The former striker reflected on his relationship with Moyes on the latest edition of his BBC show
David Moyes gives orders to Wayne Rooney during the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton at Goodison Park in 2003. The pair discussed their relationship on Rooney's BBC show: The Wayne Rooney Show. Photo by Tom Jenkins/ Getty Images
David Moyes gives orders to Wayne Rooney during the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton at Goodison Park in 2003. The pair discussed their relationship on Rooney's BBC show: The Wayne Rooney Show. Photo by Tom Jenkins/ Getty Images
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Wayne Rooney has opened up on his reaction when he learned David Moyes was set to return to Everton.
Moyes took over from Sean Dyche in January 2025, picking up a team that had fears of relegation for the fourth successive season as the club attempted to emerge from years of financial and regulatory turmoil.
Against that backdrop Rooney, who broke into the Blues first team under the Scot, said he was delighted to hear his former boss was on his way back to the club after years of turmoil.
Speaking on the latest edition of the BBC’s Wayne Rooney show, on which Moyes was a guest, Rooney said: “When David came back into Everton I was so happy. We had spoken in Germany at the Euros and where Everton have been over the last few years, they have needed stability, and I knew 100% when he came back in he would bring that stability first of all. As a fan, and all my family are fans, fighting relegation in the last few years - [I was thinking] not again. So I was made up when he came back.”
Moyes quickly led Everton away from trouble and then took the team into the first season at the club’s stunning new waterfront stadium. While the campaign ended in disappointment after a seven game winless streak cost an opportunity to reach Europe, it was the first in five campaigns when there was never any concern about a fight for survival and Moyes is keen to build on that this summer.
Rooney, reflecting on Moyes’ return and a special moment as the club said goodbye to Goodison Park 12 months ago, added: “It felt right.
"What was nice was for the last game at Goodison being there with all the ex-players I remember going into [Moyes’] office after the game and seeing your dad there, it was like a journey - you gave me my debut and that last game at Goodison was such a historic moment in Everton’s history and going and seeing you and your family in there, and I had my smallest boy with me, so from where I had started it was a nice moment.”
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