I'm not sure David Moyes would make a good poker player.
He's currently playing this guessing game with everyone over whether he will sign a new contract.
His position is that he wants to get to the end of the season, see where Everton have finished and chat to the board about how much money he's got to spend.
But reading between the lines of his post-match quotes after Everton's win over Stoke, he clearly wants to stay at Goodison Park.
He talked about his ambitions at Everton, about how he wants to see the Blues in Europe and how the club must not stagnate.
"What we want to see is if Everton can be in Europe, and if we can be in Europe, how can we take it even further," he said.
"We can't stagnate. I want to win, to be really successful. I've been really fortunate with these players and the club has given me this opportunity. I want to keep it going. I don't want it to stop."
Essentially his message to Bill Kenwright and his board is - I'll stay if you match my ambition.
Looking at it from Kenwright's perspective, he has given Moyes every penny he can squeeze out of the banks.
It is said he was even prepared to bankroll Leroy Fer's signing in January, despite the problems with the Dutch midfielder's medical, and it was Moyes who urged caution.
I think Moyes must know that Kenwright will continue to give him every backing he can.
The players, too, are showing a passion and commitment to finish as high up the table as possible, which demonstrates that they are behind the Scot.
I know you'll aways hear the odd malcontent coming out with such nonsense as they did after the Wigan defeat that Moyes has taken the club as far as he can, but the majority of fans are solidly behind him.
So, given that the board, the players and the supporters all back him, why can't Moyes come out and say he is staying?
He knows the financial situation at the club intimately and that he will have the Fer money, plus the extra income from the new TV deal, to spend this summer.
He could use the announcement that he is staying to give their run-in one final push if he made it over the next week or two. That would be smart management.
But I would not understand his thinking if he left the issue hanging in the air, causing nothing but uncertainty at Goodison, until the summer.
Source: D. Anderson: Mirror
