Moyes talks about the day Ferguson told him his new job

He didn't explain fully why he didn't stop by at Marks and Spencers to get his trousers. Talking of Utd, supposedly Brenda Rogers is in the running for that job. I would love that, it would be hilarious to see that complete charlatan continue their demise

One reason why I'll always hold a special place in my heart for Roberto Martinez was the “double” we did over Man Utd that season and breaking that away hoodoo at one of the so-called top four as it was then, made it so sweet that it was achieved when Moyes was managing United.

"I'd never turn up to Alex Ferguson's house with a pair of jeans on."

The grovelling shit!

I heard a story in which he was handed an iPad on day one which had a pre-programmed diary for him that outlined all of his commitments, which for a corporate giant like Man Utd were plentiful. Apparently he turned his nose up at it and pointed to his paper diary and how that this was his trusted way of keeping on top of his commitments. It was the first indication that he was lost and well out of his depth.

Rio Ferdinand told a story of how Moyes was showing them videos of Jagielka and how to defend in the way he wanted. Sure, it was probably only intended as a demonstration. But the fact that Ferdinand and the other players took such offence to it illustrates a complete lack of understanding of big characters.

We all know about his derogatory and contradictory comments about EFC. ‘We never tried to hold players back from a move' after offering 㾸m for Leighton Baines.

‘Knife to a gunfight' is a famous quote when explaining his failure to win away at Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal between 2002 - 2013. (More than 44 games.)

The facts of the matter were that he did some outstanding initial work at Everton and really established us as a decent side. I'm minded to believe that whoever was involved in the recruitment of players from 2004 onwards was also responsible for much of the success.

His achievements, however, are relative to the bubble of English football. Clubs on the continent with less resources managed to bring about far greater success during the period Moyes had with Everton. Wolfsburg, Villarreal, Atletico came from the second tier of Spanish football to re-emerge; PSV, Lyon etc.

Nearly all of the strikers he brought in stopped scoring due to his work ethic philosophy. Fancy buying the Yak and expecting him to run about.

I accept football is all about opinions and thats what makes it such a great game, so I will side on Sir Alex Fergusons judgement probably the greatest manager in British football. He thought highly enough to appoint Moyes as his successor, and no it didn't work as both wanted but seeing the present Man Utd manager has complained about the lack of support from the CEO who was very new to the job when Moyes took over at Man Utd, then maybe it wasn't all Moyes fault it didn't work out.

The state of the team he took over was an utter car crash, which he miraculously kept up. Going down then would have killed us. Fans are fickle, especially on here.

Any manager with genuine ambition for our club would have resigned in the manner of Howard Kendall (2nd spell) and Joe Royle during previous periods of boardroom parsimony.

Compare Watford's owners to Kenwright who, despite losing his beloved manager without the courtesy of an official approach from Man Utd, then continued to pay his salary for several weeks until the end of his contract!

Even the 'knife to a gunfight' comment, while offensive to any Evertonian old enough to have seen the great teams of the eighties and sixties, was pretty accurate. Teary Bill didn't have two brass farthings to rub together at a time when wealth was changing the order of the Premier League, hence we were indeed condemned to brandishing a knife.

What has been so tragic about the last two years is that, when we finally have proper money to spend, we seem to have wasted it and are no further forward. Could Moyes have spent it more wisely? He could hardly have done much worse but I don't personally believe his character would be suited to such a different mindset, and maybe explains why he failed at Man Utd.

As others have noted, it is infuriating that we get investigated for tapping up Silva, even though we did go through official channels and then looked elsewhere when Watford rebuffed us, yet Man Utd blatantly tapped up Moyes before the end of his contract, as is evidenced here, and no action is taken.

He's in the history books now and will ever be so.

It would have been interesting to see what he could have done with a bit of mullah behind him, especially having a Lukaku up front.

That was our biggest problem when he was with us, we were on the bones of our arse and had to buy the Meatties, Bents of this world and hope for no injuries.

The "purple" patch was when we actually had a good striker in Yakubu, Arteta and Pienaar in midfield, Jags in his prime and Baines linking up greatly on the wing.

We were almost there and ifs and buts, it would have been interesting to see how we fared against Chelsea in the cup final had Arteta, Jagielka and Yakubu been fit – that was the entire spine of our team missing.

Where they straight-legged? Loose fit? Boot cut? Flares? The mind boggles, maybe they were cut down a la Daisy Duke style and he was showing off a bit of anal cleft round the rear end. Guess we'll never know.

He's done nothing and his record with Everton, Man Utd, Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham proves it.

Anyone who buys his book is also a loser.

We certainly haven't had a better manager since at Everton. Even Martinez in his first season only achieved what he did on the back of Moyes's work – once the discipline and fitness was allowed to dissipate, Martinez was useless. Koeman, Unsworth and Fat Sam have all been failures, and Silva has only just started so we'll need to give him at least a season or two before we can judge.

I didn't like the way he left, or the way he tapped up our players on the cheap afterwards, but he's still a great Evertonian in my eyes, and he did a lot for the club.

DIY Bell Bottoms

The only team to challenge Moyes since 1988 is Royle's team.

