David Moyes was appointed Everton manager in 2002 with the club in a relegation dogfight. Over the course of David Moyes’ tenure he has redefined what the Toffees view as success. Moyes has guided Everton to a top-four finish, an FA Cup final appearance and to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. Moyes is currently the third longest serving manager in the Premier League, nearing the end of his ninth year in charge at Goodison Park. Are the brave voices calling for the hardworking, straight talking Scotsman to go, correct?

Moyes’ reign has been nothing short of a ‘rollercoaster’ with his Everton side alternating between top of the table and bottom of the table finishes. In more recent times, however, Everton looked to have broken this cycle with a couple of consecutive finishes in and around a European qualification place. This prompted many to tip them, along with Aston Villa, to break the formidable dominance of the ‘Big Four.’ However, in this current season Everton, until very recently, found themselves surprisingly flirting with relegation after many had believed they had secured their top six status for many years to come.

Everton’s steady, if not dramatic, decline has had the manager, board, players and fans baffled, but what has happened at Goodison Park to create such a change in fortunes?

David Moyes is without doubt a very skilled manager and has been touted by Sir Alex Ferguson himself, as his possible successor to the hot seat at Old Trafford; very high praise indeed. David Moyes has commanded and earnt a lot of respect for what he has achieved at Everton from players, peers and fans alike, but has this growing reputation allowed the Scotsman to outgrow the club? Moyes regularly refers to his tight budget at Everton and it is quite clear in recent months that the former Preston manager has become frustrated with the restrictions that come with a club that isn’t being bankrolled by a Russian or Middle Eastern Billionaire.

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The reported £45 million debt at Everton leaves owner Bill Kenwright with a dilemma. Does Kenwright do as David Moyes has reportedly called for, that is to sell the club to generate funds to secure the best players around or alternatively, does he dismantle Moyes’ nine years of hardwork on a shoe-string budget by selling the likes of Jack Rodwell, for a reported £20 million, to Manchester United?

It would be too easy to take a leaf out of Manchester United’s fans book and blame the boardroom for problems in relation to on the field matters. It is the board that ‘coughs up the cash’, however, it is the manager that spends it. David Moyes has usually had to find players from places like the Championship and Scotland due to his tight budget and has purchased some real ‘gems’ in the likes of Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta and Seamus Coleman. The Championship clubs have cottoned on to the Premier League clubs raiding the lower leagues, they have of course raised their asking prices (just look at Connor Wickham, a reported £15 million asking price.) Moyes’ days of picking up bargains from the ‘lesser’ leagues may well be over and he now wants to be able to spend big money on a top striker. Moyes’ record though, when he has splashed the cash, is less than impressive. Louis Saha, James Beattie and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov all arrived at Goodison for colossal amounts compared to Seamus Coleman’s £60,000 move to Merseyside and flattered to deceive and sometimes even failed to deceive.

Change can be an unsettling and have repercussions, good and bad. In the case of David Moyes and Everton change, I believe will be good.

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David Moyes has worked wonders but outgrown a small club. The cliché ‘he has taken the club as far as he can’ in the case of Moyes is spot on. Moyes deserves his chance at a ‘bigger’ club’, or at least a club with more money, if the opportunity does arise. There is great irony in Moyes’ situation when you consider what Moyes said when appointed Everton Manager “I said ‘yes’ right away as it is such a big club.” A lot changes in nine years.

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The Daily Mail is reporting that Norwich City is planning a summer bid for Millwall striker Steven Morison for a fee in the region of £2m. The Millwall striker has been one of the standout performers in the Championship this season by scoring 15 league goals and laying on 5 assists for his teammates in the league. This contribution has helped Millwall to 7th place in the nPower Championship with a chance to get into this season’s play-offs.

The 27 year old 6ft2in forward has scored goals on a regular basis – wherever he has been and his league games to goal ratios are very impressive. His Millwall record reads 35 goals in 80 league games – means he scored a goal every 2.2 games on average. But he was also a clinical finisher at his previous clubs Bishop’s Stortford and Stevenage Borough. He scored 28 goals in 45 league games and 68 goals in 127 league games respectively. He has also recently represented Wales, winning 5 caps – but is yet to score.

A slight complication may be the fact that Morison only recently signed a new contract on 5th Februrary 2011 and stated at the time “I’m looking forward to playing my part in the future success of Millwall.”

Like this rumour? Follow me on Twitter

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Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick was in a confident mood as his side aims to overturn a two goal deficit against Manchester United.English Premier League leaders United cruised to a 2-0 victory in the first leg of the Champions League semi -final last week, a result that could have been much worse for Schalke if not for the heroics of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

But Rangnick insisted his players are still very much alive going into the match at Old Trafford and claimed he has been inspired by recalling United’s epic European escape acts – and defeats.

