I fell out with Sir Alex Ferguson after furious Liverpool reaction - then I wanted to leave Everton

David Moyes has revealed he was shocked to be offered the Manchester United manager’s job by Sir Alex Ferguson after he fell out with Britain’s most-successful football boss who accused Everton of trying harder against his own side than when they’d faced Liverpool the week before.

After being in charge at Goodison Park between 2002-13, Moyes was hand-picked by Ferguson to be his successor at Old Trafford but the long-serving Blues boss was shocked to be chosen by his fellow Scot after the pair’s foul-mouthed disagreement a year earlier. In 2012, Everton – who were on the brink of finishing above their rivals from across Stanley Park for the first of two consecutive seasons – threw away a half-time lead in their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool to lose 2-1 to Kenny Dalglish’s side but then eight days later they battled back from being 4-2 down against Manchester United with just seven minutes to go to draw 4-4 and hand Manchester City the initiative in the title race ahead of the team Ferguson had dubbed “The Noisy Neighbours” winning the Premier League for the first time.

Moyes, who second stint at West Ham United finished at the end of last season, told The Rest Is Football podcast: “If I told you I’d been contacted at that time by – I don’t know – 10 teams. I’d been 11 years at Everton and there was part of me saying: ‘I don’t want to overstay my welcome’ and every year we just couldn’t break in because we didn’t have enough money to really go again.

“I didn’t want to stay the next year and one of the years where we’d end up at the bottom so a lot of clubs had phoned me. The Man United one, I’d fallen out with Alex a little bit because we’d drawn four each with them the year before which let Man City win the league.

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“Sir Alex had said to me that we’d tried harder in that game than we did against Liverpool in the semi-final of the FA Cup at Wembley. I said to him: ‘Do you know what I’d have done to beat Liverpool as Everton manager at Wembley in the semi-final of the FA Cup? I’d have given anything!’

“At that time we were actually a better team than Liverpool but we lost 2-1. The next week we drew four each and it was the usual as you go into Alex’s room and it’s great wine but he never looked at me, he kept looking at the racing on the telly and he said: ‘You should have f****** tried as hard as that last week.’

“I used to go to Alex for quite a lot of advice, him and Walter Smith. Over my career, I’d been offered loads of jobs and I’d go to Alex and say: ‘What do you think?’

“Years ago I got offered the Sheffield Wednesday job and different jobs and he’d say: ‘Nah, you can’t do that son because of him, him and him.’ But the time I was offered the Manchester United job was near the end of the season.”

Moyes, who had been named LMA Manager of the Year three times while at Everton, was running his contract down so the Blues were not in a position to receive any compensation for him despite him going into the biggest football job in the country at the time and the now 61-year-old recalls how he had to keep his upcoming appointment from some of those closest to him, including several loved ones and the late Everton chairman Bill Kenwright.

He said: “I remember it really well because I’d just turned 50 and my wife had just bought me a watch and I was going through to Manchester because the strap needed to be altered. It was a day off and I had jeans on and a t-shirt.

“We were actually in Manchester, we were in Altrincham. The phone rang and it was: ‘Hello son, where are you?’

“I went (to his wife): ‘F****** hell, it’s Alex.’ He says: ‘Can you drop up to the house?’ I said: ‘Aye, ok, ok.’

“I said to the wife: ‘I cannae go to Alex’s house with jeans on. I’ll need to go up to Marks and Spencer and get some trousers.

“I dropped her off at the shopping centre and I said: ‘Oh he’ll be wanted me to taking someone off him on loan.’ Over the years we’d taken (at Preston North End) David Healy and Michael Appleton from Man United as young boys and the meetings I’d had with Alex, I’d met him privately when he was taking Wayne (Rooney) to Man United so we’d had lots and lots of things at different times and I had huge respect for him because he’s a Scottish manager.

“So I got to the house, he took me in and made me a cup of tea, took me up to his lounge up the stairs and we sat down on a leather sofa and he says: ‘I’m retiring and you’re the next manager of Man United.’ I could feel myself sliding down the leather seat.”

Moyes, who steered Everton to fourth place in 2005 – their highest Premier League position to date – added: “There was no formal interview, character references or anything like that, it was Sir Alex’s trust. But the bigger thing was he told me: ‘You can’t tell your family, just tell your wife.’

“I had such a good relationship with Bill Kenwright and he knew that there were always things going on and I wasn’t sure what I was doing at Everton. It was near the end of the season as we were playing Liverpool the next Saturday and as long as we didn’t lose to them, we would finish above them in the Premier League.

“I had to go back and pick the wife up and get her in the car. I said: ‘I’m the new manager of Man United.’

“We couldn’t go back and tell the kids and my Dad, I couldn’t tell my Dad, it was terrible. I was more in shock that Alex was retiring.”