A decade on from exiting Goodison Park, long-serving Everton manager David Moyes finally finds himself on the cusp of where many felt he could and perhaps should have taken the Blues.
The month before he took Everton to their first and to date, only cup final since their last success in 1995, the Scot confidently proclaimed: “Everton will win a trophy soon, that is for sure.” However, despite his lengthy and relatively-speaking, successful tenure on Merseyside, he ultimately failed to deliver in the silverware stakes.
Surely nobody would deny that Moyes got far more right than he got wrong during his Goodison Park tenure that lasted for over 11 years. You couldn’t remain in such a position for that length of time if you hadn’t.
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Before his appointment in March 2002, Everton had finished in the top half of the Premier League just once in its first decade (coming sixth under Joe Royle in 1995/96) but Moyes recorded nine top half finishes – never coming lower than eighth in his last seven seasons – and also bagged the Blues’ highest Premier League placing of fourth in 2004/05. There were some teething problems early in his reign – a 17th place finish on 39 points in 2003/04 was the lowest equivalent points total in the club’s history before it was equalled last season (whether Sean Dyche’s side stay up or not, the record will be broken this term with fewer points still) but Bill Kenwright’s loyalty to them man he plucked from Preston North End proved well-placed.
By the time Moyes finished at Everton though, running down his contract, which enabled Manchester United to take the three-times LMA Manager of the Year for nothing when retiring legend Sir Alex Ferguson handpicked his compatriot as his successor at Old Trafford, there were mixed emotions among many of Goodison Park’s patrons. Just a couple of months earlier, the Blues had been unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup finals on home turf by Wigan Athletic, conceding three goals in as many chaotic minutes just after the half-hour mark in a 3-0 defeat.
For all the great strides, long period of improved standards and consistency that Moyes had brought, here was a shambolic display that had eerie parallels of Everton’s televised shellacking to Middlesbrough by the same scoreline and at the same stage of the competition that had called time on his predecessor Walter Smith’s tenure in 2002. The Blues were in a much stronger position now and their Premier League status was not in jeopardy like back then, but there was nevertheless a prevailing feeling that they’d never actually win anything under Moyes, not matter how long he stayed in charge, given their repeated failure to deliver in big moments.
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First there had been Everton’s failure to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League after working so hard to stun the football world by finishing fourth a year on from being at their lowest ebb. Yes the Blues were ultimately undone by an infamous decision by Pierluigi Collina to inexplicably rule out Duncan Ferguson’s headed goal that would have levelled the aggregate scores and left Villarreal on the ropes but even before the Italian referee threw a spanner in the works, Moyes’ men had left themselves with an uphill task after being beaten 2-1 in the first leg at Goodison on a night when they found themselves very much second best to a side who would go on and reach the semi-finals of the competition later that season.
After coming through another tricky two-legged affair against Ukrainians Metalist Kharkiv to reach the group stages, Everton found their feet on the continent a couple of years later when they powered through to the knockout section of the UEFA Cup with a 100% record that included a 3-2 win in Alkmaar to end the longest unbeaten home record in European competition which had seen AZ undefeated across 32 matches over 30 years while they also defeated a Zenit St Petersburg side that would lift the trophy the following May, 1-0 at Goodison. Norwegian champions Brann were then smashed 8-1 on aggregate but despite a dominant display in a last 16 second leg at home to Fiorentina – Moyes lamented: “We battered them” – Everton were eliminated in a penalty shoot-out.
With a far less-gifted Rangers side – managed by Moyes’ aforementioned predecessor Smith – reaching the final (just down the road at the Etihad Stadium), it felt like a golden opportunity missed, especially when you consider that this was an era in which Middlesbrough got to the final two years before and Fulham repeated the trick two years later. Even on the one occasion Moyes’ Blues got to compete for a trophy though, they fell at the final hurdle.
After defeating the Premier League’s top two that season, Manchester United and neighbours Liverpool – plus a very handy Aston Villa side that finished just a point behind them in sixth – Everton took the lead in the 2009 FA Cup final through Louis Saha after just 25 seconds but still conspired to lose 2-1 to Chelsea with future manager Frank Lampard grabbing the winner on 72 minutes. There were also more Wembley woes three years later when the Blues again struck first through Nikica Jelavic in an FA Cup semi-final against their rivals from across Stanley Park, only to be beaten again 2-1 following a second half comeback from the Reds.
Although Moyes’ Manchester United reign began with a 2-0 Community Shield win over Championship Wigan Athletic whose previous manager Roberto Martinez had left to replace the Scot at Everton having won the FA Cup and been relegated from the Premier League in the same week, despite being given a six-year contract with the Red Devils, he failed to make it to the end of his first season. His final game in charge was 2-0 loss back at Everton where a spectator dressed as the Grim Reaper ominously waved a rubber scythe in his direction from the Family Enclosure at the bottom of Goodison Park’s Main Stand.
For all Moyes’ longevity with the Blues, the short-lived spell at Old Trafford was one of four consecutive jobs in which he was unable to stay in the post for a year with Real Sociedad, Sunderland (who were relegated) and West Ham United following. However, after being let go by the Irons at the end of the 2017/18 season, the East London outfit ate some humble pie (and mash, no doubt doused in liquor with some jellied eels) when they re-hired him some 18 months later in December 2019.
There’s an old adage in football that you should never go back but perhaps Moyes should be excused on this occasion given that his first spell in charge of the Hammers was so short. While the team have struggled in the Premier League this term, the former Everton manager has steered them to back-to-back top seven finishes for the first time in their history (sixth in 2020/21 and seventh in 2021/22) and after a run to the semi-finals of last season’s Europa League, they’re looking to go one better in the UEFA Europa Conference League this time around.
Standing in West Ham United’s way are old foes AZ but Moyes’ men take a 2-1 first leg lead into tonight’s return match in the Netherlands. If they make it through, a final in Prague awaits which will be particularly appealing to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky who now owns a 27% stake in the club.
Perhaps at 60, Moyes is now older and wiser to finish the job and lift his first major piece of silverware (surely we can’t count that Community Shield) and many fair-minded Evertonians wouldn’t begrudge him that. While his current focus is very much elsewhere, the former Blues boss will always have a special place for Everton in his heart.
Given the chance, he’d have probably come back on a couple of occasions and Everton’s sharp decline over the subsequent decade since he left will perhaps lead some supporters to re-evaluate his tenure in a more-favourable light with the benefit of hindsight?
As Moyes himself told the ECHO last year in an exclusive interview to mark the 20th anniversary of his appointment: “The fans were great to me and they always were right up until my last day. You see it now at football clubs, it’s very difficult, I wouldn’t say to be liked, but there’s always someone who thinks you can do better.
“Ultimately when you’re a football manager you always try and do your best. You always try to pick the best team and win every game you can.
“I can honestly say that’s what I tried to do at Everton. Over the years I was really fortunate to have great backing from the support, Goodison was a brilliant, brilliant stadium when it was on its uppers.”
David Moyes, in many ways still a True Blue… just as long as he picks a strong enough team to beat Sam Allardyce’s Leeds United on Sunday!
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