David Moyes is one of the most respected figures in English football. In his stellar career in management, Moyes has been in charge for 1,169 games at Preston North End, Everton, Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham, where he won the club’s first trophy for 43 years in 2023.
The Premier League manager of the month 11 times, he’s managed more games in England’s top-flight than any other current manager. Not to mention, he played 540 games as a defender before becoming a manager.
The National sat down with Everton’s Glaswegian manager recently in Chicago during the club’s pre-season tour.
How are you feeling going into the new season?
Well, we finished last season positively. Not better than we expected, but probably better than we hoped. When I took over [in January 2025], relegation was the word which was kicking around, so we've sort of done a good job in getting rid of that.
What did you do?
The players made a great reaction. Everton had difficult seasons and last year was the sign of the last difficult period coming to an end.
And into a bright future with Everton about to move into a new stadium?
That excites me in many ways, but you know what it's like when you move to new stadium. You also get worried about how quickly it will take to feel like home. We had a compactness at Goodison, we had an atmosphere.
Nowadays the players get to play in so many good stadiums all around the world – almost every stadium you go to. Coming to Goodison was different and difficult for visitors but for us being the home team it helped. We need to create that same feeling at the new stadium.
I've got to say for Evertonians it's been something they’ve been waiting on for a long time. The stadium is stunning. It’s on the water [by the river Mersey], it looks good and if we can take the atmosphere which we had at Goodison and transfer it, I’ll be happy.
And there’s demand for it.
It holds just short of 53,000 and I think we’ve sold all the season tickets with another 20,000 waiting to try to get season tickets. That give the club more revenue and it’s modern which was something which was certainly needed at Goodison, probably more than anything.
How's your relationship with Evertonians? I've just seen a couple of fans in Chicago and asked them about you; they're loving you. There are times when it wasn’t like that.
When I left and went to United (in 2013), it was probably quite difficult. But, you know, folks forget I'd done 11 years at Everton and possibly it was time to change for both parties. And they gave me an unbelievable send-off at Everton when I was leaving.
But if Evertonians look back, they'll probably say that the teams I managed were some of the best they’d seen in a long time. We had European trips, we were challenging the top teams, we were challenging Liverpool and we finished above Liverpool in my last two years in charge. We were competitive in all the competitions.
How have you changed as a manager? Has the experience of being at several different clubs made you a better manager, a better person? Do you still love football the same?
I love football, though I can get fed up with parts of it: some of the new rules and a lot of extra off-the-field commitments, but, you know, the world's moving on. If you're from a certain era then you don't see that as being why we're there.
Our job is to try to get the best results we can for the team, not necessarily to give everything to the media, to talk about every action and every moment, but I've changed because I've probably mellowed in many ways. I've got more experience from coaching at different clubs. I’m better for it.
What would your wife say about you?
She'd probably say that she wanted me to keep working. She didn't want me in the house. I think that was obvious. When I don’t work, I upset her coffee mornings and different things.
When I left West Ham I wasn't disappointed because it was probably the right time for both parties to leave, but it was a great time at West Ham. We built a good side; we won a European trophy.
And you did let the cameras in the dressing room after that trophy, because they caught you dancing …
I'd like to say on the record that I’m yet to be invited on to Strictly Come Dancing. Maybe they know I'd be knocked out in the early rounds. But overall, I didn't really care because winning a trophy puts you in a different light as a coach.
It’s not just trophies though. I see myself as having longevity, especially in the Premier League. Think of the top managers that have come to the Premier League and some haven't stayed that long for different reasons. But I’m only behind Sir Alex and Arsene Wenger for games managed in the Premier League. I’m still going.
For how long? You’re 62.
With respect, I don't want to be as old as Roy Hodgson (who managed Crystal Palace at 77), or I don't want to be as old as Sir Alex was when he retired (72).
The job of the head coach or the manager now has become a little bit more stressful than it used to be. More media commitments as I said, but more data, not just about your own team's performance, but your opposition.
There's a lot more work to do and not many managers out there are going home at two in the afternoon because training's over.
There's far, far greater responsibilities within the role as a manager now than there’s ever been. And even commercial-wise, there's more things since the clubs are commercially all having to grow and bring in more money.
So, you're finding yourself not getting as much time. There's not many managers doing 10 years in a row now as there was in the past.
But you're back in the north-west of England, long your home. It’s where you ended up during Covid.
[My wife) wanted me out of the house. There was an advertisement up in the fruit and veg shop saying drivers were needed to deliver fruit and veg. I wanted to help in the community. So I walked round and said, ‘Can I help you with the job?’ And the man said, ‘Yeah’.
I hired a van and I’d deliver these big baskets of fruit and veg and collect money for them. I’d say “That’s £12.50” and they’d give me £15 and say “keep the change, son.” They didn’t have a clue who I was.
One or two said that I looked like the football manager David Moyes. There were a few where the people didn’t have the right money so I just said ‘Call it a tenner’ and I put the rest in.
A lot of the deliveries were around Blackpool. And I'm seen as being Preston because I’d played for and managed Preston North End, but there were no issues. It was at a time when we all needed to do something.