United struck twice in injury time to beat Bayern Munich and claim the trophy in the 1999 final.

Rangnick is more hopeful, though, of facing the type of United side that went out of the competition on away goals last year having held a three-goal lead against Bayern.

“We have to take our chances when they are presented,” Rangnick said.

“Even if there are just two minutes left we still have to think about United and in 1999 when they were a goal down going into injury-time and they still managed to win. You can never tell what will happen in football.”

“Things can turn around so quickly, and United’s match against Bayern last year is another example.”

Rangnick is also pondering the selection of his ‘lucky’ mascot, defender Benedikt Howedes who played a key role in his side’s 5-2 win over Inter Milan in the last round.

The young defender, 23, has been out injured for two games and was expected to miss the Old Trafford clash.

But Rangnick revealed he has an outside chance of featuring.

“The last four games he (Howedes) played we won,” Rangnick said.

“But this is not the last game of the season. He has to be 100 per cent fit and we will listen to medical staff because we don’t want to take a risk and find out that he will be missing for another three or four weeks.”

Tottenham Hotspur face a Birmingham City team fighting for English Premier League survival on the last day of the season at White Hart Lane.Relegation was the furthest thing from the minds of Birmingham’s players and supporters when they won the Carling Cup in February.

An upset 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Wembley secured the Midlands club’s first major trophy since 1963, but it has been all downhill for Alex McLeish’s team since then.

They have won just twice in 11 league matches and are now 17th in the table, level on points with the third and second-bottom teams and clear of the relegation zone on goal difference only.

With four other teams all battling to avoid the drop, Birmingham must pick up points on Sunday or risk returning to the Championship after a two-year stay in the top flight.

They are up against a Tottenham side that need to win if they are to stay ahead of Liverpool and secure a Europa League berth by finishing fifth.

But questions have been raised as to whether or not Tottenham do in fact want to finish fifth.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is reportedly reluctant to become involved in a Europa League campaign which may impact negatively on the team’s domestic form.

Tottenham are eight points off fourth place and unable to repeat last season’s Champions League qualification.

They performed well in their first appearance in the revamped European Cup, reaching the quarter-finals before bowing out to Real Madrid.

And rather than get bogged down in UEFA’s second-tier competition, Redknapp may want his team to concentrate their energies next season on returning to the Champions League.

All of which means Birmingham could find Spurs in a more charitable mood than might normally be expected.

The relegation-threatened visitors have no new injury concerns, but continue to miss a number of key men.

Defender Scott Dann and striker Obafemi Martins are definitely out, while towering centre-forward Nikola Zigic is not expected to recover from a groin injury – all absences that have counted in Birmingham’s late-season collapse.

The Tottenham squad is also depleted, with fullback Alan Hutton and left winger Gareth Bale certain to miss out.

Also in doubt are goalkeeper Hurelho Gomes, defenders Benoit Assou-Ekotto and William Gallas, as well as midfielders Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas.

Alan Pardew has been in charge of Newcastle for nearly six months now and, having guided the Magpies to Premier League survival, faces an important summer in which he needs to strengthen the squad. Here’s Pardew’s thoughts on his time at St James’ Park thus far…

When you took over at Newcastle you admitted it would take some time to win the fans over. How did you set about doing that, and do you feel you succeeded?

I think there is only one way of winning fans over at Newcastle and that’s winning games. With a club of this size that’s what we should expect every week, to try and win the game. I have tried to approach the game in that manner. I have tried to be honest and open with the press and media so they know exactly what is going on, so there is no hidden agenda. Also I have tried to grow the club with the vision I have. My vision is simple; attacking football on the front foot, looking to win the game.

How impressed have you been with the supporters?

The support here is phenomenal and I knew that before I arrived. You don’t actually feel it until you are in and around the city and you are standing on that sideline at St James Park. There’s been quite a few occasions where the stadium comes alive and its very intimidating for the opposition and takes players above the level they can play at. It’s an unbelievable thing.

How pleased have you been about the team securing a mid table finish?

In terms of what has happened to us and losing Ben Arfa to a terrible injury and the sale of Andy Carroll, our second half of the season we have done extraordinarily well. Players have stepped up to the plate and have been fantastic. Players like Shola, Joey, Kevin Nolan, Gutierrez all in around that group have been superb to work with.

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What do you think about the potential of this Newcastle team, do you think qualification for Europe is a realistic target?