It's a sad state of the club that someone who could potentially be 30 has seen their greatest ever Everton team fight to finish 5th or 6th.

His failings have been well documented but he also got us playing the best footy I have seen from an Everton side since the 80s. And the difference to today? His teams had heart. I reckon Donovan and Cahill on their own could take on any 11 from our current squad.

Shame he left as he did but those who write off his achievements with us are short sighted at best. Whatever happened to 'credit due...'?

The umming and ahhing over whether to throw away £30 on a pair of Farah's he was probably only going to wear once, or potentially offend his host/hinder his future career prospects, must have gone on for fucking ages.

Yet still the haters hate.

"Over the years I haven't really been coached much."

Not sure how true it is, but it's a pretty damning statement about his years at Everton (including several under Moyes) either way.

It amazes me that he's still a topic of debate at all, let alone a debate so passionate. Can't figure it out.

And – again, watch the interview about when he first arrived at Everton – he "got" us more than any other manager of recent years. "The People's Club" — indeed.

I also don't believe that the clandestine meeting Moyes mentions, was the first time his possible move to Old Trafford was discussed, either formally or informally.

As far as I'm concerned, David Moyes is just another former employee; he did the job he was paid to do but ultimately he didn't win a trophy for Everton – despite the number of years he was in charge – much the same as Bingham, Lee, Walker, Martinez, Koeman et al.

Some of the signings over the last few seasons have been completely random and without any real thought if they fit with what's required.

How Mason Mount justifies a call-up is even more baffling.

Moyes was too frightened of losing to think about winning in those games, even the famous one when he talked about taking a knife to a gunfight, we were losing 2-0 and with a few minutes to go pulled a goal back and had another good chance. I wonder how we would have done if we'd gone with a winning mentality? "Knife to a gunfight" he said, then put the knife away and took out a large white flag.

Two United fans said to me after the semi-final when we beat them at Wembley, "Sorry, we'll be taking your manager off you soon."

"You can fuckin' have him for me, lads – and the quicker the better," I replied – and that was after a win in a semi-final.

Kind of like that Man City documentary on Amazon. They toured Aguerro's apartment and he said his family are in South America mostly. Then he said “So I am here alone” about 15 times as he stood in his bedroom.

Made me wonder if he is alone... Maybe Moyes comes over to do some housework?

But the extended debate on his merits just bewilders me. I'm not sure if it's a footy thing or a cultural thing, but a debate like this would never happen in the US. I was a sports "journo" here for nearly 20 years, and I cannot remember a single discussion over the abilities/liabilities of past coaches in the NBA, NFL or baseball. In our sports, when the manager is gone, he's gone. And forgotten.

By contrast, I've seen debates here about not only Moyes but Kendall, Smith and Royle. I just don't get it.

Could be one reason for such an abysmal performance on the day.

You will agree Billy Bingham deserved the sack then?

The Ross Barkley interview is interesting, as is him being recalled to the England squad after limited appearances with England.

More impressive is that both Digne and Zouma have been called up for the World Champions, France.

Man City are a completely different animal to the one Moyes faced practically all of his tenure. Scratch another place on average for that fact alone when using rose tinted specs.

Tottenham are no longer the flatter to deceive team they used to be when he had us above them with regularity. It was his failure to push on that has seen them become the smallest team in the big six.

Moyes faced some of the most dire Liverpool teams in recent memory and yet still somehow failed to achieve anything of note. I stress his failures see them at the very pinnacle of football again rather than us.

These failures are mitigated as an argument only by the lack of support he received from the board room, but they should not be forgotten when slagging current managers.

Moyes's Everton today would have finished 7th or 8th. He wouldn't have achieved season one Martinez and would only have matched season one Koeman.

He knew all about our finances, so knew the money would have been welcome, but he was too busy kissing Ferguson's shoes. keeping his secret, on his terms.

Mike G. if you wonder why he still evokes debate, just recall his comments after leaving. The 'Everton should be grateful to me' line still rankles for me.

Moyes describes himself as an Evertonian and, in the context of managers that have come before and after, I think he means what he says. He might not be an Evertonian in the same way you or I are Evertonians, but then not many employees of the club are.

Maybe it's a bit of regret on his part that it didn't work out as he had hoped when he left or since and who didn't revel in the shite losing the Champions League final (other than those pesky reds!)

Anyway, we aren't going to agree so I'll leave it there.

@27 Not far off, 34. And by no means a member of the Moyes fan club either, but I'm not one to rewrite history and pretend anyone post-Moyes has been anything other than complete and utter failure and with vastly more resources.

Since then, he's had to get used to the "boot", of course, after so consistently showing his arse.

His head was so far up Ferguson's arse he could see Giggs.

I'm only surprised that he ever had the audacity to beat United (on the very rare occasion that he did).

Well overstayed his welcome for me and treated the club disrespectfully after his departure.

Be thankful for Moshiri or he'd very likely be back in charge again now.

I can at least given the shit that has followed acknowledge that he did a solid job for us. A job for us that ultimately got him the biggest job in the Premier League.

Whereas, to most idiots on here, he's just a "knife to a gunfight" Judas ginger twat, which is laughable.

