Manager

Everton appointed David Moyes as the Blues’ latest manager in January 2025, as the Scot returned to Goodison Park after 12 years away to replace Sean Dyche in charge.

Moyes is one of the most successful Everton managers of the modern era after guiding them in more than 500 games from 2002 to 2013. He left the Merseyside club after Alex Ferguson picked Moyes to replace him at Manchester United after the iconic Red Devils coach retired.

Everton enjoyed regular success during Moyes’ first tenure in charge with a string of top-six Premier League finishes. His methods even saw the Toffees qualify for the qualifying stages of the 2005/06 Champions League after Moyes led Everton to fourth in the Premier League.

Everton manager David Moyes’ coaching career

Everton announced the return of Moyes to Goodison Park as the Toffees’ latest manager on January 11, 2025 as the Scot signed a two-and-a-half-year contract to replace Dyche. The Blues moved to hire Moyes with the club battling relegation from the Premier League again.

Moyes stood out as the top candidate to replace Dyche to The Friedkin Group, which sealed majority ownership of Everton in December 2024 after buying the 94.1% shares that Farhad Moshiri held. The Friedkin Group chased Moyes as he had been out of work since July 2024.

It marked a return to Merseyside for Moyes, too, as he oversaw 518 games in charge of the team from 2002 to 2013 after replacing Everton legend Walter Smith at the helm. His initial arrival at Goodison Park further served as only Moyes’ second position as a first-team boss.

David Moyes led Preston North End to the Division Two title

Moyes started his coaching career at Preston North End in January 1998 when he replaced Gary Peters at their helm. John Beck, the owner at the time, backed Moyes to take over mid-season having started to get his coaching badges in 1995 and also acted as a player-coach.

Peters named Moyes as his assistant coach as the Scot’s playing career started to come to an end. It was ultimately a decision which laid the foundation for Peters to be replaced and the Deepdale faithful would grow to love Moyes the manager more than Moyes the player.

Moyes led Preston to safety in the 1997/98 Division Two season, and even sealed fifth place in his first full term in charge in 1998/99. Promotion and the Division Two title also followed in 1999/2000 as Moyes led Preston into the second tier, and then a top-four spot in 2000/01.

Preston also made the 2000/01 Division One play-off final at the Millennium Stadium under Moyes, but lost 3-0 to Bolton Wanderers. His success at Deepdale proved to Bill Kenwright what the Scot could offer Everton by hiring Moyes as Smith’s successor come March 2002.

Bill Kenwright hired David Moyes to replace Walter Smith as the manager of Everton

Kenwright would come to revel in his move, as the then owner of Everton, to land Moyes as the Scot led the Toffees to seventh place in the Premier League during his first full season in charge. Everton’s first top-four finish to a top-flight term since 1987/88 followed in 2004/05.

Finishing fourth in the 04/05 Premier League standings even saw Everton qualify for UEFA’s elite club competition the Champions League for the first time since the 1970/71 European Cup. Yet a 4-2 defeat on aggregate to Villarreal in the third qualifying round ended their run.

Moyes would go on to guide Everton to qualifying for the main stages of the Europa League (previously the UEFA Cup) four times. He also led the Toffees to the 2009 FA Cup final, their 13th ever final, yet Everton lost 2-1 to Chelsea despite Louis Saha scoring in the first minute.

Sir Alex Ferguson handpicked David Moyes as his replacement at Manchester United

What Moyes achieved at Everton from 2002 to 2013 saw Ferguson handpick his compatriot to take over at Manchester United after he retired. The Scot recommended to the hierarchy at Old Trafford that they targeted Moyes. The Red Devils listened and issued a six-year deal.

But moving to Manchester United saw Moyes tarnish his legacy for Everton in the minds of some of the Blues’ supporters. He frustrated a number of Toffees fans by quickly returning to Goodison Park in 2013 as Moyes sought to sign Leighton Baines for Manchester United.

Everton refused to sell Baines to Manchester United but did allow Moyes a £27.5m reunion with Marouane Fellaini. Yet the midfielder’s transfer failed to help Moyes make a success of his time at Manchester United, who fired him after winning 26 of 51 matches in 10 months.

It only took Moyes seven months to bounce back from being sacked by Manchester United as the Scot sealed a surprising switch to La Liga to take charge of Real Sociedad. Yet he only lasted 42 games in Spain before later returning to England to take over Sunderland in 2016.

His time at the Stadium of Light would even be short-lived as Moyes only lasted one season at Sunderland. The Scot resigned from his role at the Black Cats, having overseen the club’s relegation from the Premier League with Moyes ending Sunderland’s 10-year top-flight run.

David Moyes won West Ham United’s first major trophy in 43 years with the 2023 UEFA Conference League

West Ham United would come calling for Moyes’ services just six months later, however, as the Irons sought to replace Slaven Bilic. Yet the Hammers only gave Moyes a six-month deal and decided against extending the terms, with West Ham hiring Manuel Pellegrini instead.

Yet West Ham would live to regret releasing Moyes and hired him back to replace Pellegrini in December 2019, just 19 months after letting him go. This time, Moyes would stay at West Ham until June 2024 and he also led the Irons to winning their first major trophy since 1980.

Moyes led West Ham to win the 2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League with a 2-1 result over Fiorentina. Declan Rice lifted the trophy in his last act as West Ham’s captain before his £105m transfer to Arsenal after becoming one of the best holding midfielders under Moyes.

David Moyes’ coaching career

David Moyes’ playing career

Moyes enjoyed a brief overlap between his coaching career and the Scot’s playing career by joining Preston North End’s support staff under Peters as his days as a centre-half neared an end. He played in the heart of a defence from 1980 as a Celtic youth product up until 1998.

Celtic gave Moyes his pathway into senior football after starting out in the academy set-ups of IBV in Iceland and later Drumchapel Amateur Football Club. But he struggled to get a role as a key presence in Glasgow, so Moyes left Celtic and signed for Cambridge United in 1983.

A transfer to Bristol City later followed for Moyes in 1985 after Cambridge endured back-to-back relegations from Division Two and Division Three. His efforts in Division Three with the Robins then led to a move back to Division Two in 1987 as Moyes joined Shrewsbury Town.

Yet Moyes endured yet another relegation as Shrewsbury fell out of Division Two in 1988/89 to see the defender return to the third tier. Moyes would later leave and joined Dunfermline Athletic in 1990, before signing with Hamilton Academical in 1992 and then Preston in 1993.

Moving to Deepdale would be one of the best decisions Moyes ever made with it laying the foundation for his career as a coach. Moyes even helped Preston secure promotion up from Division Three into Division Two as the champions in 1995/96 after successive fifth places.

David Moyes as the manager of Everton

Moyes returned to Goodison Park to be the latest manager of Everton in January 2025, with The Friedkin Group eager to start its ownership of the Toffees with a new head coach having taking control with the Blues battling relegation for a fourth straight Premier League season.

Everton sacked Dyche in brutal fashion on January 9 with a 76-word statement in which they did not thank the coach for his success in staving off relegation in 2022/23 or 2023/24. They even fired Dyche hours before Everton beat Peterborough United 2-0 at home in the FA Cup.

The Friedkin Group sacked Dyche and named Moyes as the manager of Everton as the Blues were only 16th in the Premier League standings and a point clear of the relegation zone, but with a game in hand on their rivals. Everton started the season with three wins in 19 games.