I think next year will be difficult for us. The euphoria of promotion has gone. We will suddenly start thinking we are Premier League people, and we could get a nasty surprise, so we need to make sure we don’t start the season like that. We need to get momentum and improve on our squad by bringing in some key offensive players. We need a bit of pace in the team and if we do that we will see where it takes us.

You mentioned the sale of Andy Carroll and the need to replace him. Is your top priority for the summer to find a goalscorer?

We replaced him with Shefki Kuqi, but yes you are right we didn’t get a chance in the transfer window. We would love to invest that money wisely in a player that we think will score us a lot of goals.

Are you looking forward to dipping into the transfer market?

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It’s always fraught with dangers and difficulties. We won’t play safe. We could play safe and finish 14th or 15th in the season for the next 4 or 5 years, but where is the ambition in that? It won’t inspire me, the fans or the chairman. The chairman wants to be a bit risky about it, and to hope that we can get players that can take us a lot better than that. That is what we are trying to find.

Newcastle have a history of trying to make the fans excited, is that a consideration for you?

Yes. We are going to have Ben Arfa back which is going to help but we are certainly going to need two more of that ilk because this club has a history of fantastic individual players. This year we have had some fantastic players but it’s been a team effort and I think next year we need a few more fantastic players in that group.

Visit the Dugout www.yahoo.co.uk/dugout for new interviews every week with England’s top football managers

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Sixteen people, including former Lazio captain Giuseppe ‘Beppe’ Signori, have been arrested on suspicion of fixing matches in Serie B and Lega Pro.The list of suspects also includes former Venezia and Sampdoria left-back Stefano Bettarini, ex-Fiorentina midfielder Mauro Bressan and one-time Bari captain Antonio Bellavista.

Current players in Italy’s lower divisions are also implicated.

Sergio Lo Presti of the Cremona police said a six-month investigation had uncovered ‘important and compelling’ evidence that those arrested were part of a criminal organisation manipulating results of league matches in Italy’s second and third division.

Newly promoted Serie A clubs Atalanta and Siena have been mentioned as being involved in ‘suspicious’ results during their successful Serie B campaigns.

Investigators also believe there were unsuccessful attempts to influence matches in Serie A, including a failed attempt to rig the outcome of Inter Milan’s home match against relegation-threatened Lecce.

Arrests were carried out by policemen in Bari, Como, Bologna, Rimini, Pescara, Ancona, Ascoli, Ravenna, Benevento, Rome, Turin, Naples and Ferrara.

A series of raids were also carried out at the homes of suspects and an accounting firm believed to be linked to the scandal.

This latest blight on Italian football comes nearly five years to the day that police uncovered a sophisticated network of players, managers and referee organisations rigging matches in Serie A and B.

Juventus were stripped of their 2004/05 and 2005/06 Serie A titles and relegated to Serie B for their involvement in the scandal.

AC Milan, Fiorentina, Juventus, Lazio and Reggina were also punished.

In 2000, three players from Atalanta and five from Pistoiese were found guilty of match-fixing by the Italian Football Federation.

Signori, who scored 19 goals in 45 appearances for Italy, was the top scorer in Serie A three times with Lazio and ranks eighth on the all-time list in the league with 188.

Neymar can emulate the great Pele by helping Santos claim their first Copa Libertadores since 1963.The 19-year-old lines up for Santos in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Uruguayan champions Penarol on Wednesday, with the tie delicately poised at 0-0 after the first leg in Montevideo.

The youthful striker is linked with a move to several big European clubs, but he is planning one more triumph – the Copa – before he moves continents.

The closest Santos have come to winning the Copa Libertadores in recent times was a loss in the 2003 final to Boca Juniors, and Neymar would love to lead the side glory for the first time since the great Pele achieved the feat in 1962 and 1963.

Santos goalkeeper Felipe said the players would be going all out for victory on Wednesday.

“The fans can rest assured that we will fight, that we will attack, and if we have to leave the field bleeding or if we have to leave the field with lots of injuries, we will in order to become champions,” Felipe said.

Paulo Henrique Ganso, 21, is another Santos youth product that intends to leave for Europe after the final.

He missed the first leg with injury but should be available for manager Muricy Ramalho in the second, and although he has been tipped to make way for the youngster, midfielder Ze Eduardo said he will respect the manager’s decision.

“Ganso is a great player; one of the best players out there,” Ze Eduardo said.

“But I think we must respect Muricy’s decision. He’s the one who chooses the team. And whoever is out there, be it Ganso, myself or anyone else, I’m sure this person will put all their effort to hopefully win the title.”

