New Everton boss David Moyes has revealed how his return to Goodison Park came about after he succeeded Sean Dyche has Toffees manager last week
David Moyes has revealed the only job he would have come back for now is Everton as he opened up on how his talks progressed to replace Sean Dyche.
The Scot revealed there were “three or four” times when he came close to returning to Goodison Park since he left in May 2013. Moyes, 61, departed Everton to replace Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager after an 11-year stint in charge of the club.
But he returned last week to replace Dyche after stints at United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham. Dyche was dismissed on Thursday officially but it had become clear that the club’s new owners, The Friedkin Group, were looking for his replacement earlier in the week.
Moyes held talks with Dan Friedkin and executive chairman Marc Watts before agreeing to come in.
He said: “It was really quick. I think Tuesday or Wednesday when I first got a little bit of a call to say there was a chance there was going to be a change.
“I had several conversations with Dan and Marc and that’s where it really took off from really, but up to that point I had no idea. I actually thought Sean was doing a really good job and I didn’t see any changes materialising at the time.
“And in truth, I wasn’t necessarily out there looking to go back, but as everybody knows, this is a different beast to me than many other clubs.”
Moyes, who helped West Ham with the Europa Conference League in 2023, said this was the only club he would return to after he left the Hammers last summer.
He said: “I believe so. I’ve had other opportunities to consider other jobs, quite a few since I’ve left West Ham. And I didn’t feel ready for it anyway. But I always felt that if the job came up and I didn’t expect the job to come up I really didn’t, I didn’t see it, but when I got asked about it this week it was just too big an opportunity to turn down.
“And I want to try and show that I can go again. I think in football you always have to prove yourself and it doesn’t matter who you are you always have to do it.”
Moyes revealed he did turn down other opportunities to return to the club since he left in 2013. The Scot led the Blues to Champions League qualification in 2005.
He added: “Well, I’ve come very close to coming back, I can tell you, three, maybe four occasions. I’ve had talks at different times, different periods in my career to come back, and for different reasons it’s fallen through or not quite happened.
“But that’s football, and I’ve got no problem with that at all. It used to be going back didn’t sound good, but I went back to West Ham after the first time, I went back the second time, and we went on to win a European trophy, sold the most expensive player in Britain [Declan Rice].”
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