David Moyes
David William Moyes is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Premier League club Everton. He was the 2003, 2005 and 2009 League Managers Association Manager of the Year. He is on the committee for the League Managers Association in an executive capacity.
Moyes made over 540 league appearances as a centre-back in a playing career that began with Celtic, where he won a championship medal. He then played for Cambridge United, Bristol City, Shrewsbury Town, and Dunfermline Athletic, ending his playing career with Preston North End. He became a coach at Preston, working his way up before taking over as manager in 1998, his first managerial position. Moyes led Preston to the Division Two title in 1999–2000 and the Division One play-off final the following season.
Moyes became manager of Everton in 2002. The club managed a fourth-place finish in the league in 2004–05, their highest since 1988, and played in the qualifying rounds for the UEFA Champions League the following season, the first time since 1970–71. Moyes led Everton to a runners-up finish in the 2008–09 FA Cup, their best performance in the competition since winning in 1995. Everton consistently finished between fifth and eighth in the league under Moyes, and at the time of his departure, was the longest-serving manager in the league behind Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, at 11 years and 3 months.
Moyes succeeded Ferguson as manager of Manchester United in June 2013, but with the club 7th in the league in April 2014 and unable to qualify for European competition, he was sacked. Moyes was appointed head coach of Spanish club Real Sociedad in November 2014, but was sacked after a year in charge. In 2016, he replaced Sam Allardyce as manager of Sunderland, but resigned at the end of the 2016–17 season after the club was relegated to the EFL Championship.
Moyes was appointed manager of West Ham in November 2017 and led the club out of the relegation zone to a 13th-place finish, but left at the end of the season when his contract was not renewed. He was appointed at West Ham for a second time in December 2019, following the sacking of Manuel Pellegrini. During his second stint, West Ham achieved two consecutive top-seven finishes in the Premier League, before victory in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, beating Fiorentina in the final to achieve the club's first major silverware in 43 years. Moyes left West Ham in 2024, and returned to Everton the following year.
Playing career
Club career
Moyes started his career at Icelandic club ÍBV, playing half a season with the youth team in 1978. Moyes enjoyed a career that encompassed playing at a number of clubs, usually as a centre-back, beginning at Celtic, where he won a championship medal and made 24 league appearances, and ending with Preston North End.As a player with Cambridge United, Moyes received abuse from teammate Roy McDonough for his religious beliefs; Moyes is a practising Christian. McDonough felt that religion was distracting them from focusing on playing; speaking of Moyes, Alan Comfort and Graham Daniels, he said: "The three of them sat in the changing room with a little black book, discussing their faith, when they should have been getting psyched up for a relegation scrap." Following a 3–3 draw with Wigan Athletic on 9 March 1985, McDonough, who was 26 years old at the time, states that he "battered" Moyes for not putting sufficient effort into the game.
While playing for Shrewsbury Town in 1987, Moyes began coaching at the nearby private school, Concord College, on the recommendation of Jake King as a way to supplement his wages. Moyes later made over one hundred appearances for Dunfermline Athletic between 1990 and 1993, including a starting appearance in the 1991 Scottish League Cup final.
Moyes made over 530 league appearances in his career before becoming a coach at Preston, working his way up to assistant manager before eventually taking over as manager in 1998.
International career
Moyes captained Scotland at under-18 age group level. He played under former UEFA Technical Director Andy Roxburgh in 1980.Managerial career
Preston North End
Moyes took over as Preston North End manager in January 1998, replacing Gary Peters as the club struggled in Division Two and were in danger of relegation. He had spent much of his playing career preparing for management, taking coaching badges at just 22 years of age and compiling notes on managers he had played under, their techniques and tactics. Preston avoided relegation at the end of the 1997–98 season and reached the Division Two play-offs the following season, where they were beaten by Gillingham at the semi-final stage.The following season, Moyes guided Preston to the Division Two title and a promotion to Division One. An even greater achievement perhaps was to steer Preston into the Division One play-offs the season after that, with largely the same squad. Preston lost 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers in the 2001 Football League First Division play-off final, missing out on promotion to the Premier League. One month later, Moyes signed a new five-year contract with the club. In 2001, whilst studying for his UEFA Pro License, Moyes shadowed Roy Hodgson at Udinese during Hodgson's six month spell at the club. Towards the end of the following season, he left for Everton, to take over from fellow Scotsman Walter Smith in March 2002. Moyes took charge of Preston for 234 matches, of which his team won 113, drew 58 and lost 63.
Everton
2002–2004
Moyes joined Everton on 14 March 2002 and at his unveiling press conference, declared that Everton were 'The People's Club' on Merseyside. He said:I am from a city that is not unlike Liverpool. I am joining the people's football club. The majority of people you meet on the street are Everton fans. It is a fantastic opportunity, something you dream about. I said 'yes' right away as it is such a big club.
His first game in charge was two days later, against Fulham at Goodison Park. Everton won the game 2–1, with David Unsworth scoring after just 30 seconds.
Everton managed to sustain a good run of form and avoided relegation, which was a genuine threat when he was originally appointed. Despite having a history and list of honours only surpassed in English football by Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, the past decade had not been a successful time for the Toffees, with an FA Cup win in 1995 and a sixth-place finish in 1996 being about the only bright spots for the club that side of 1990.
