Former Everton boss David Moyes has refused to rule out returning to Goodison Park – admitting he would say “yes” to the club if he was offered the job again.
The Scot, who spent 11 years at the Toffees before departing for his ill-fated spell to Manchester United in 2013, is currently without a club having been relegated with Sunderland last season.
And following Ronald Koeman’s departure from the Merseysiders’ hot seat last month, the 54-year-old has been linked with a return to Everton as the club’s board weigh-up several options and current interim boss David Unsworth for the post full-time.
Moyes, who is a studio pundit analysing the Premier League for beinSPORTs this weekend in Doha, was asked by presenter Richard Keys whether he would like to become Everton manager again and he hinted at a return.
“Well, the answer would be, of course it would have to be yes (to taking the job on again),” he said on Saturday.
“But I’ve got other things ongoing and it might not be too long before I’m back in work. If the job came up (at Everton) then there would have to be an interest, but I have other interests as well.
“Bill Kenwright I think is one of the best chairmen so whoever does get the job will be working with a really good chairman who is incredibly supportive.”
Moyes believes that an Everton manager has to have a connection with the club and understand both its history and Evertonian fanbase to truly succeed, hinting that Koeman failed to do just that.
Sitting alongside former Everton great and beinSPORTs pundit Andy Gray, Moyes, who famously labelled the blues the Peoples Club, said: “Andy played there and played in the best team, under the best manager there’s ever been at Everton, in Howard Kendall.
“Everton for me was an industrial football club, it was a tough area it came from, the people demanded a type and yes they wanted good football, of course they did. But they wanted honesty, commitment and I think we gave them that.”
Moyes rates Jordan Pickford as a future England shot-stopper.
Having worked on a shoestring budget in comparison with the Premier League’s top clubs during his extensive tenure at the Blues, Moyes said he had to gradually build his team and improve year-on-year rather than splash big cash like Everton splurged in the summer.
Indeed, the likes of Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines were all signed for small fees in comparison to the business the club did before the season began.
But, he said not all of the signings the Blues made for this season have been bad.
“We didn’t have 40m at the time to go out and buy a player, we had to bring our own young players through. And through my time there, because I was given time, you are allowed to develop the team by getting a certain type of players in and change things a bit.
“Jordan Pickford, who I had at Sunderland last year, is a future England international, Michael Keane is a future England centre-half, I think Everton have signed good players – I really do. I think they’ve signed two or three that you’d say you don’t know which one is better than the other one but I think a lot of the players the club have signed are good players.”
Pressed over whether he himself would have re-signed Wayne Rooney – the man who he gave his debut to back in August 2002, Moyes was in no doubt: “Yes, I would.”
He continued: “Wayne is as good a goalscorer as there is in the Premier League if he plays No.9 often enough but maybe you do need to get a different type of legs around him and in other positions to help him.”
Moyes twice managed Rooney during his Toffees breakthrough and at the Red Devils.
