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On the 11th of January, 2025, Everton announced that they had appointed David Moyes, almost 23 years after first making him their manager back in 2002. Lots of younger fans won’t recall those days when the Scot declared Everton “the people’s club”. Indeed, with Moyes leaving for Manchester United in 2013, over 11 years ago, as Sir Alex Ferguson’s personal pick, there are lots of football supporters who won’t remember his time with the Toffees at all.
The Glaswegian, who played as a centre back for Celtic, Shrewsbury and Preston, among other clubs, has been around the block as a manager. He didn’t last long at Old Trafford, but was not given much chance to do what was an almost impossible job. Since then he had a brief stint in Spain with Real Sociedad, one very poor season at Sunderland, and a 31-game spell at West Ham – the first time around at least.
His first stint with the Hammers did not go well but he returned just over a year later and had four and a half excellent years with the club. He repeatedly guided them into Europe, delivered silverware (the Europa Conference League) and made them into top-half regulars. In 2020/21 they earned 65 points, a Premier League club record, finishing sixth, and Evertonians will hope that his improved second spell in the East End bodes well for his Merseyside return. But just how good did Moyes do first time round at Everton?
Successful Start at Goodison
Everton prised Moyes away from Preston North End on the 14th of March, 2002. He had been the manager of the Lancashire side for just over four years and had done an excellent job. With a limited budget, he guided Preston from the third tier into the second, and then into the play-offs to join the Premier League. They lost to Bolton but considering their financial situation even making the play-offs was a real achievement.
Everton were struggling in the Premier League and when they sacked Walter Smith, Moyes seemed like a solid replacement, even though he lacked managerial experience. The club were 15th in the table and in danger of relegation, having taken just one win and seven points from their last 13 games.
Moyes won three of his first four games in the Everton dugout, in all taking 13 points from the nine games he managed that term. The Toffees were safe and despite minimal spending in the transfer market he continued his fine work to guide them all the way up to seventh the following season. That was their best finish since 1995/96 and their Scottish manager was becoming a firm fan favourite.
Ups and Downs Follow
In 2003/04 the Toffees would inexplicably struggle, finishing 17th and just one place above the drop. It was not perhaps as bad as it sounds though, as despite losing their last four games they were six points clear of 18th place. An emerging Wayne Rooney was the club’s joint-top scorer with Duncan Ferguson, but they got just nine goals each as the club struggled to score.
In 2004/05, however, the club bounced back in style and the board’s faith in Moyes was repaid. The sack was not quite so readily handed out 20 years ago but even so, many clubs would have dismissed the manager after such a campaign. Everton stood by their man and despite selling Rooney after he was sensational with England at Euro 2004, the Toffees enjoyed their best season in the Premier League ever.
The Rooney money was spent wisely, with Tim Cahill, Marcus Bent, James Beattie and Mikel Arteta (initially on loan) brought in. Despite losing several key players, and an opening-day 4-1 home loss to Arsenal, the Toffees started the season superbly, winning five of their first seven to lie third. After 17 games they were briefly second but soon dropped to fourth, where they would stay for the rest of the season.
The following season they started slowly, perhaps affected by their controversial exit from the Champions League in the qualifying rounds after a shocking refereeing decision. They were 17th at the halfway stage and a largely illogical narrative began that Moyes could only manage one successful season at a time before dropping off. In the end they would finish 11th and the Scottish boss would put the “one good season, one bad” notion well and truly behind him.
Sustained Excellence
Over the final seven years of Moyes’ time at Goodison the club’s average finishing position was sixth. Given their finances to those above them and the consistency they produced it was clear the manager was doing a remarkable job. He was unable to deliver silverware but took Everton to the League Cup semis in 2008, as well as the last 16 of the UEFA Cup that year. They lost to Chelsea in the 2009 FA Cup final, and then to Liverpool, in the semis in 2012.
Moyes built several different teams at Everton over his long time at the club, only twice spending over £10m (Marouane Fellaini and Aiyegbeni Yakubu, both successes). His early groups included excellent purchases like Joseph Yobo, Nigel Martyn and Lee Carsley, before the likes of Cahill, Arteta and Phil Neville were all brought in for cut-rate fees and did a brilliant job. In turn, they were followed by Tim Howard, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka, Steven Pienaar and Leighton Baines. Towards the end of his tenure players such as Landon Donovan, Nikica Jelavic and Kevin Mirallas all made an impact, whilst his last Everton signing was John Stones, just one of many who were sold on for a huge profit.
One of the Best
The simplest way to illustrate how successful Moyes was at Everton is to point to the trophy cabinet. Not Everton’s, which sadly for the former centre back and all Toffees only required opening for cleaning purposes during his stay at the club, but Moyes’ own haul. The Glaswegian was voted the League Managers Association Manager of the Year on three occasions.
Only Fergie has more victories, with Moyes’ three leaving him level with Pep Guardiola and one ahead of both Arsène Wenger and Jürgen Klopp. On a budget that was much smaller than all their rivals, Everton were able to compete with the very best. By some calculations, Everton’s net spend on players during Moyes’ first spell at Goodison was just £4m. Critics will say that he never really won anything, but pound for pound it is obvious that his teams delivered so much more than they had the right to, and gave the fans so many incredible moments to remember. All he has to do now is repeat the job!