'I knew what it meant' - David Moyes lifts lid on…

'I knew what it meant' - David Moyes lifts lid on Wayne Rooney conversation after iconic Everton goal

It's been 20 years since a 16-year-old Wayne Rooney announced himself as one of Everton and England's future stars with that winner against Arsenal - and former Blues manager David Moyes has been looking back on a famous moment in Premier League history.

The Gunners came to Goodison Park on Saturday, October 19 on the back of a 30-match unbeaten run and were early favourites for the title. Freddie Ljungberg put the away side into an early lead before an equaliser from Tomasz Radzinski looked to have won the Toffees a solid point.

With 10 minutes left, Moyes rolled the dice and decided to hand a cameo to Rooney. The teenager had impressed as a raw talent in the youth setup and had shone in sporadic appearances earlier in the campaign - by the final whistle, however, his path as one of England's greatest ever players was set.

A stoppage-time winner sent Goodison Park into rapture, Rooney plucked a long Thomas Gravesen ball out of the air before thumping the ball past David Seaman and in off the crossbar from all of 25 yards out. “Remember the name, Wayne Rooney!” were the words to come out of a shellshocked Clive Tyldesley.

And now Moyes has been looking back on that moment and what he remembers of it two decades later.

“We put him on at the time because he had such ability and he could make the difference," Moyes told the Independent . "My memory is just of the goal, really, him pulling it down, turning and getting the shot away.

“I was thinking at the time, ‘what’s he going to do?’. We still didn’t know much about him yet. He had ability, power as a young boy to win his own fights, challenge the centre-halves, but his goal, I think it just sat up nicely for him.

“My biggest memory now is the commentary from the game: ‘Remember the name’.

“At that time in the dressing rooms at Goodison you could hear the supporters all the way down the corridor and we could hear them singing the whole way down. It was such a big moment for them – an Evertonian, one of them – it became a really big thing.

“At that time in my managerial career I wasn’t one for giving out big compliments – I probably said, ‘good goal’ to him at the end of it. But obviously I knew what it meant.”

The former Toffees boss took over on Merseyside from Walter Smith, who made his successor aware of the exciting academy talent he's spotted. And not long after, Moyes got to see the teenage Rooney for himself in the 2002 FA Youth Cup final.

“Walter Smith told me a bit about the squad and then said, ‘by the way, there’s a boy in the academy who’s a really good player, his name is Wayne Rooney’,” added Moyes.

“It’s one of those statements – everybody says they’ve got a good player in the academy. Will I ever see him? You never know. But that’s when he was first brought to my attention.

“Then there was the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup, he played and I watched him and thought, ‘wow’. I remember after that game I walked down, tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘look, you’ll be with me soon’.

“There are a lot of good 16-year-olds, I’ve given a few of them debuts, but he was one who could cope physically, one who had ability and was growing into everything you recognise in his game.

“Sometimes as a manager you need good players and a bit of luck, and certainly me having Wayne Rooney was good luck for me.”

READ NEXT

Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.

Already a member? Sign in here