Moyes in talks with Everton over return to club

David Moyes is in talks with Everton over a potential return to Goodison Park after the sacking of manager Sean Dyche.

While a deal is not yet done, and Moyes is not the only candidate, BBC Sport has been told by a well-placed source that the Scot is the frontrunner.

Talks are said to be progressing, but the Toffees could be running out of time to get something done and announced by Friday evening.

It is still unclear how long Moyes' contract would be for.

Ex-Burnley boss Dyche was dismissed on Thursday with the club 16th in the Premier League, just one point clear of the relegation zone.

They have won just three of 19 games in the league this season.

Moyes managed Everton from 2002 to 2013 before leaving to take charge of Manchester United, but was sacked after 10 months.

He had two spells at West Ham and guided them to the Europa Conference League title in 2023, but has been out of work since leaving them last season.

Moyes recently said he was not ready to retire from football management but did not want to be in a job "fighting relegation".

After being appointed an OBE in the New Year Honours list for services to football, he said: "Football is in my blood. It has been since I was a boy.

"I love watching football and I have enjoyed my career. If there is another part to it, so be it. But I would only want it to be a good part.

"I wouldn't want to be coming in and doing something which is very difficult."

BBC Sport's Chief Football Writer Phil McNulty:

When David Moyes left Everton to make an ill-fated move to Manchester United in 2013, he left behind a club that was the model of stability.

Moyes had spent 11 years at Goodison Park, taking Everton from Premier League strugglers to European regulars, even reaching the Champions League qualifying stage in 2005.

The Scot effectively had full control of football affairs, supported by a chairman Bill Kenwright who was grateful to have Moyes achieving what he did as manager with limited funds.

To say Moyes is returning to a different Everton, should he secure a deal to succeed sacked Sean Dyche, is a masterpiece of under-statement.

Since Moyes left for Old Trafford, Everton have had eight permanent managers with seven sackings. The stability and continuity he knew is a thing of the past, football's managerial landscape changing in that period.

Everton are still struggling near the foot of the table, as they were when he took over from Walter Smith in 2002, but he will be working with new American owners in The Friedkin Group who have already shown themselves to be ruthless by dismissing Dyche after only three weeks in control.

There is unlikely to be any of the patience shown by Kenwright during the occasional tough times in Moyes' first spell, while he will be working under a director of football in Kevin Thelwell, not a situation he encountered when he ruled Everton before, taking decisions on buying and selling himself, the decision maker on all football strategy.

Everton's league position may not have changed, but the Everton Moyes knew before has. How he adapts to those changing circumstances will shape his and the club's immediate future.

Dyche's sacking was announced a couple of hours before Everton's FA Cup tie with Peterborough on Thursday.

The Toffees went on to win that game 2-0, and defender Michael Keane said: "We heard whispers and rumours but didn't find out until the pre-match meal, so three hours before the game and quite late.

"But we're all professionals. We know how to prepare for games and even when it's been a tough day, you get on the pitch, work hard and know what you've got to do."

Keane, who played under Dyche at both Everton and Burnley, said the players had to take some of the responsibility for his departure.

"Any time you lose a manager it's really disappointing and sad," he added.

"As players, we need to take responsibility for that. I don't think we as players have been good enough as a collective and shown the quality we've got so it's not been a great day.

"He has been brilliant for me. He's been a brilliant manager, is a brilliant manager. It's just one of those things. It's football and it doesn't always work out."

Mike Richards, from The Unholy Trinity Everton Podcast, believes the return of Moyes would provide the club with stability as they look to move away from a relegation battle.

"Moyes has his detractors amongst the supporters," said Richards. "How he left the club, underhand bids for both Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini, and referring to Evertonians as 'a disgrace', still don't sit well with some.

"I always believe time is a great healer. The most important thing is the football club and it's best interests.

"Moyes is the proverbial safe pair of hands who can certainly provide stability and begin what is a major rebuild we so desperately need."

He added: "A time will come when we appoint a young, up and coming manager, who can reinvent the club identity. Now isn't that time.

"A strong head, safe hands and this familiar face makes perfect sense.

"Maybe it is written in the stars."

Source: BBC Sport