th to second bottom on goal difference, two points from safety.
Only one side in Premier League history has survived relegation from a position of having four points from 12 games – however, that team was Everton in 1994-95.
Everton’s plight has drawn parallels with the 1993-94 campaign when Mike Walker kept them up on the last day after coming from 2-0 down to beat Wimbledon 3-2 in the final game. The following season under Joe Royle – whose side were dubbed the ‘Dogs of War’ – was the last in which the club won a trophy, stunning Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley.
“We were in this position in 1993-94 and then ended up winning a trophy too, will the stars align for us again and history repeat itself? The core values of the club are to stand together in what we believe in,” Everton fan and host of “A Game of Two Halves” podcast Ellis Nordhoff said.
“This will be the ‘Dogs of War reborn’. I imagine the players are now going to be playing like their lives depend on it and it will mean even more to them now.”
Manager Sean Dyche saved the Toffees from relegation in 2022/23 with a win in the last game of the season, but with the points deduction he might face a much more tough task this time. On the other hand, none of the newly promoted teams Sheffield Utd, Luton Town and Burnley have impressed so far, all three of them having a bad start into this season. They are on just 4, 5 and 6 points respectively.
Everton said that they will be appealing against the decision, and that will be heard by a judicial panel, who will be tasked with assessing the commission’s process and whether the penalty handed out was fair.
Everton say they have not been given clarity on how the commission reached the figure of 10 points and sources believe a sporting sanction for a technical breach on the accountancy of building their new stadium is not appropriate.
The appeal will be heard and concluded before the end of this season, which means Everton and other clubs in danger will be clear which division they will be competing in next term.
In Premier League history only two other clubs have received a points deduction – Middlesbrough (three points) and Portsmouth (nine) – and neither was able to avoid relegation.
Everton said that they would “monitor with great interest the decisions made in any other cases“. Be in doubt, they mean above all Manchester City, who are accused of more than 100 breaches of financial rules over a nine-year period from 2009.
Ein Tag – zwei Entlassungen
Es ist Länderspielpause. Morgen spielt Österreich in Estland sein letztes EM-Qualifikationsmatch der Gruppe F.
Der Fokus des Interesses ist in dieser Zeit nicht bei der nationalen Meisterschaft, und in diesen von Ligaspielen freigehaltenen zwei Wochen passieren immer wieder mehr oder weniger überfällige Trainerentlassungen. Tja, oft dauert das Engagement eines Coaches kaum länger als eine Saison…
Während David Moyes bei West Ham in East London nach dem 3:2 gegen Nottingham Forest (Bild oben mit Matchwinner Tomas Soucek) seit dem Wochenende wieder fester im Sattel sitzt – was Football Today nicht daran hindert, heute von einem “managerial dilemma” zu schreiben und “potential replacements” für den Schotten zu diskutieren – erwischte es nach Wochenend-Meisterschafts-Niederlagen die Cheftrainer in Wien-West und Ost-Berlin:
Beim SK Rapid war es nach einem 0:1 in Hartberg am Samstag heute, Mittwoch, so weit: Zoki Barisic, der erst im Herbst des Vorjahres nach dem Europacup-Scheitern seines Vorgängers Ferdl Feldhofer gegen FC Vaduz zum sportlichen Leiter bestellt worden war, musste nach dieser weiteren Niederlage und dem Abrutschen in die Abstiegsgruppe der österreichischen Bundesliga gehen. Die Dementi der letzten Tage – vor allem von Steffen Hofmann, der trotz mageren 18 Punkten in 14 Spielen und einer Serie von fünf sieglosen Heimspielen seit dem 1:0 gegen Fiorentina (24. August) Zoki noch gestern das Vertrauen ausgesprochen hatte – waren nicht mehr gültig, weil sich Sportdirektor Katzer durchsetzte, der den Zeitpunkt für einen Trainerwechsel vor gekommen sah. Wie der Kurier berichtet, folgte das Präsidium Katzer und nicht Hofmann, und damit ist Barisic raus. Der erfolgreiche Trainer von Rapid II darf nach dem Herbstmeistertitel mit dem Zweierteam in der Regionalliga Ost nun bei der „Ersten“ ran: Stefan Kulovits übernimmt interimistisch bis zur Winterpause.
