Moyes puts forward radical changes

David Moyes has called for drastic changes in football to protect and secure the future of the sport.

The Everton manager highlighted wage cuts, lower ticket prices and an end to simulation and diving as possible improvements.

Moyes suggested to The Express: “Everyone in the Premier League takes a 20 per cent pay cut to put football finances back on an even keel and allow a significant reduction in ticket prices to make football more affordable for the ordinary fan.”

“Perhaps the 20 per cent suggestion would cause some mayhem,” he added, “but I think we need to do something serious.”

“People might say it would be harder to attract players to the Premier League, but we have to take responsibility for the long-term health of football.”

“Clubs have to control their money properly and only pay what they can actually afford. People have to be held responsible when things go wrong.”

“Every family in the country at the moment has to finance correctly. They can’t overspend. Why is football different?”

Moyes also blasted diving and believes that managers and players need to take joint action to eradicate it.

“I see myself as a supporter of football and I see things I don’t like that are damaging the game,” he said.

“One of them is players going down too easily. In the last 10 years, we have seen a lot more diving. Players now go over at the slightest brush of contact. For me, it’s one of the worst things of all.”

“I believe players must take a bigger responsibility on this issue. We and the players haven’t done enough to help the referees, which has made their job doubly hard. I would advocate retrospective action by the FA on diving.”

“I say to my players there must no diving in our team. There is no ‘but’ to it either. I don’t want it.”

Moyes also highlighted the negative and increasingly influential role that agents are playing in the game.

“Another area to worry about is agents. It was a better situation 10 years ago. Back then, I looked at the way agents abroad had control of the players, and in some cases the clubs, and thought that couldn’t happen in Britain.”

“You thought the chairmen wouldn’t be daft enough for agents to be doing the deals or telling them what deals they should be doing.”

“That seems to be happening now in some cases, and it seems the players are more easily controlled by agents instead of doing what’s right for their own game. That’s a change for the worse.”