David Moyes sends Sean Dyche message as he makes Everton return revelation

David Moyes has backed current Everton manager Sean Dyche after the 3-0 opening day home loss to Brighton & Hove Albion. And the former Blues boss has also revealed he almost returned to Goodison Park on three occasions.

The 61-year-old was Everton’s manager between 2002-13, steering them to fourth place in 2004/05 – their highest Premier League finish to date – among nine top-half placings at a club who’d achieved just one over the previous decade.

And speaking exclusively on Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Moyes said: “First of all, Dyche has done an unbelievable job for Everton – and we can all get off to a bad start.

“Sometimes it’s better to get off to a bad start if you finish well. Brighton are a good team, and Everton actually did really well against Brighton last season.”

Moyes has previously spoken in detail about how close he was to returning to the Blues in 2019 before Carlo Ancelotti was sacked by Napoli and Farhad Moshiri chose to replace Marco Silva with the legendary Italian instead, prompting the Scot to go back to West Ham United.

But he has now revealed that wasn’t the only occasion that a sensational Goodison return was on the cards.

Moyes, who like ex-England manager Gareth Southgate, is now in a new role as a technical observer for UEFA, reporting back findings from matches to European football’s governing body, said: “Three times. I’d met Farhad Moshiri three times, and it looked like I was going to get the job, but it didn’t quite pay off. For different reasons, it didn’t quite happen.”

Moyes was joined by another former Everton manager who did get the nod from Moshiri, Sam Allardyce. Despite steering the Blues to an eighth-place finish in 2018, having taken charge for the first time against Huddersfield Town on December 2, he was sacked at the end of the season.

As one of eight managers in as many years under Moshiri, Allardyce has called for Blues bosses to be given more time but he admits he’s concerned by the right-back situation at the club.

He said: “For me, I think Ashley Young playing right-back, at 39, is a problem. This is one hell of a professional, and a great credit to him that he’s still in the Premier League in condition, but you get caught out defensively, and your legs are just not the same.

“That’s where he got caught out against Brighton and he got sent off, because every manager is going to look at that and say, ‘get at him’. I don’t know whether because of the injury situation he had to play, but for me, there must be a better-suited right-back at Everton.

“(Nathan) Patterson seems to be injured far too much for me as a youngster. He looks like a real prospect, but after he seems to get in the team, then you watch Everton three weeks later and say: ‘where is he?’

“The fact is that the club needs to be sold. I know Farhad really well, and obviously, I’ve got great respect for him, and what a difficult journey he’s had, and the amount of money he’s going to lose out of Everton – that is particularly gut-wrenching.

“He’s built the new stadium, so he’s done everything right as he possibly can, but obviously choices made in between me, and all the other managers have not come to fruition.

“Now with the financial side of it, it’s a real struggle for Everton. That means Sean’s got to work with what he’s got and do what he’s always been good at, like how he got Burnley into Europe.

“If you give the manager long enough, more often than not they pay you back. The trouble is, nobody gets long enough anymore.”