Selber Tag – weitere Trainerentlassung, allerdings nach mehr als fünf erfolgreichen Jahren: Urs Fischer, der den 1. FC Union Berlin in fünf Jahren von der zweiten Liga bis in die Champions League geführt hatte, musste nach neun Niederlagen in elf Bundesligaspielen – zuletzt 0:4 gegen Bayer Leverkusen – gehen. Auch hier übernimmt der U19-Coach interimistisch: Marco Grote folgt nach 224 Pflichtspielen, die der 57-jährige Schweizer die „Eisernen“ coachte, auf Urs Fischer, wie laola1 berichtet. Laut Kurier könnte der Österreicher Oliver Glasner (Europa League-Sieger 2022 mit Eintracht Frankfurt und aktuell ohne Klub) Fischers Nachfolger werden. Derzeit trainiert interimistisch Marco Grote die Unioner. Marie-Louise Eta ist seine Co-Trainerin und damit die erste Trainerin, die ein männliches Fußballteam in der höchsten deutschen Spielklasse trainiert.
Nochmals zurück zu Rapid: Zoki Barisic’ erste Periode als Cheftrainer der Grün-Weißen dauerte übrigens auch mehr als drei Jahre (2013-2016), in denen Zoki dreimal Vizemeister wurde. Das Grün-weiße Urgestein (53) ist seit seinem zehnten Lebensjahr als Spieler, Co-Trainer und Sportdirektor in zahlreichen Funktionen für Rapid tätig, brachte es mit einer kurzen Phase als Interimscoach (2011), den beiden Engagements von 2013 bis 2016 und 2022 bis 2023 sowie als „Geschäftsführer Sport“ von 2019 – 2022 auf mehr als sieben Jahre in leitenden Funktionen beim SK Rapid.
Laut Kurier-Kolumnist Alexander Huber ist der Trainerwechsel durchaus nicht ohne Risiko, denn außer den Ergebnissen aufgrund fehlender Tore hätte sich Rapid in dieser Saison stark verbessert gehabt, wäre bei den “expected goals” sogar auf Platz 1 einer – allerdings imaginären – Tabelle gelegen (während man im Wahrheit nur mehr auf Platz 8 steht). Ob wohl unter dem neuen Trainer mehr Chancen verwertet werden?
Jedenfalls: Danke, Urs und danke, Zoki.
Hoffentlich geht’s nun bergauf in der Tabelle in Köpenick und in Hütteldorf!
Nächste Spiele: Rapid – BW Linz; Union – FC Augsburg
Moyes silences doubters again
(From The Telegraph) Even into the ninth minute of the seven added on, David Moyes continued to rock from side to side, bellowing instructions. Like a spinning instructor at a trendy west London gym, his screams were aimed at no one and everyone all at once.
The Sunday afternoon had started perfectly. West Ham capitalised from a mistake by Nottingham Forest’s Nicolas Dominguez who hit one of their player with an attempted pass which was picked up by Lucas Paqueta. West Ham’s no. 10 took possession and finished into the corner from 18 yards. It looked simple; it was not. That is Paqueta’s beauty.
But two Nottingham goals either side of the break meant that West Ham were trailing at home, and with a lot of opportunities squandered, the fear to lose another home game following the defeat to Everton two weeks ago was there.
Finally, proceedings ended with West Ham ahead, and Moyes cut through the air with a fist. On to the pitch he strode with purpose – Moyes does nothing without it – embracing each of his players warmly. Another hard-earned victory. Another win as much about industry as it was desire. Another crisis averted. Ahead, behind and, finally, ahead again. Phew.