Regardless of what Moyes achieved or didn't achieve it still narks me that he became Man Utd manager and then still managed Everton for 2 matches and the faithful gave him a standing ovation. That incident just about summed up our collective ambitions.

No wonder we are scrambling about in the wilderness with no real ambition to ever win anything again.

I'll happily be that idiot.

DM: "Whit?"

AF: "Ainly kiddin' ye son. So whit de ye say?"

DM: "Whit dee ah say? Ah say YES PLEASE! Sure I'll have to sort it oot wi' Everton but they're as soft as shite so there'll be nae problem theer."

AF: "And keep in mind yer'll be quadruplin' yer wages, 7-year deal, nae bother."

DM: "SEV holy fu...ah mean...wow...WOW!"

AF: "Yer'll life will change son, bigger hoose, bigger car, bigger budget tae buy players, everythin'!"

DM: "Amazin'...(thinks)..always fancied wan o' they flash cars like you see on Top ge.."

AF: "Wait a fuckin' MINUTE!! Are they no PROPER pants like school pants or goin' to a weddin' pants!!? Get the fuck OOT you disgusting, goggle-eyed, pasty-faced, ginger twat!"

(Just think, all that might have happened if he hadn't said 'Sorry, I'm in my jeans')

Great comeback post by the way.

I don't think Moyes was responsible for the low bids for Baines and Fellaini. The new CEO of Man Utd hasn't got a clue, and they have struggled with recruitment ever since he was appointed. In any case, we got 㿇 million for Fellaini, so we got the better end of that deal.

Let's move on and wish him well – he talks well of us, let's not be bitter.

Pass and move, pass and move, neat little triangles, we were racking up shots in the double figures. Just not scoring... (sound familiar)?

Probably remembering the period better than it was, but that is when I reckon he was showing the Man Utd hierarchy his credentials. Fergie telling them, "Imagine what he could do with our players, blah blah blah," but typical of TGT, he reverted to type, probably once he'd secured the gig, or because it's not in his forte to play expansive togger.

Conspiracy theory, I know. But I remember him saying around that time it would only take 5 mins for him and Bill to sort out a new contract, and all I could think of was, "Well, why haven't you?" ... "Plenty of five minutes in a day"... I knew then something was up.

I didn't see it being Man Utd but, then again, who knows the mind of someone who turns up to Fergie's house wearing Joe Bloggs jeans, no socks, and flip-flops???

He should move on, take his tongue off of Fergie's arse (as Fergie has ridiculed Moyes since all the above happened) and get a new job instead of chatting bollocks about his life at Everton.

We've moved on; so should he!

I do agree with you 100%, I've said all what you said when Moyes was up for the USA job, but I'm a little bored of Moyes being a topic.

For the cup defeat by Wigan, 3 - 0, Everton had been beaten by them in the away Premier League game and Heitinga had struggled with Kone's pace and was taken off at half-time.

To counter this for the cup game, Moyes and Round decided to pick Neville in midfield. Neville by then was dead slow and couldn't pass to a blue shirt to save his life. How was playing a slow 36-year-old in midfield going to affect a flyer playing up front.

Steve Round admitted this tactic on the radio some weeks later. Unbelievable.

Moyes is a solid old-school manager who is largely responsible for Everton still being, well Everton. He built a very good side through his methodical and diligent approach to his work. Moyes put in place the foundations of what we have today. He also knew how to get the best out of players. He got Arnautavic playing again at West Ham and they finished comfortably last year.

If you look at his post Everton career. He was stitched up by Ferguson, who left him a squad full of institutionalized veterans with massive ego's. He didn't do great in Spain but by no means a disaster.

The majority of his career and what he should always be judged on is producing Everton teams that were consistently finishing in the Top 6 and qualifying for Europe. He did this for 10 years. There was nothing flukey about any of it just hard work and talent.

Yes, he left poorly and acted very badly when he left but he left enough positivity in the bank account to override that:

Top 4 finish
FA Cup final
Survived relegation with a shite squad
Had us competing top end
Played some excellent football at times

Current wage bill?? 10th. Apparently!

We then got Martinez who had a great first season on the back of Moyes's team then screwed it up with his WW1 Generals mentality-kids, read a book or Google it.

Now we are close to being back in the same position we were when DM took over. I'm not looking for a statue of Moyes but ffs give credit where it is due, we're the club that knows it's history.

Years at the club
Early, did very well to drag the worst Everton side on a pitch out of the mire

Mid
Had some money, rebuilt well, put some pride in the place

Late
The money dried up and eventually Everton stood still

Constant
Could be infuriating, missed golden opportunities to win a trophy, tended to start badly finish strong

On getting the united job
Turned into a disrespectful muppet, despite being pretty much the same as every other united manager since got sacked tough shit.

Since
Journeyman who blew his chance, bit like his cup record

I'm old enough to remember us winning titles in the 80s but ever since we've been shit, like it or not. Moyes at least gave us back a level of pride at not supporting an utterly shit team, albeit one that still didn't win anything.

If I'd been Everton manager for 11 years, or whatever it was, and Man Utd offered me their job, I'd be off as well.