David Moyes reveals he nearly returned to Everton FOUR TIMES after leaving for Man Utd as he replaces axed Sean Dyche
THE Moyesiah was back at Finch Farm — and admits he does not have much time to deliver a miracle.
Certainly less than in his first stint. In charge of Everton for 11 years before joining Manchester United in 2013, David Moyes was all smiles as he completed his stunning return to Merseyside.
The Scotsman revealed he had come close to a Goodison return on numerous occasions before the stars finally aligned.
With Everton 16th in the Premier League, one point off the relegation zone, the 61-year-old is out to steady the ship.
He wants to ensure the club move to their gleaming new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock as a top-flight club. And maybe, just maybe, he could get Everton back into Europe.
As he entered the room, Moyes said: “I see plenty of old faces, mine included,” before posing with the Everton shirt, something which would have seemed impossible a few weeks ago before Sean Dyche was sacked.
Moyes, whose second spell at West Ham ended in the summer, said: “I’ve had other opportunities to consider other jobs. Quite a few since I’ve left West Ham. I didn’t feel ready for it, anyway.
“But this was too big an opportunity to turn down. I want to try to show I can do it again. I’ve come very close to coming back on three or four occasions.
“I’ve had talks at different times in my career to come back and for different reasons it’s not quite happened.
“That’s football. It used to be going back didn’t sound good but I returned to West Ham and we won a European trophy.
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“I hadn’t been back at Finch Farm since the day I left. My first day as manager, I went into a dressing room with David Ginola, Paul Gascoigne, Duncan Ferguson and Thomas Gravesen.
“With me being a really young coach, I was saying, ‘My goodness, they won’t even know who I am’. I walk back in a different stage of my career. People know me a bit more, the players will know me.
“I know a lot of the players and some of them who I’ve probably tried to sign. I hope that we can get together and work well and make something happen.”
Moyes says this opportunity is a shock, following Dyche’s exit. Now he must prepare for tomorrow’s visit of Aston Villa.
He said: “Sean was doing a really good job. I didn’t see any changes materialising at the time. I wasn’t necessarily out there looking to go back but, as everybody knows, this is a different beast to me.
“There’s a lot of people in this room who have probably seen the last few years at Everton. It’s been a difficult time and I admire a lot of them for steering it through a difficult period.”
And Moyes, thanks to the club’s new owners, will be given a few quid to spend in the January transfer window.
He said: “The damage has been done through a long period of time but we’ve had a great time here and I’d love to be part of making it better, if possible.
“At the end of it there’s a stadium. The stadium looks the business, looks elite. So we need to start getting some elite players.”
In his first spell, Moyes almost steered Everton into the Champions League — until a controversial decision from ref Pierluigi Collina in a play-off at Villarreal in 2005 cost them.
Moyes said: “Last time, we got away from relegation trouble and went on to a sixth, seventh and ninth finish in three or four years in the Premier League.
“At Everton, I remember feeling like a team who were challenging against the top teams trying to be in Europe. I did it quite quickly at West Ham.
“My idea is to try and do everything as quickly as I can here because I am not going to be here for 11 years like I was before.”