DAVID Moyes will lead Everton out at Wembley with a warning to the big four of English football: ‘We want your money’.
The Everton boss is aiming not only to claim Everton’s first trophy since they won the FA Cup back in 1995, but he wants to break the gravytrain monopoly of European cash that floods into the top four clubs’ coffers every season.
To do that he accepts Everton must break into that elite group.
Moyes is acutely aware of the view of Sports Minister Andy Burnham, an Everton fan, who is campaigning for a better distribution of money in the game, but he knows the best way to redistribute the cash would be for Everton to break into the top four.
Moyes said: ‘‘I hear what is being said, I like the idea. But maybe in the modern game it is a bit unrealistic, but it is correct.
‘‘If we could break the monopoly the money would start to dry up for at least one of those clubs, so if someone could break into the top four it would in time stop the likes of Arsenal or Chelsea or Liverpool or Manchester United spending so much.
‘‘It would affect their revenue, because every year they get money for Champions League qualification which helps them keep buying players.
‘‘The money from Europe makes them much harder to catch.
I felt that had we made the group stages a couple of years back, it would have changed our world.
“The money would have started coming Everton’s way, rather than someone else’s.’’ Everton finished fifth in the Barclays Premier League this year, effectively the ‘best of the rest’, and they are the only club in recent years to actually finish in the top four, back in 2005, when they ousted Liverpool from the leading group.
But they were handed a tough draw in the Champions League qualifying round and were beaten by Villarreal, missing out on the cash cow that is the group stages.
Now Moyes wants to reach the elite again, and next season he will be hell bent on achieving his aims.
He said: ‘‘We are a side that is moving forward and growing.
We are climbing a hill but we are not over the top of it yet. But I can see us doing that, hopefully, for years to come.
‘‘It is always hard to win the Premier League with the four clubs above us, but the cup is realistic.
‘‘Now we are getting Everton noticed again. This is another step in the right direction.
We are now ready to run the big race.’’ For now, Moyes would be satisfied with winning the FA Cup, and he added: ‘‘We have developed along the way, the players have a great deal of confidence, they are playing well and the football has been excellent.
‘‘There’s a desire, a sharpness and hunger about the players at the moment and they are in as good mental and physical condition as I have seen.”
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