David Moyes is a contender for the vacant managerial position at Everton, Sky Sports News understands, after Sean Dyche was sacked on Thursday.
Dyche paid the price for Everton’s run of just one win from their last 11 games, leaving them a point above the Premier League relegation zone in 16th place.
His sacking was confirmed just over three hours before Everton’s FA Cup third-round tie against Peterborough, with Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman placed in interim charge.
Moyes, who left West Ham at the end of last season, was manager of Everton between 2002 and 2013.
It is understood Everton’s owner, the Friedken Group – who only completed their takeover of the club last month – hope to announce a new manager before next Wednesday’s Premier League match against Aston Villa.
Speaking to Sky Sports News in December, Moyes said: “I don’t want to be taking jobs where I have to scrap all the time and be round the bottom of the league.
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Speaking in December, David Moyes told Sky Sports News that he wouldn’t consider a job at a club towards the bottom of the Premier League.
“Most of the time I was at Everton, we were competing for European positions. The last four years at West Ham, three of them have been in Europe.
“I like to think I can do a job at a level rather than just avoiding relegation. I will wait on the right opportunity and if it doesn’t come, I’ll be happy where I am at the moment.”
Moyes famously coined the ‘People’s Club’ phrase to describe the Blues during his first press conference as Everton manager after replacing Walter Smith in 2002.
During his 11 years in charge, the 61-year-old Scot guided them to the qualifying rounds of the Champions League in 2005 and the FA Cup final in 2009.
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In his first press conference as Everton manager in 2002, David Moyes called The Toffees ‘the people’s football club’.
Moyes was also named the League Managers Association (LMA) manager of the year on three occasions during his time at Everton before he left in 2013 to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
During his second stint as West Ham manager – following six months in charge in the 2017/18 season – he masterminded Conference League success in 2022/23, defeating Fiorentina in the final to win the club’s first-ever piece of European silverware and their first major trophy for 43 years.
Everton’s numbers reflect a downward spiral
Dyche took charge at Everton in January 2023, having had a near 10-year stint as Burnley boss between October 2012 and April 2022.
The Toffees survived relegation at the end of the 2022-23 season by just two points, securing a final-day victory over the Bournemouth.
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Jamie Carragher breaks down Everton’s recent struggles in the Premier League under Dyche
The 53-year-old then kept Everton in the top flight last season, despite the team having eight points deducted from their total because of two separate breaches of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Members of Dyche’s backroom team Ian Woan, Steve Stone, Mark Howard and Billy Mercer have also left the club.
The Toffees sit 16th in the Premier League and did not register a shot on target during Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Bournemouth – their eighth league defeat of the season, and they have failed to score in eight of their last 10 games.
‘Club left in limbo after slow response to weekend result’
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Sky Sports reporter Vinny O’Connor says Everton’s failure to act quickly after the Bournemouth defeat hindered their chances of appointing Graham Potter.
Sky Sports News’ Vinny O’Connor at Goodison Park:
“We knew Everton’s new owners were assessing the situation after the defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend. We knew they had talked to other potential replacements, notably Graham Potter.
“Dyche had until the summer left on his deal, and the ideal scenario was for a safe pair of hands to get them through the season, maintain their Premier League status and then reassess in the summer.
“But the recent results, one win in 11 league games, failing to score in eight of them, means they have decided the only way to change things is with a new manager.
“The club is in limbo anyway because after the weekend result against Bournemouth, the owners weren’t swift to back Sean Dyche or make a decision regarding his future.
“It enabled West Ham to steal a march on them and get a deal together which was enticing enough for Graham Potter to sign for them.
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Sky Sports Alan Irwin discusses who could replace Sean Dyche as Everton manager, should the struggling boss be sacked.
“Now Everton’s managerial search starts again. We know there was unrest among Evertonians – the style of play, the lack of goals, the output of their forward line with (Dominic) Calvert-Lewin only on two goals and 15 without scoring.
“We’ve had the odd situation here where the opposition manager has lost their job, remember David Moyes coming back with Man Utd and losing his job soon after?
“Brendan Rodgers lost his job as Liverpool manager not long after a Merseyside derby – but I can’t remember a manager losing their job so close to kick-off.
“It has dragged out a bit since the weekend, and that defeat to Bournemouth. Everton fans would’ve liked to have seen action taken sooner, and some kind of decisiveness.”
‘Everton couldn’t leave prospect of relegation to chance’
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Sean Dyche’s final words as Everton boss during FA Cup presser where he opened up about his future in Merseyside.
Sky Sports News’ Alan Myers:
“The prospect of relegation in their first six months and beginning life in their brand-new stadium in the Championship next season was too much to leave to chance.
“Of course, that remains a concern and their choice of replacement for Dyche has to be a balance between the need to look to the future but also the necessity to secure the short-term safety of their Premier League status.
“The Friedkins have a huge job ahead of them, both on and off the pitch, the club has been in a state of paralysis for the last few years due to the prolonged takeover drama but it is also a club that has been trophyless for nearly 30 years, the longest period without silverware in its long and illustrious history.
Dyche has failed to improve Everton this season
“The decision to change manager is just the first of many big decisions that will need to be made in the coming months as TFG look to bring the glory days back to this once main contender of the English game
“The fans want and expect better. Managing Everton comes with an expectation as big as any club in the Premier League but for a few, ask any former player or manager about the pressure of playing at a club which, before the inception of the Premier League, was known as one of the ‘Big Four’.
“Of course, it’s been a long time since Everton were a part of the elite and they’ve never looked like adding to their nine league titles during that time but that expectation, misguided or not, has never gone away.
“There is a generation of supporters that have not seen success in any form, left only with a sense of anemoia and the generations before them have been left bewildered by the failure to keep up with, not only seasoned big clubs but the newcomers which have overtaken Everton as Premier League achievers.
“Whoever takes over from Dyche has a wonderful opportunity, with a fantastic new stadium, financial stability with the new owners and the prospect of a fresh start to rebuild an English football institution, but only after a fight to save it from a more pressing challenge.”
