OTD: DAVID MOYES BORN

On this day in Glasgow, Sir Alex Ferguson’s protégé was born. That man is David Moyes. A man who nowadays is heralded for his work at Everton and West Ham, but his failures at Manchester United and Sunderland are swept under the carpet.

His first big job came at Everton, after going from player to manager at Preston North End, he made the move to Merseyside and he stayed for 11 years, and he did a decent job with what he had to be fair to him.

He kept Everton safe in the Premier League without spending too much money and he got them in European competitions, something Everton fans have largely been missing since his departure. He finished as high as fourth in the 04/05 season, but couldn't manage to qualify for the Champions League after a loss to Villareal in the qualifying rounds. The Toffees reached the FA Cup final in 2009 but lost to Chelsea after taking the lead within the first minute.

Moyes left Everton for Manchester United in July of 2013. Sir Alex Ferguson hand-picked his countryman to fill his boots at United. Quite possibly Sir Alex’s worst decision ever for the Red Devils. Moyes started the downward spiral of Manchester United, something they're still continuing to this day. The United board had seen enough and got rid of him in his first season in charge. This spell inlcuded losing to Sunderland in the League Cup semi finals.

From there he went abroad to coach in Spain for Real Sociedad in November 2014 for the remainder of the 2014/15 season. They were mentioned as his Spanish version of Everton after beating Barcelona but it didn't pan out that way. He was sacked after a poor start to the next season.

After securing safety with us in 2015/16, Sam Allardyce had an opportunity he couldn’t refuse and left us to go manage England which of course didn’t go too well. I suppose the grass isn’t always greener…

A role in the Premier League had opened up and Moyes returned to England with us, unfortunately. We were in for a long season as we tried to replicate the former campaign under Big Sam, sadly Moyes wasn't up to the task and couldn't keep us up. It felt like week in week out if you looked in that dugout all you would see is a man without a plan. This was confirmed two games into the season, when the Scottish gaffer optimistically declared that fans would need to prepare themselves for a relegation battle: "That's where they've been every other year for the last four years, so why would it suddenly change?"

He also broke our transfer record after spending £13.6 million on Didier Ndong rather than sealing the deal for fan favourite Yann M’Villa. Masterful work David.

Moyes decided that after breaking the bank for Ndong and Papy Djilibodji, he would stick to a strict transfer policy. This meant he would refuse to sign anyone who he hadn’t managed at Everton around a decade earlier. He signed some big names, including Victor Anichebe, 34-year-old Joleon Lescott and 34-year-old Steven Pienaar. If that wasn’t enough, he completed the inexplicable double signing of Bryan Ovideo and the ultimate professional Darron Gibson.

As well as getting the band back together from Merseyside, Moyes used his Man United connections to bring in talented starlet Adnan Januzaj on loan from the Red Devils. It didn’t exactly go to plan, with the young Belgian becoming a symbol of everything wrong with the Moyes regime. Arriving permanently from Old Trafford was Paddy McNair (who was a decent player sadly blighted by injury) and Donald Love (who still looked out of place when Sunderland dropped down to League One).

One of the few shining lights in the doomed season was the introduction of Jordan Pickford. Now England’s number one, the local keeper was thrown into the deep end by Moyes after a serious arm injury to Vito Mannone just a couple of games into the season.

We got relegated, Moyes threatened to slap a journalist and just like he was at Manchester United, he was the catalyst of our demise. He claimed he wanted to carry on his job with us but as soon as the season was over he packed his bags and ran. To give him a sliver of credit, he refused any compensation after leaving the role with the club on its knees, both on and off the pitch.

After this, he moved to West Ham United for six months starting in November 2017, guiding them to Premier League survival. In December 2019, he returned to West Ham on a longer deal of 18 months but he would end up staying until the spring of 2024. Avoiding relegation in 16th place in the 19/20 campaign, West Ham massively improved in the following season by finishing 6th and qualifying for the Europa League. In 2021/22, they finished in 7th to qualify for the Conference League and reached the semi final stage of the UEL. 2023 brought his crowning achievement as a manager. They struggled in the league, dropping down to 14th but they reached the final of the UECL. The Irons played Fiorentina and won in dramatic fashion via a last minute Jarrod Bowen winner. This brought to an end a 33-year trophy drought for the club.

Back in the Europa League the following season, they made it to the quarters and improved to finish 9th in the top flight but he left before the start of the 2024/25 camapaign upon the expiry of his contract.

Moyes returned to Everton in January 2025, with the club one point above the drop zone and he has managed them to safety succesfully. He won the Premier League Manager of the Month award for February 2025, the 11th time he has won the award. In 2025 he was also given an OBE in the New Year Honours. We seem to have appointed him at a bad time both for the club and his career, but he certainly didn't do himself any favours whilst here.