It’s 12 years since David Moyes departed Everton as the anointed successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United but his is a legacy that has loomed large over a club that initially struggled to build on the foundations he laid before eventually slumping back into the same kind of parlous state that prompted Bill Kenwright to hire him in the first place in March 2002.

The stability that Moyes engendered at Goodison Park during an 11-year spell stands in stark contrast to the chaos that characterised the Moshiri years and with which the Blues’ new owners, The Friedkin Group, must first contend before they can attempt to right the ship themselves.

In that heady 2013/14 season, during which he fused Moyes’s famed defensive solidity with the kind of attacking abandon that his predecessor’s teams often lacked, Roberto Martinez briefly out-ran the Scot’s shadow. Indeed, one of the enduring images of that campaign was United being comfortably beaten while sections of the Goodison faithful barracked the visiting fans with chants of “Stuck with Moyes” and the Grim Reaper stalked Moyes from the seats behind his technical area. Two days later, he was sacked.

Martinez’s refreshing impact was fleeting and Everton have been battling to find a way of breaking the glass ceiling that Moyes never could ever since he left — although in the years after Carlo Ancelotti abruptly upped sticks for Madrid, it’s been an at-times desperate struggle for survival.

In that sense, when it comes to the prospect of Moyes returning to his old stomping ground, context is everything and as he appears poised to be re-hired as Everton boss, that context has shifted significantly over the years.

In 2019, when Marco Silva was fired for steering the Toffees into the relegation zone, even though the alternatives appeared thin on the ground, many Evertonians found the prospect of Moyes coming back abhorrent. He was, by internal accounts, mere hours from doing just that before Moshiri effected the coup of landing Ancelotti and for those Moyes skeptics, that came as a massive relief.

This was, after all, the man who had been summarily sacked by United less than a year into a six-year contract, lasted just a year at Real Sociedad, had taken Sunderland down to the Championship, and failed to convince West Ham that he was the way forward for them after saving them from the drop in 2018. He had also left Everton in fairly acrimonious circumstances, having covertly negotiated his next job with Ferguson while running down his contract with the Blues, branded Everton’s fans as ungrateful and offered a derisory offer for Leighton Baines as United boss in the summer of 2013.

Added to all of that was the feeling that over his decade-plus tenure, Moyes had taken Everton as far as he could. He had marched the Club to the brink of the Champions League proper in 2005, an FA Cup Final in 2009 and achieved multiple top-eight finishes in the Premier League while also qualifying for the Europa League. But, when combined with his disappointing record on the grounds of the so-called “Sky Four”, it just seemed as though he couldn’t clear the final hurdle to success.

That changed, of course, at West Ham whom he re-joined in the days after his return to Everton collapsed in late 2019 and guided them away from relegation danger for a second time. In less than two years, he had steered the Hammers into the Europa League on the back of a sixth-place finish in the “lockdown” season of 2020/21. The following season, they finished seventh and made it as far as the last four of the Europa League before the Glaswegian finally got his hands on a trophy when he landed the Europa Conference League in 2023.

Finishing 14th in the Premier League the same season wasn’t enough for many Irons, however, and the Hammers’ leadership either agreed or were willing to acquiesce to supporter sentiment by stalling on offering him a new deal last spring before he left the London Stadium as a free agent at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

The one-time Preston North End boss has been out of work in the months since. He has vowed that he wouldn’t take on another relegation fight but the pull of going back to Goodison to reprise his “Moyessiah” act of 2001/02 might well prove too strong. As the club where he forged his reputation and spent the most years, Everton probably occupies more of Moyes’s heart than any other.

And for many Evertonians, worn down by broken promises, shattered dreams, crippling austerity in the transfer market, the stifling managerial tenures of Sam Allardyce, Rafael Benitez and Sean Dyche, and what is becoming a fourth season battling to avoid demotion, his potential return is being treated like the warm embrace of a family member offering the promise of safety and stability; those perceived transgressions of the past and frustrations with his management style able to be put to one side in the name of unity and shared purpose.

Nothing is guaranteed, of course, and should Moyes, as is widely being reported, agree to become Dyche’s successor, he will be stepping into a very difficult environment, with a squad woefully deficient in quality in key areas, beset by injuries to some important players and in dire need of reinforcements this window.

Together with Kevin Thelwell, he would need to navigate the tight restrictions of the Club’s with regard to profitability and sustainability rules while getting to grips with what he would inherit from Dyche: a team bereft of attacking confidence but, some believe, possessing sufficient quality to be able to drag themselves away from danger despite the signs of life shown by the likes of Wolves and Ipswich below them in the table.

A better all-round coach than Dyche, with proven ability to organise a defence and a track record at times at Everton of getting his teams playing attractive football (albeit with better personnel), Moyes would appear to be well placed to answer the question that has dogged Blues fans all season: are the players that bad or was Dyche simply unable to coach them to create and score goals? He would certainly command respect where it seemed Dyche was losing that of his players towards the end.

They say "never go back" in football and, in an ideal world, you'd want a complete reset with a young, dyamic coach and fresh ideas but, in the context of where Everton find themselves in these early days of TFG’s reign, coming full circle and reuniting with their former manager might be as good as they can hope for.

The Americans may find, just as West Ham did, that Moyes isn’t the man to lead the revolution they might have hoped to oversee as the Club moves into Bramley-Moore Dock and that those grand plans might have to be put on hold. But safety is paramount and as a safe pair of hands to ensure that Everton do so as a top-flight outfit, he could be just the man for the here and now.


Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers

Ben King
1 Posted 10/01/2025 at 21:58:49

Like many, I’m not massively inspired by Moyes’ return. And yet he’s one of the most successful Everton manager in my lifetime - that speak to a sad indictment of how far we’ve fallen + to the steady consistency that Moyes was able to engender.

If he can get us safe this season then he’s done a very good job. If he can get top 12 next season then it’d be another very good job. And a top 8 in his 2nd full season would either (1) earn a new contract or (2) set the foundations for a highly rated young coach to come in.

In the time we have him then I’d hope Moyes can get us playing some good football reminiscent of the Baines-Pienaar link ups, the Arteta guile, the fearless Tim Cahill and the easy goalscoring of Yakubu. Fans that think his football was all dour are rewriting history.

My fear (which I hope is unfounded) is that the game has tactically passed him by and he’s a relic. However, a European trophy and some decent recent finishes under West Ham is evidence of evolution.

Perhaps I’m just worn down by it all but I’m slightly skeptical but I’d be delighted to be proven wrong

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