Moyes prepared for his first full season in charge at Everton by signing Chinese international Li Tie, Nigerian defender Joseph Yobo and goalkeeper Richard Wright and released older players such as Jesper Blomqvist and David Ginola. On 12 April 2003, Moyes was sent to the stands during a game against West Bromwich Albion by referee Steve Bennett for using foul and abusive language and for improper behaviour. Everton were edged out of qualification for the following season's UEFA Cup on the last day of the season by Blackburn Rovers, following a defeat by Manchester United, and finished seventh in the league. Moyes was awarded LMA Manager of the Year for the first time, to go with the Premier League Manager of the Month award for November 2002, when the Toffees had been in the Champions League places.
For the 2003–04 season, Moyes signed Kevin Kilbane from Sunderland, James McFadden from Motherwell, Nigel Martyn from Leeds United and Francis Jeffers returned on loan from Arsenal. Poor results followed though and Everton did not win a game in 2004 until 28 February. A confrontation between Moyes and Duncan Ferguson at Everton's training ground was said to be symptomatic of the problems at the club. Everton finished 17th with 39 points, the lowest total in the club's history until 2022–23,, just avoiding relegation.
2004–2009
During the summer of 2004, despite the turmoil surrounding the club's recent form, Moyes managed to bring in Tim Cahill and Marcus Bent. To this day, Cahill is considered to be one of Moyes' best signings, scoring 15 goals in his first season playing for Everton. Those who left the club were Tomasz Radzinski, Tobias Linderoth, David Unsworth and, most significantly Wayne Rooney, who joined Manchester United for a reported £25.6 million. Later, the Daily Mail published extracts from Rooney's autobiography, claiming that Moyes had forced Rooney out of the club and then leaked the details to the press. Moyes went on to sue for libel before settling out of court when Rooney apologised and agreed to pay for damages. Moyes donated the undisclosed damages from the suit to the Everton Former Players' Foundation.During the 2004–05 season, Everton went on to surpass all expectations by finishing fourth in the league and securing a place in the following season's third qualification round for the UEFA Champions League, Moyes again being awarded the LMA Manager of the Year award. Moyes then broke Everton's transfer record to bring in striker James Beattie in January and, as influential midfielder Thomas Gravesen left, Mikel Arteta came in on loan.
At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Everton struggled again and were battling relegation. Their bid to play in the Champions League ended with a loss to Villarreal in the qualifying round, and the club were defeated 5–1 at FC Dinamo București in the first round of the UEFA Cup. Moyes signed Nuno Valente, Andy van der Meyde, Simon Davies, Per Krøldrup, and Phil Neville; signed Matteo Ferrari on loan; and made Arteta a permanent signing. They climbed from bottom place in late October to a secure 11th-place finish at the end of the season.
Moyes broke the club transfer record for a second time at the start of the 2006–07 season with the £8.6 million acquisition of Andrew Johnson. Joleon Lescott was also signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers while goalkeeper Tim Howard arrived from Manchester United on a loan deal, which was later made permanent. All of these players would prove to be successful signings, further enhancing Moyes' reputation as a team builder. Whilst Everton's league form flourished again, their record in the FA Cup under Moyes did not improve: in the third round they crashed out 4–1 to Blackburn Rovers. An improved league position of sixth was secured along with UEFA Cup football for the next season.
It was the 2007–08 season that Everton displayed the most consistency and stability since Moyes arrived at the club, finally ending the cycle of alternating between the top and bottom halves of the league. In his sixth full season in charge, Moyes secured fifth place in the league and reached the semi-final of the Football League Cup as well as the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, eventually being beaten on penalties by Fiorentina. Moyes also signed four more players who went on to become very important players for Everton: Yakubu was signed for another record fee of £11.25 million, Steven Pienaar for £2.05 million after an initial loan, Phil Jagielka was brought in for £4 million, and Leighton Baines was signed for a fee that could rise to £6 million. All of this gave Everton and its fans cause for optimism as a string of strong performances broke the pattern inconsistency which saw league finishes of 15th, 7th, 17th, 4th and 11th under Moyes. His reputation as a disciplinarian could be seen to manifest in Everton's yellow card count. They received just 27 yellow cards all season – the lowest in the league and six fewer than their nearest rival Liverpool.
Moyes recruited Steve Round as his assistant manager for the 2008–09 season to replace Alan Irvine, who had taken over as Preston North End manager the previous winter. Everton's first new player of the season, Lars Jacobsen, was brought in two games into the season. This was shortly followed by the signings of Segundo Castillo and Louis Saha. On deadline day, Moyes secured the services of goalkeeper Carlo Nash on a free transfer, and Marouane Fellaini for a club record £15 million. On 14 September, Moyes was sent to the stands by referee Alan Wiley during a game against Stoke City. He was later fined £5,000 by The Football Association for improper conduct and warned about his future behaviour.
At the end of the transfer window January 2009, Moyes brought in Brazilian international striker Jô on loan from Manchester City. On 14 October 2008, Moyes agreed to extend his Goodison Park stay by a further five years. On 19 April 2009, Moyes led his team to an FA Cup semi-final victory over Manchester United, after a penalty shoot-out, to reach the final for the first time since 1995. In what would be Everton's only appearance in a final during Moyes' time at the club, Everton were beaten 2–1 by Chelsea despite taking a lead through Louis Saha in the opening minute.