David Moyes gave Everton's travelling supporters a pre-match round of applause at Stoke City's bet365 Stadium on July 28, a gesture that underlined the bond he has rebuilt with the club's fans. It was not quite at the level of his first visit to Stoke with Everton, but the passion was unmistakable.
Back on September 14, 2008, when Stoke were beginning what became a decade-long Premier League stay, their first meeting with Everton was a thriller. Marouane Fellaini and Segundo Castillo made debuts, Ayegbeni Yakubu and Victor Anichebe put the Blues 2-0 up, but Seyi Olofinjana and a Phil Jagielka own goal levelled it before Tim Cahill struck the winner with 13 minutes left.
When the score was 2-2, Stoke's Leon Court handled the ball and referee Alan Wiley initially pointed to the penalty spot before changing his mind and awarding a free-kick. Moyes was sent to the stands, where he received a warm reception from the home fans, with respectful handshakes offered after full-time.
A celebration born of fury
The Glasgow-born manager's time in the home end was tame compared with what followed. "Moyes leapt to his feet at the final whistle, sprinted half the length of the pitch, tore off his sweater and, after pointing to the club crest, tossed it towards the euphoric travelling supporters," a Guardian report at the time stated.
Now 63, Moyes may not be capable of such displays, but the fire remains. After being given a touchline ban for encroaching onto the pitch following Beto's last-gasp equaliser at Brighton on January 31, he was asked if he would do it again and replied: "I bloody will do it again. Actually, I think if I'd been a bit more mobile, I might have done a knee slide. See, that would have only got me a yellow as well, so I might as well have gone the whole hog!"
A bold pledge made in Chicago
A year ago, during Everton's trip to the United States for the Premier League Summer Series, this correspondent sat down with Moyes at the team's hotel in Chicago. He had arrived at Goodison Park in 2002 as the league's youngest manager at 38; by then he was its elder statesman.
Asked whether he felt he was a better manager now than when he left Everton in 2013, he said: "I do. I don't feel old. These six months coming back and managing Everton has given me a huge boost because the players have been so good and the crowd have been so good, they've really accepted me coming back.
"I also think I've come back a bit more experienced with what I've seen and what I've done. I wouldn't want to use the word dream, but I've got an ambition to see if I can get Everton back towards European football."
He added: "There are nine teams from the Premier League in Europe next season and somehow, we have to give ourselves some goals. I could be shooting way above the level, but I feel like I have to shoot high because I'll not be around doing this for another 10 years and I don't expect to be. I just want to be able to leave Everton in a good place, whenever that time comes."
European pedigree
Moyes' appetite for continental competition was sharpened by guiding West Ham United to victory in the 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League, the east London club's first major trophy in 43 years.
"It was so good. I'm not saying this in any boastful way because I've been knocked out of competitions as well and we had that season at Everton when we started so well in Europe and lost to Fiorentina on penalties," he said.
"I took Manchester United to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and I've taken West Ham to a quarters, a semis, and a final in three European competitions. So, I feel I can get in amongst it and I've got a little bit of history that hopefully might help us. Obviously, at the moment, we're off it and there's no point in talking about it at the moment when we're only just away from four or five years of battling at the bottom end of the table."
The situation Moyes inherited
When Moyes returned to Merseyside, little over 18 months ago, Everton were one point off the relegation zone at the halfway stage of the season with 17 points. That was less than half their haul in 2022/23, which had ended with the club avoiding a first relegation in 72 years by a single Abdoulaye Doucoure goal on the final day.
Since his return, a side that had won just one Premier League away game in the previous year has triumphed a dozen times on the road. Home form remains a work in progress, but that issue long predates the current manager, who mastered the power of Goodison Park and may now do the same at Hill Dickinson Stadium, designed by Dan Meis to be a weapon for the Blues.
A record that demands patience
Travelling with the team, ECHO colleagues and supporters see plenty of Everton's most dedicated fans, and many are appreciative of a manager who steered the club to nine top-eight finishes in his first spell, including a highest-ever Premier League position of fourth in 2004/05. That campaign came after a 17th-place finish on 39 points the previous season.
Moyes has managed more Premier League games than anyone other than Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. He has had difficult runs, but when given loyalty and patience, he gets much more right than wrong.
He has proven himself the only man able to manage Everton effectively over a prolonged period in the modern era. Under previous owner Farhad Moshiri, the club went through eight managers in eight years; Moyes is the last to last three full seasons and the only one to stay more than four full seasons since Howard Kendall's glory days.
Nobody is happy with how last season finished, but Everton were three points off a Champions League qualification place 31 matches in, following a 3-0 win over Chelsea on March 21. Claims that it was a disaster and that the manager is incompetent are not just hysterical but plain wrong.
Why Moyes could be the key in a difficult window
Noises coming out of the club suggest external factors could make this a difficult transfer window to negotiate. With so many rivals beginning the season under a new manager or head coach, Moyes' understanding of Everton could prove a significant boon.
Managing Everton is one of the toughest jobs in football, given the club's illustrious past, the struggle to compete with neighbours Liverpool and decades of disappointment. For all the criticism aimed at the proud Scot in recent times, the search for someone who can do the job better is akin to hunting a unicorn - which happens to be Scotland's national animal. Eventually someone else will take the home dugout at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but they will have big shoes to fill.
