EXCLUSIVE: Everton legend Adrian Heath discusses David Moyes' return and European qualification hopes
Adrian Heath following Everton's final game at Goodison Park against Southampton on May 18, 2025
Adrian Heath following Everton's final game at Goodison Park against Southampton on May 18, 2025(Image: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
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Everton legend Adrian Heath has backed David Moyes to restore the club back to what he believes is their natural position in the top-six of English football.
When Heath won his second League Championship with the Blues in 1987, only neighbours Liverpool had lifted more titles. Although they have since been overtaken by Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City, despite enduring the longest silverware drought in their history, Everton’s historic longevity of success is borne out by the fact that only Liverpool and Manchester United can better their record of lifting major trophies across nine separate decades and the club having played the most seasons in the English top flight (currently 123).
Heath, who also won the FA Cup with Everton in 1984, told the ECHO: “It’s been a fantastic turnaround since David Moyes came back. I think there are certain people who get certain clubs and David gets Everton.
“When we got to the stage of what was going to happen for the rest of the final season at Goodison Park and then the first season at the new stadium, and whether it was going to be David Moyes or somebody else, I, along with a lot of other Evertonians, hoped it was going to be him.
“Whether we like it or not, the club is different to a lot of other clubs. If you’re in the gang, if you’re one of us, I think it helps. I was so pleased when David came back and he’s done an unbelievable job.”
Although there were frustrations that Moyes was unable to win a trophy with Everton first time around – he subsequently steered West Ham United to their first major silverware in 43 years by lifting the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2023 – he led the Blues to nine top-eight finishes, including fourth place in 2004/05, their highest position of the Premier League era.
Heath, who took charge of Burnley and Sheffield United in this country before having extensive managerial experience in the USA with Austin Aztex, Orlando City and Minnesota United, believes that the Premier League landscape is very different to when he was playing for Everton in the old First Division and that Moyes has done really well in the circumstances.
The 65-year-old said: “I was fortunate enough to be part of two title-winning sides at Everton and almost 40 years on, I wouldn’t have thought we wouldn’t have won the league again. However, I know how difficult the Premier League is, and sometimes I think supporters forget that.
“We’re competing against the money of entire states. Look at Manchester City, I played for them, but this isn’t the Manchester City I played for after I left Everton.
“Back then, Everton were further down the road than Manchester City, but now you’ve got a Gulf state nation funding them, plus Newcastle United too. It’s a different world, but what David Moyes has done over the last seven or eight months has been really impressive.
“We have to understand that and let’s build from here. It’s a nice position to be in because over the last few years, I’ve been waking up in America, whether it’s half past six in the morning or whatever, saying: ‘We’ve got to win this, otherwise we’re in relegation trouble.’
“That’s what it was for a few years. Now, I don’t feel that and I’ve not felt that since David Moyes came back, I thought: ‘He’s going to steady the ship and get us where we need to be.’”
With seven games to go, Everton return to action on Saturday after a three-week break with a game at Brentford. Both teams have 46 points with the Blues eighth and the Bees seventh in the table.
As things stand, finishing seventh would bring qualification for the Conference League but if Chelsea or Manchester City – who have been kept apart in the semi-final draw – were to win the FA Cup and finish above the teams who finish seventh and eighth, then seventh would be bumped up to Europa League qualification and eighth would get Conference League.
Heath said: “It would be a huge bonus to qualify for Europe, but you have to look at how far we’ve come. Going into the final games of the season in recent years, my wife has been leaving the house because Everton are two-nil down against Crystal Palace, and I’m fearing we’re going to get relegated.
“Did anyone think we were going down this season with David Moyes in charge? I never did, not at one stage did I think that.
“Now we can consolidate and start looking forwards. It’s not going to come overnight, but with additions in this next transfer window, and maybe the one after that, I think we’ve got a nucleus here to be really competitive at the top end of the table in the Premier League.
“The next stage, and I said this when David Moyes came back, is that we need to forget what we’ve become for the last 20 years and remember what we’ve always been.
“I think that’s really important and nobody gets that more than David Moyes. Everton are a top-six team, not a bottom-six team.
“Let’s give David all the ammunition that he deserves. If we do that, I believe we’ll be looking upwards, rather than towards the bottom end.”