David Moyes

Club career

Moyes started his career at Icelandic club ÍBV, playing half a season with the youth team in 1978. Moyes enjoyed a career that encompassed playing at a number of clubs, usually as a centre-back, beginning at Celtic, where he won a championship medal and made 24 league appearances, and ending with Preston North End. As a player with Cambridge United, Moyes received abuse from teammate Roy McDonough for his religious beliefs; Moyes is a practising Christian. McDonough felt that religion was distracting them from focusing on playing; speaking of Moyes, Alan Comfort and Graham Daniels, he said: "The three of them sat in the changing room with a little black book, discussing their faith, when they should have been getting psyched up for a relegation scrap." Following a 3–3 draw with Wigan Athletic on 9 March 1985, McDonough, who was 26 years old at the time, states that he "battered" Moyes for not putting sufficient effort into the game. While playing for Shrewsbury Town in 1987, Moyes began coaching at the nearby private school, Concord College, on the recommendation of Jake King as a way to supplement his wages. Moyes later made over one hundred appearances for Dunfermline Athletic between 1990 and 1993, including a starting appearance in the 1991 Scottish League Cup final. Moyes made over 530 league appearances in his career before becoming a coach at Preston, working his way up to assistant manager before eventually taking over as manager in 1998.

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Preston North End

Moyes took over as Preston North End manager in January 1998, replacing Gary Peters as the club struggled in Division Two and were in danger of relegation. He had spent much of his playing career preparing for management, taking coaching badges at just 22 years of age and compiling notes on managers he had played under, their techniques and tactics. Preston avoided relegation at the end of the 1997–98 season and reached the Division Two play-offs the following season, where they were beaten by Gillingham at the semi-final stage. The following season, Moyes guided Preston to the Division Two title and a promotion to Division One. An even greater achievement perhaps was to steer Preston into the Division One play-offs the season after that, with largely the same squad. Preston lost 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers in the 2001 Football League First Division play-off final, missing out on promotion to the Premier League. One month later, Moyes signed a new five-year contract with the club. In 2001, whilst studying for his UEFA Pro License, Moyes shadowed Roy Hodgson at Udinese during Hodgson's six month spell at the club. Towards the end of the following season, he left for Everton, to take over from fellow Scotsman Walter Smith in March 2002. Moyes took charge of Preston for 234 matches, of which his team won 113, drew 58 and lost 63.

Everton

2002–2004

Moyes joined Everton on 14 March 2002 and at his unveiling press conference, declared…

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Moyes provided some commentary for selected matches for BBC Radio 5 Live. In May 2024, Talksport announced Moyes as one of their broadcast team covering Euro 2024 in June and July 2024. He was also part of the BBC team at Euro 2024.

Moyes was born and raised in the Thornwood area of Glasgow, before his family moved to the nearby town of Bearsden. Moyes' father, David Sr, was a scout at Everton and previously a coach at Drumchapel Amateurs, where Moyes began his career. His full-time occupation was as a pattern-maker and later a lecturer at Anniesland College in North Glasgow. Moyes' mother, Joan, hailed from Portrush in Northern Ireland and worked in clothes stores in Glasgow. His cousin, Dessie Brown, is secretary of Coleraine Football Club. Moyes' nephew is former Livingston player Ewan Moyes. Moyes is a devout Christian who would often discuss religion with Alan Comfort and Graham Daniels, although he is often reluctant to talk about his faith in interviews. Moyes is a supporter of the Labour Party and in 2010 backed Andy Burnham to be leader in the Labour Party leadership election. During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum he was a supporter of the Better Together campaign against Scottish independence. In 2005, Moyes received an honorary fellowship from Myerscough College near Preston. In December 2017, Moyes received another honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire. Moyes co-owns the racehorse Desert Cry, which was trained by Ginger McCain. In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Moyes accepted a 30% cut to his salary as West Ham looked to retain jobs allowing them to pay 100% of non-playing staff salaries. He left London during the pandemic and worked in his home…