David Moyes laughs while manager of Sunderland(Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
David Moyes' stint at Sunderland ended in disaster but the Everton manager insists he looks back on it with fond memories.
Moyes was unable to prevent [Sunderland](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/all-about/sunderland) from suffering relegation from the Premier League during his spell at the club as the Black Cats slipped into the Championship at the end of the 2016/17 campaign.
It was a terrible season and an awful management reign from Moyes, who had replaced Sam Allardyce at the helm when the latter took on the England job at short notice before the start of the season. There were extenuating circumstances but Moyes' time at the Stadium of Light got off on the back foot after his dour insistence that Sunderland would be fighting relegation early in his tenure.
That set the tone for a poor season with a number of big-name signings - including club record signing Didier Ndong, Man United quartet Paddy McNair, Donald Love, Darron Gibson and Adnan Januzaj (loan) and ex-Everton players Steven Piennar, Victor Anichebe, Bryan Oviedo and Joleon Lescott - in the main looking out of their depth on Wearside.
Sunderland finished rock bottom with just 24 points and six wins to their credit.
Moyes quit not long after the season ended, and Sunderland spiralled into League One the following season. It meant not many people look back fondly on his time in charge - except, it seems, the man himself.
“I had a really good time," Moyes claimed ahead of his return to the Stadium of Light on Monday with Everton. "I loved being up there.
"Difficult in as much as that we didn't do so well, but overall, I had a really good time at Sunderland. It was a good club.
"Maybe at that time we were just a little bit on the back end of a difficult period. No, it was a good time. I had no problem with that. Just disappointed that we didn't do a bit better.”
Happily, the Black Cats are now back in the top-flight after a Regis Le Bris guided them to promotion via the play-offs and they have taken the Premier League by storm this season, sitting fourth going into the weekend's games.
Moyes, meanwhile, has rebuilt his reputation first at West Ham, who he guided to European silverware as well as progressing them in the Premier League, and now in his second stint at Everton.
The Scot was asked if Sunderland was perhaps the right club but at the wrong time, amid the Ellis Short ownership era.
“I think possibly it was in some ways," he said. "But overall, I think in management you have to experience different opportunities. I explored the one at Sunderland.
"Unfortunately, we didn't get things to go for us. I look back at it with disappointment. Sunderland have moved on and I've moved on since then as well.”