How's Premier League football changing? If you watch a game now compared to 10 or 15 years ago, are the tactics changing?
Hugely. And I sense another turn. There’s more risk taking because probably since Pep came in, there's been a greater emphasis on his style.
I don't think anybody's ever been as good as Pep or his teams at his style, but nearly all the teams throughout the leagues are playing in different ways than what they did in years gone by.
I’m not going to say it’s about possession as that’s not the biggest key, but there was a period where everybody wanted to try to keep possession.
There’s also been a world of young coaches come in changing how it looks. Whether they're brought up on PlayStations or seeing something different. But if you ask people about football, football's always been there.
I’m sort of a custodian saying ‘Don't start telling us how to do this or how to do that’. We've got a lot of young ones coming in saying, ‘No, we want to do this, we think these changes, you shouldn't do this’. We’re all allowed our views.
But the league is more physical and there's more speed in the Premier League than before. Tactics now has become a huge dimension. We used to think about Italian teams being tactically drilled and organised. Now we all must be like that. I’ve worked with Uefa as a technical observer and studied the tactics. You must move with the times.
Last season was actually one of the more disappointing Premier League seasons. The three who came up went straight down and the title race was done early. The league's entitled to have the odd bad year.
But we've had some amazing football teams and some amazing teams to watch. The Premier League can attract all the best players, the best managers. We're fortunate we've got that.
How can things improve?
I went to a few of the games in the Club World Cup over here [in the US] and was amazed by the atmosphere created by the South American teams, the Argentinians. Brilliant. Unreal. The noise they made was unbelievable.
It’s important for people like me to watch games that aren’t just in the Premier League or the Uefa games and take it all in because there are definitely things we can learn.
Where else were you watching games?
When I was out of work I bobbed around everywhere near home. I went to watch [non-league] Fylde, I was watching Preston, Blackpool, I went up to Morecambe. Fleetwood. These clubs matter to their communities.
And you saw that when you managed in Spain.
They also had a strong identity, especially the Basques. And it works. Some of the best managers in the world come from a very small part of the Basque Country [Mikel Arteta, Andoni Iraola, Xabi Alonso, Unai Emery, Julen Lopetegui] around where I used to live in San Sebastian. I was speaking recently to Erik, who was my translator when I was at Real Sociedad. I gave him a job as a scout and he’s now sports director.
I was asking him about the quality of his players coming through and he was saying ‘What we have is unbelievably good’. And last night I was talking to Andoni (Iraola, Bournemouth manager) about the idea of local players playing for local teams.
So, say, you could only play for Manchester United if you're a Manc. Like Athletic Club do so well in Bilbao. The model hasn’t really been tried anywhere else.
The good players coming through because there’s talent, facilities and good coaching, but because they are local they have their local community behind them. And I admire that. You’re also bringing players through to fit a style.
It’s not like me coming in and saying I need all these players because your academy is full of players who’ve been brought up to play a certain way with a strong culture and identity and the dream of playing for the first team for the local club.
If Glasgow had a team, would you be in contention to be manager? Would you have been good enough as a player?
Manager maybe, but I wouldn’t have got in the team as a player. Glasgow has produced so many good players, but it brings me back to the point: when Celtic won the European Cup all their players were from within 30 miles of the city. Liverpool as a city produces fantastic footballers. I just think it’s all interesting.
One of the best was Wayne Rooney. What was it like watching Wayne come through as his manager?
He was kid from Croxteth. It's amazing though when I get to see Wayne now and where he is and how he's matured, how his work is much better. I know he's had some challenges but I think he's matured, got older and wiser.
He wasn’t always like that. He was mouthy from a young age. I was a relatively young coach and reluctant to bring such a young player in. I was under pressure from the media because we had other strikers.
I was thinking ‘we'll give him a game here and there, play him off the left.’ But then I realised that he was so good that Wayne could have played just about anywhere, even in goal.
He was such a robust boy who understood football and obviously had all his skills. But all his thoughts were about scoring goals.
You managed Wayne again at United in 2013. How do you look back at your time at Old Trafford?
With bits of disappointment. It was one of the biggest clubs in the world, I had the opportunity and I felt as if I didn't step it up, but I think there were a lot of mitigating circumstances and history would agree to that.
There was a big change needed when Alex (Ferguson) stepped down. I’ve got a big change here now at Everton as we try to take it away from the bad years and build a new team up.
We’re in a process of rebuilding whereas United had just won the league and all the other teams were building to get ahead of United. At the time there was a changing of the guard needed of some brilliant players.
I didn’t plan to change anything that Fergie did, but I couldn’t be Fergie, I had to be myself. United had won the league and I was in a good position, but I don’t know if the team was ready to go again and win it again.
Are you optimistic about the future of Everton football?
Hugely optimistic because of the new ownership, the new stadium. We'll need to grow with the new owners to get to understand them. The supporters will need to grow into the new stadium too.
We need to have that roar that we had at Goodison from the fans. Evertonians have got some great songs. It’s important the vocal fans are together. We need them in our magnificent new home.