The Moyes/West Ham supporter dynamic is intriguing. For almost four years now, he has brought relative success to the London Stadium. A pair of top-seven finishes. The Europa Conference League title. What can more reasonably be expected?
And, yet, Moyes is only ever a defeat or two from a “must-win” fixture. Winless in four Premier League games, that hum had returned for the umpteenth time. The half-time jeers (it was 1-1 at that point) suggested a support base ready to froth.
“I think I did, yes,” Moyes said when asked if he needed this win. Then he rightly offered up the fact that West Ham have both a Carabao Cup quarter-final pre-Christmas and guaranteed European football come the new year. “It’s very difficult to isolate any one competition,” he continued. “Or you just say, ‘We only play one competition’. But we actually are active in three competitions. There’s a good chance, if you’re in three competitions, that you might not win all the games. We try to be competitive in them all, if we can.”
Tomas Soucek’s late header won it, Jarrod Bowen having earlier risen to nod West Ham level. Both met second-half James Ward-Prowse corners. “World-class,” is how Moyes described the deliveries, while declaring himself “thrilled” with both the opening and the finale.
Misery continued – Moyes out?
We have been massive lately (in the Prague final back in May and at the start of this season), but that’s merely history now and the presence shows that “we’re still West Ham”. Therefore it’s no surprise that a memorable 3-1 win in the League Cup over Arsenal is followed by an other league defeat away against Brentford.
And it didn’t take long until the “Moyes out brigade” is out again though the Hammers are still 11th in the PL table. It is due to the unexpected good start in to this Premier League season that West Ham has enough points (14) on board to avoid being dragged too near to the relegation places by gaining only one point out of 12 in the last four matches of the Premier League. And it’s also a blessing for West Ham that so far other teams like Sheffield Utd., Burnley, Bournemouth and Luton are still on just 6 and 4 points respectively. But Everton which is ranked 16th, has got 11 points now, and if the Hammers were losing out in their next home game against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, a drop in the table maybe could not be avoided anymore.
In midweek it’s Europe League time again, and the opponents are Olympiakos, the team which ended the formidable unbeaten run of our massive Hammers two weeks ago by beating them after 17 consecutive European games in which the Hammers had remained without defeat. With a win West Ham would secure their progress from the group stage!
Let’s look back to the English Football League Cup aka Carabao Cup named after an energy drink since 2017. One week ago, that was a “big scalp” for West Ham, being the first English team to beat Arsenal this season. (The Hammers weren’t the first victorious opponent of the Gunners as they had already lost in the Champions League at Lens!)
With this 3-1 win, the Irons inflicted defeat to Declan Rice on his return to the London Stadium and are in in the quarter final of the EFL Cup now. However, they have been drawn against Liverpool away which could mean that their cup run is going to end before Christmas. The game will be played on 20 December. In the unexpected case of progressing to the semifinal this would be the first time to reach this stage of the League Cup since 2011!
Though if West Ham was to lose again in the next two games, the “Moyes out!” brigade would get louder and louder! Crescendo forte, fortissimo!
And unfortunately it’s true that the performance on display this past weekend again raised questions over whether David Moyes is the manager who can get the absolute best out of a squad currently filled with great talent. Now with West Ham conceding far too many goals in the last games, it is more than understandable that Moyes is under scrutiny again. However, I think that he will not be sacked before the end of the season, especially when the Hammers should reach the next round of the Europa League which could be possible as soon as Thursday.
Come on you Irons!
Bobby Charlton Dies
Sir Bobby Charlton, England World Cup winner in 1966 and Man Utd legend, died aged 86.
Charlton won 106 caps for England and scored 49 international goals – records for his country at the time.
Widely considered as one of the greatest players of all time, the attacking midfielder who spent much of his career at Manchester United died surrounded by his family.
EXTRA TIME 
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