ECHO Everton reporter Christopher Beesley reflects on the words David Moyes told him an an exclusive interview a year ago
David Moyes during the pre-season friendly match between Stoke City and Everton at the Bet365 Stadium on July 28, 2026
David Moyes during the pre-season friendly match between Stoke City and Everton at the Bet365 Stadium on July 28, 2026(Image: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
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It wasn’t at the levels of his first visit to Stoke with Everton but David Moyes showed just how much he appreciates the travelling Blues supporters’ efforts by walking over to them and offering a very prominent PRE-MATCH round of applause to the away end at the bet365 Stadium on Tuesday.
Back on September 14, 2008, when the Potters began what would prove to be a decade-long stint in the Premier League, their first clash with Everton proved to be a humdinger. With Marouane Fellaini and Segundo Castillo both making their debut for the visitors, the Blues raced into a two-nil lead through Ayegbeni Yakubu (40) and Victor Anichebe (50) but then Tony Pulis' side drew level again through Seyi Olofinjana (54) and a Phil Jagielka own goal (62).
Tim Cahill would go on to strike the winner for Everton with 13 minutes remaining but when the score was 2-2, Stoke’s Leon Court handled the ball prompting referee Alan Wiley to initially point to the penalty spot before changing his mind and only awarding a free-kick. Moyes went ballistic over that decision and was sent to the stands where he was, perhaps surprisingly, given something of a warm reception by the Stoke fans sat around him and respectful handshakes were offered following the end of the game.
While the Glaswegian gaffer’s time in the home end was somewhat genteel, the fire in his belly was soon raging again. A report from the Guardian at the time states: “Moyes leapt to his feet at the final whistle, sprinted half the length of the pitch, tore off his sweater and, after pointing to the club crest, tossed it towards the euphoric travelling supporters.”
At 63, the Blues boss might not be up to such displays these days, but the passion still burns bright. After being given a touchline ban following his encroachment onto the pitch following Beto’s last-gasp equaliser at Brighton on January 31 he was asked if he’d repeat his actions in the future and replied: “I bloody will do it again.
“Actually, I think if I’d been a bit more mobile, I might have done a knee slide. See, that would have only got me a yellow as well, so I might as well have gone the whole hog!”
It’s fair to say that a hangover following the spectacular collapse to Everton’s first season at Hill Dickinson Stadium has lingered over the club and their fanbase this summer and the discontent is simmering. However, is Moyes counting the cost of trying to offer too much, too soon?
A year ago, this correspondent sat down with him for an exclusive interview during the middle of the Blues’ trip to the USA for the Premier League Summer Series at the team’s hotel in Chicago. Having gone from being the English top flight’s youngest manager when he first arrived at Goodison Park as a 38-year-old in 2002, by now he was the division’s elder statesman.
Asked if he feels he is a better manager now than when he left Everton in 2013, he said: “I do. I don’t feel old.
“These six months coming back and managing Everton has given me a huge boost because the players have been so good and the crowd have been so good, they’ve really accepted me coming back.
“I also think I’ve come back a bit more experienced with what I’ve seen and what I’ve done. I wouldn’t want to use the word dream, but I’ve got an ambition to see if I can get Everton back towards European football.
“That’s what I think I have to make my first target. There are nine teams from the Premier League in Europe next season and somehow, we have to give ourselves some goals.
“I could be shooting way above the level, but I feel like I have to shoot high because I’ll not be around doing this for another 10 years and I don’t expect to be. I just want to be able to leave Everton in a good place, whenever that time comes.”
Guiding previous employers West Ham United to victory in the 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League – the east London club’s first major trophy in 43 years – whetted Moyes’ appetite for more continental competition.
He said: “It was so good. I’m not saying this in any boastful way because I’ve been knocked out of competitions as well and we had that season at Everton when we started so well in Europe and lost to Fiorentina on penalties.
“I took Manchester United to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and I’ve taken West Ham to a quarters, a semis, and a final in three European competitions. So, I feel I can get in amongst it and I’ve got a little bit of history that hopefully might help us.
“Obviously, at the moment, we’re off it and there’s no point in talking about it at the moment when we’re only just away from four or five years of battling at the bottom end of the table.”
It isn’t my intention to cause rifts among sections of the supporters given that we all have Everton’s best interests at heart, but it is important to appreciate the full picture when it comes to Moyes 2.0 and the situation he inherited on his return to Merseyside. Little over 18 months ago when he came back, the Blues were one point off the drop zone at the halfway stage of the season, with just 17 points.
That’s less than half their haul in 2022/23, which ended up being the lowest equivalent points total in their history as Everton avoided a first relegation in 72 years by a single Abdoulaye Doucoure goal on the final day. Since Moyes’ return, a Blues side that had won just one Premier League away game over the previous year has triumphed a dozen times on the road.
Of course it goes without saying that the home form – where the vast majority of Evertonians see their team – remains very much a work in progress, but that’s an issue that also long predates the current manager and given that unlike many of his predecessors/successors (depending how we look at it), he was a master of harnessing the power of Goodison Park, he can hopefully start doing the same at Hill Dickinson Stadium which has been designed by Dan Meis to be a potent weapon for the Blues.
Travelling up and down the country, my fellow ECHO Everton reporter Joe Thomas and I get to meet plenty of the club’s most dedicated supporters and in the whole, many of them seem extremely appreciative of the work done by a manager who steered the Blues to no fewer than nine top eight finishes during his first spell in charge, including a highest ever Premier League position of fourth.
That impressive season, in 2004/05, came on the back of another disappointing finish under Moyes when his team finished 17th on just 39 points, despite never being involved in any real relegation danger. You don’t get to manage more Premier League games than anyone other than serial title winners Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, without being around long enough to experience your fair share of difficult runs, but when given loyalty and patience, he always gets much more right than wrong.
While it might not go down well with the armies of keyboard warriors who naively want everything yesterday – just look at the challenges the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle United have faced trying to challenge the established elite – I’d go as far as saying that Moyes has proven himself to be the ONLY man to have shown that he can manage Everton effectively over a prolonged period in the modern era.
After previous owner Farhad Moshiri churned through eight managers in as many years, which is an extremely unhealthy situation, Moyes is the last Blues boss to last three full seasons in charge and the only one to stay for over four full seasons since Howard Kendall’s glory days.
None of us are happy with how last season finished but given that Everton were three points off a Champions League qualification place some 31 matches deep into the campaign following the 3-0 win over Chelsea on March 21 (he wasn’t a football ‘dinosaur’ then), any claims that it was a disaster and that the leader at the helm is somehow incompetent is not just hysterical but plain wrong.
David Moyes celebrates Everton's first goal against Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
David Moyes celebrates Everton's first goal against Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
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Noises coming out of the club suggest that external factors might make this a difficult transfer window to negotiate, but ahead of a Premier League season where so many rivals have a new manager/head coach in place, Moyes’ understanding of the club could prove to be a significant boon.
When you take into consideration the expectations of the club’s illustrious past, the somewhat futile attempts to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ when it comes to competing with neighbours Liverpool and the recent decades of disappointment, in many ways, managing Everton is one of the toughest gigs out there in an already cut-throat industry.
Ironically, for all the hammering this proud Scot has received in recent times, the reality is that searching for someone who can do the job better than Moyes, is akin to his national animal, because they’re both a unicorn. Given his age, there will be a time in the not-too-distant future when somebody else is in the home dugout at Hill Dickinson Stadium but whenever the day comes, they will have some big shoes to fill.
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