I think it's nudging paranoia to think that it's been on the cards for 10 years. I don't think people are that patient. But it didn't all just get decided yesterday that's for sure.

I haven't had such a bad taste in my mouth since I went to a Bulgarian wine tasting event with Mary Jane Rottencrotch.

He was never a true Evertonian, Mike. We were always a stepping stone, I'm afraid.

Rooney is a different story btw.

Oh come on, Mike...

Were you achingly disappointed that Moyes didn't turn out to be a true Preston North End supporter when he walked in 2002?

He's landed the biggest job in world football; Open secret or not, the man dedicated himself to our club for eleven long years. To question his commitment during that time is churlish and totally without foundation.

Unfortunately he never claimed to be an Evertonian did he. Just like some of our heroes like Arteta when the big boys call they want to move and despite being here so long Moyes was probably the same. I agree with you though that anything he does there might always feel a bit hollow compared ot what he could have done here had he stayed. But then the RS bleat on about Paisley and Fagan and all they did was follow on from Shankley - Dalglish was the biggest beneficiary of the lot and he's a legend to them (they're all 'legends' on that side aren't they to them) so perhaps Moyes will be seen as a big figure after Ferguson - I suppose it depends on if he wins or not. If he gets a Champions Lague he'll be immortalised regardless of the conditions in which it came about.

Funny isn't it how Wayne Rooney left us at the drop of a hat for Man Utd and he has been treated like a leper by our fanbase ever since. David Moyes does exactly the same but goes there in far sneaker circumstances and he is getting the full back-slapping "Good Luck, Davey" treatment.

No-one can blame either of them for taking the Man Utd money but why the hostility to one and not the other? I am glad Moyes has gone. I want him to fall flat on his face at Old Trafford so as to shut up all these fans who think he is a God.

Moyes needs a top-2 finish in the Premier League and last 8 in CL or he will've failed. In fact, Moyes should win the League next season considering whats gone on this season and the team he inherits.

I believe Moyes has been as successful as the media claim because he has worked without the pressure of having to achieve or please. When crunch time comes in big games — and that's BIG games at OT — we all know Moyes will crumble.

It's way too big for the Moyes Mentality at Manchester United. Moyes is like an average heavyweight boxer going to Las Vegas to fight Mike Tyson in his prime. Out of his depth.

Moyes is a Man Utd employee now and shouldn't be anywhere near our team on Sunday. It's not right. We have seen all he has to offer and it's not much.

Take yourself off up the East Lancs Road, Davey Boy, and try and persuade Rooney to stay... Ha Ha Ha — No chance of that happening!!

It might not have been on the cards that long but its defo been going on since he been pissing about over his contract. The Moyes lovers will decide to ignore his lies the past 6 months and instead bang on about how much of a decent, honest man he is.

He "dedicated" himself to the job in the same way you do yours, Kevin.

I'm not disappointed in Moyes, it's just what I'd expect. However, I'm disappointed, yet again by Kenwright - why does he want the new MUFC manger in charge of our team? Surely we could appoint a caretaker for 2 matches.

Tony Marsh #846 - personally I don't think the team he's inheriting is all that.

I think it's pretty remarkable how they waltzed the league and think Fergie got every ounce out of them in order to do it so he could go out at he top.

Day 1 - Moyes will set them up 4-5-1 on the training ground, Phil Jones instructed to lump it up to new signing Marouanne Fellaini to knock down for RVP. Whilst 'Plan A' is being drilled Moyes goes on the hunt for Wayne who was here a minute ago but appears to have gone AWOL, whilst all around he perimeter fence, the media watch on, coldly....

I think he's in for a time of it myself.

It's the last few months that are more on my mind. There's no way on this planet that Moyes first heard about this this week. He's known about it for a while now; no evidence for this but would it be a surprise to hear that he and SAF have been nattering about this switch for some time? He has not acted over that stretch of time with the sort of decency and dignity that I and I'm sure most of you have come to expect from him, especially by hanging around for the next fortnight – no class there.

I'm not sorry to see him go. I'm surprised he got the Man Utd job but then again I'm not someone on here who says he would never get a better position. I feel pretty hopeful at this moment in time though, inevitably, nervy also. I think that it will be Martinez although I would prefer Laudrup. Apparently Laudrup has a £10 mill comp buy-out clause. Now, if we all throw in say 25 sponds each...

Yes, Everton were a stepping stone for David Moyes, that much is clear – like racing in Formula 3000 before getting picked up by an F1 team. Moyes never won a race in Formula 3000, but he always finished in the points and that was enough for Ferrari to take him as their main man.

He was never an Evertonian, he was a multi-millionaire football manager looking to make a name for himself. Do you think he will still be appearing on MotD a couple of hours after a match at Old Trafford? Of course he won't, that club would look down on such a thing.

Here is my prediction: Davey Moyes has just taken the dream job, but the pressure will be unbearable, and with Mourinho back at Chelsea, he won't be winning anything next season and a year later he will be out of a job and probably on his way to Germany (which he has been eyeing up).

The question then is, will he be welcomed back in the same way Royle, Reidy, Kendall and former great employees of the club are? I don't think so. He shouldn't be anyway.

The analogy is inappropriate; he signed a contract and is honouring the contract.
I have no problem with the way this has been managed by Moyes. He had a contract, he is seeing it through, and now he is working his notice. How can you complain about that?

