David Moyes

Biography:

David Moyes left Preston North End to become the successor to Walter Smith at Everton on March 15 2002.

Moyes had worked wonders during his four years at Deepdale and had nearly taken the famous Lancashire club all the way to the top flight having led them up from Division Two to the First Division play-offs in two seasons.

Born in Scotland where he started his playing career with Celtic, David moved on to Cambridge United and played for Bristol City, Shrewsbury and Dunfermline, making over 550 league appearances.

David finished his playing days at Preston North End where he has been in charge since 1998 when he took over from Gary Peters.

In his first full season at Deepdale he so nearly took Preston into the Nationwide First Division, but North End were knocked out of the play-offs by Gillingham who went on to be beaten by Manchester City at Wembley in the final.

He worked his way up from player/coach to assistant boss to manager at Deepdale. There were rumours he was on the verge of a lucrative move to Old Trafford as assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson, before Steve McClaren took over from Brian Kidd, but Moyes remained in Lancashire with the aim of taking the club into Division One.

In May 2000, Preston were promoted as Champions of Division Two and made an impressive start to life in the First Division, establishing themselves as outside contenders for an immediate promotion to the Premiership.

The season's outcome was perhaps beyond Moyes' expectations. The Lily Whites ended up in the Nationwide League First Division play-offs. They overcame Birmingham City in the semi-finals but Bolton Wanderers came out of the final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with a 3-0 win that took them into the FA Barclaycard Premiership.

The season was over but the Preston boss was on the list of possible candidates for several managerial jobs that became vacant close to the end of the season. The hot-seats at Manchester City, Southampton and West Hame United were both mentioned in association with Moyes.

He signed a new five-year deal with Preston and looked as though he may lead them to the play-offs once again but was allowed to talk to Everton following the dismissal of Walter Smith from Goodison and joined the Toffees.

A young and ambitious manager, who had also been touted as a possible number two to fellow Glaswegian Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, Moyes' first task at Goodison was to attempt to keep the Merseyside club in the Premiership. He certainly got off to a good start, having been received with a hero's welcome by the Everton fans, as a David Unsworth goal in the first 30 seconds and a Duncan Ferguson strike earned his new club a 2-1 win over Fulham and some breathing space in the relegation battle.

Previous Clubs

Preston