The Metro is reporting that Harry Redknapp is considering a move for Roma forward Mirko Vucinic as an alternative to Emmanuel Adebayor.

Tottenham boss Redknapp is prepared to swoop for Vucinic if he can’t broker a loan deal for his prime target Adebayor.

Manchester City are keen to sell the troublesome striker with Spurs only interested in a year long loan deal although the players astronomical wages will prove to be a problem.

Redknapp is keen to bring in a striker before the transfer window closes and Vucinic is his new target.

Roma value the striker at around £15 million and although he has fell out of favour with the clubs fans the management are keen to keep him at the Stadio Olimpico.

Montenegrin Vucinic has asked to leave the Serie A giants after he came in for criticism from the supporters for his poor attitude and body language despite scoring 10 goals last season.

Spurs are still interested in the 27-year-old despite question marks over his temperament.

Redknapp is eager to bring in the talented frontman to White Hart Lane and is confident he can turn him into a deadly Premier League goal scorer.

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If the deal does go ahead it’s likely Redknapp will have to sell either Peter Crouch or Jermaine Defoe to finance the move for Vucinic.

New United States coach Juergen Klinsmann said he is proud to have the chance to usher in a new era in American soccer.Klinsmann was officially unveiled as coach in New York on Monday after being chosen to replace Bob Bradley, who was sacked on Thursday.

The 47-year-old has previously managed Germany and Bayern Munich, and said he looked forward to building on the good work done by Bradley in his five years in charge.

“It’s come a long way, soccer in the United States and I’m now getting this opportunity to move it further, to build on what has already been built by Bob (Bradley) the last five years,” the former Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Germany striker said. “So I am proud to get that opportunity.”

“This is a big moment for me personally too, for us as a family and I’m really proud that I get that opportunity to be part of the future of U.S. soccer.”

“It’s going to be a challenge, absolutely, it’s going to be quite demanding the next couple of weeks to get your hands around. We have a game coming up next week against Mexico already in Philadelphia, so it’s a lot to do.”

Bradley’s reign in charge of the national team came to an end after the US threw away a two-goal lead in their 4-2 loss to Mexico in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June.

Klinsmann’s first game in charge will be friendly against Mexico on August 11, with another friendly against Belgium to follow in September.

The new football season is upon us and while enjoying the thrills of a matchday is a fantastic experience, the rising cost of doing so is putting great pressure on the wallets of fans around the country.

The links between football and money have been well documented for years. Clubs are spending millions on players and wages whilst fans are forking out more and more for the privilege to see these players in action.

The Price of Football survey by BBC revealed what each club charges for crucial matchday components including the ticket (non season ticket holder), programme, a pie and a cup of tea. Whilst not all fans would indulge in all of these on one day, the added cost that some clubs are charging fans is worrying.

The survey was taken across the leagues and so some difference between a top Premier League team’s prices and that of a League Two side would be expected. But in the top tier it is hard to explain how Blackburn can provide a single ticket for £10 (their cheapest option) when Arsenal’s most expensive reaches a staggering £100. It is this disparity (with clubs like Blackburn unable to compete with the top teams on the pitch or financially) and high prices that are not only hitting the clubs but the fans as well.

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Beyond the tickets fans are being forced to pay out up to £4 for a programme (at Leeds), £4 for a pie (at Arsenal) and often over £2 for a single cup of tea. Paying nearly £50 for a day out at the football per person is hindering supporters, families and fans of the future. In the Premier League Swansea and QPR are rewarding their fans for promotion with high prices, both now charge just under £43 for their cheapest day out (figures only surpassed by Liverpool and Arsenal).

But do spiraling prices put loyal fans off going to the football? For the fan looking for a one-off day out with their family, a cost reaching nearly £200 for four people is an obvious deterrent. But last season an average of 352,260 fans attended Football League fixtures each weekend with a total of over 16 million fans enjoying Football League games over the whole season. The popularity of the game is not decreasing and whilst fans can bemoan the extra charges that clubs are making, it is the high demand for football that continues to fuel the large amounts of money seeping through the game.

The survey published this week has also been met with club’s disapproval despite the fact that each club submitted the data. The results highlighted that Leyton Orient were the most expensive day out in League One. However the club has since commented that the results don’t highlight all the good value matchday options. The costs of football are also more likely to affect the regular rather than one-off attendee and many of these take advantage of very good season ticket offers that many clubs offer.

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Whilst the results for clubs like Leyton Orient may look worrying for the interested fan keen on watching the occasional match, rising prices are widespread and unlikely to put off the loyal supporter intent on supporting their team throughout the new season.

Do you think football is too expensive? If you want to read more of my bite size, 140 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5