You CAN complain about the fact that he has not signed a new contract and BK doesn't seem to have a clue what to do next. I expect BK is calling Walter Smith for the next Moyes fresh from Glasgow?

But really, taking cheap shots at a man who has, as I believe, done the best he can with Everton, whether you like it or not, is churlish to say the least.

Personally, I think he will be success at MU and then we will realise that this is indeed a much more structural i.e. financial issue within the club.

Plus, Tony, at least Rooney had the decency to fetch us £30M.

To those of the statistically minded. Has there been a manager in the First Division/Premier League who's managed a club for longer than David Moyes and also moved directly to another club in the top league? I’m thinking those that've stayed at one club as long as Moyes have made a career of it and stayed until their retirement. Of course, I’m happy to be corrected.

John Gee #832

"Bulgarian wine tasting"...have you been saving that one up? (or in case Mike Goodwin gets his pedantic -albeit correct - English knickers in a twist...'have you been saving up that one?')...brilliant.

An eleven-year sham, eh?

Dont know about an eleven year sham.

My gut feel is that he has been aware of this for a year. MU are a huge company and they don't decide key roles at the drop of a hat. These guys have succession plans, they will have been discussing Ferguson's retirement for a year now. That is why there has no interview process? So it says they have been talking for a while now. Hence the refusal to sign a new contract this season. The apologists will hang onto the assumption that he was holding the board to ransom for transfer funds, well sorry guys wake up and smell the coffee.

Lets move on there is no grief here, he was a good employee but that is all. lets go out and find another one. Greater servants than Moyes have left this club with more under there belts.

The king is dead long live the king.

Paul is dead right - Moyes and Kenwright must have had an inkling this was going to happen. Kenwright looked a bit pathetic with his stagey hang dog expression the other night. I hope the board have planned for this as they must have known Moyes wasn't going to renew his contract.

He need some one who selects the players who are in form; doesn't play players out of position; doesn't send young players out into the wilderness if they disagree with him; who doesn't makes subs to change things round 3 minutes before the end of a game; who doesn't hang onto a one nil lead after 20 minutes and ends up losing the game; who doesn't persist in selecting players who are past their best; who doesn't look like a rabbit in headlights when playing against Liverpool or in another big game; and who doesn't refuse to take responsibility (the wigan game - 'just one of those days!) or take advice!

Apart from that he did a great job (cue media love in).

I was at an event at the Hilton in Liverpool during the Spring of last year which was organised to mark Moyes' 10th Year at Everton.

Before going on, the first thing I would say is that he came across as an exceptionally honest and humble guy, both when speaking one-to-one and when addressing the wider audience. Very different to how he appears when speaking to the media, who I think piss him off.

He did say a few things at the time though which I thought were interesting given the purpose of the event. He commented on the fact that whilst most of the questions he was being asked were from people who clearly really liked him, he knew there was a significant group of fans with whom he was far less popular. When he made this comment there was a little more "steel" in his voice, like his post-match interviews on Sky. I think his summary of that point was something like "I realise that nothing lasts forever. At some point you'll get fed up of me or I'll get fed up of you and maybe then it'll be time for a fresh challenge." Nobody picked him up on any of this but bearing in mind the "honest" man he appeared to be, it seemed that he was intentionally hinting that he was seriously considering his future at the club. He didn't even try to caveat his comments by suggesting that this would be a long time in the future.

They also played a video of SAF which was, needless to say, very complimentary. Moyes was asked about his relationship with Ferguson and responded by saying that whilst they spoke regularly and played golf together occasionally, as they were from different generations they therefore weren't what you would call best friends.

With hindsight it's highly possible that even 12 months ago plans were being put in place, at the least between Moyes and Ferguson, for him to make the move to Utd at some point in the coming years.

Biggest job in world football...had a good laugh at this.

Biggest jobs in the world at Real Madrid and Barcelona, indeed Bayern Munich to a lesser extent, to me those 3 clubs are much bigger and far more successful than United.

FC Barcelona have more fans than other team on the planet. Won more leagues and cups, won more european cups...while real have won even more..united are like school boys compared to these clubs.

Shut up Jimmy.

I don't get the hurt and 'he's not an Evertonian' blah that's going on - most of us here are grown men and women and understand what's happening (happy or not is another thing). The Everton job is high profile, high pressure, media focused etc. and Moyes leaves for a higher profile job. I don't like it any more than anyone else but it is nonsense for all the hand wringing and it's nonsense to think its 'for the money'. Moyes was earning a fortune at Everton with only a handful of managers in the league earning more. Unless he has been subsidising the players salaries then he is clearly not short of a quid or two. I am sure the extra is nice but really it wont make life any better- he's already at a level, it doesn't improve in reality. He has gone to compete at the highest level and whether we like it or not, we are not there at the moment and Davey with current levels of boardroom support wasn't able to get us there (man u struggled for 26 years before Alex Ferguson got them moving). Lets see what happens, life will go on, I remember thinking it was the end of the world when Kendall left for the first time and he really left us in the lurch to go to....Barcelona? No. Milan? No. Bayern? God no.......holidays will still be fun, you'll still enjoy your friends and kids and books and playing sport and all the other things in life you like. Everton will be good or shit and one day someone will say 'who is David Moyes?'. Don't worry xxxxx