The former Blues boss appeared to distance himself from any immediate desire to manage Everton again as he said he would prefer to avoid a survival fight
David Moyes is open to a return to management but appeared to rule himself out of wanting an imminent return to Everton. Out of work since the end of his second stint in charge of West Ham United in May – a tenure that yielded success in the Europa Conference League – the 61-year-old suggested he would be keen to add to the more than 1,000 games he has overseen during a management career that started back in 1998.
After being awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to football, the former Blues told the BBC he would prefer not to walk back into a job at the wrong end of the table.
Moyes said: “We are all getting a little bit older and I have to make sure I am doing the right thing for myself.
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“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.
“I don’t want to be at the bottom of the league and fighting relegation, which I have had a few times, so we will see how things go.”
Moyes is Everton’s most successful and longest serving manager of the Premier League era, steering the Blues to nine top-half finishes between 2002 and 2013.
Current manager Sean Dyche has been given the initial backing of new owners The Friedkin Group and has overseen a December in which his side improved in form as it hammered Wolverhampton Wanderers and earned impressive draws against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
But with the club under new ownership and Dyche’s contract due to end in the summer, his future is a source of constant speculation and Moyes is often placed among the bookies’ favourites should there be a change in the dugout.
Everton are on the cusp of a brighter future with the new-found stability at the top and the move to the new stadium planned for the summer but still face short term challenges, however, ones that Moyes’ comments suggest he would prefer to avoid.
The Blues currently sit two points clear of the bottom three after a disappointing defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
In terms of where he might see himself in the future, Moyes refused to hint at where he might like to go, adding: “The one thing I won’t do is put any manager under pressure personally, because I don’t believe in it. I have not liked it when I have been in that position myself.”
