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After enjoying the stability of over 11 years at Everton, former Blues boss David Moyes has been sacked less than 12 months into both of his last two jobs at first Manchester United and now Real Sociedad.

Two-and-a-half years on from calling time on his tenure on Merseyside, does the Scot now realise just what a winner he was on to at Goodison?

Just as fans’ thoughts on Moyes evolved during his considerable spell in charge at Everton, so opinions of his reign have been reassessed and continually re-evaluated since his departure.

The overall picture of his time at the Blues when painted with a broad brush has to be one of positivity.

But behind such a simple portrayal – like dog years a period of more than a decade is comparatively longer in football than the outside world – so there are obviously far more nuances and detail.

Watch: Reaction to the news David Moyes has been sacked by Real Sociedad

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He’s got red hair but we don’t care

A month shy of his 39th birthday, the Glaswegian was still a young man when he took the reins at Goodison – although still the same age as Howard Kendall at the time of his first League Championship as Blues boss – and there wasn’t that much of an age gap between himself and some of the senior pros he had to clear out of the dressing room such as Paul Gascoigne and David Ginola.

Generally regarded as the bright young thing among British managers for his work at Preston North End, Moyes had already rejected an approach from Sir Alex Ferguson to be his number two at Manchester United plus other managerial offers from Premier League clubs.

The situation that faced him at Everton was one of a club in decline.

Kendall’s second title-winning side of 1987 already seemed like a distant memory with just a single top-half finish under Joe Royle in 1995/96 to show from the first decade of Premier League football and the same manager’s FA Cup success in 1995 a solitary bright spot sandwiched between two final day escapes from relegation in 1994 and 1998.

Boosted by the prodigious talent of Wayne Rooney, some honest pros in need of direction and canny buys for a relatively modest outlay such as Joseph Yobo in his first summer and the likes of Kevin Kilbane and Nigel Martyn the following year, Moyes began to mould a side with a winning outlook at long last.

Ups and downs

There were plenty of bumps along the way, particularly in the early years.

Martyn – who arrived at Goodison seven years too late after initially coming close to signing for Royle – was only snapped up a season after another goalkeeper Richard Wright had proven to be an expensive mistake.

A seventh place finish in his first season – which could have been even more impressive if the Blues hadn’t lost their last two games and dropped out of the top six for the first time since November on the final day in 2003 – was followed by the 39 points, 17th place nadir of 2004.

Although Everton were bizarrely never involved in a genuine relegation battle that year – they got themselves safe by Easter before failing to win any of their last six matches – if there was ever a time that Bill Kenwright might have been tempted to press the panic button then this was it.

(Image: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Whispers abounded that Moyes had lost the dressing room but even after the hammer blow of the departure of the England national team’s new darling Rooney to Manchester United, he and his team were able to come back stronger than ever.

A defiant, backs-against-the-wall spirit presided over the miraculous run to fourth place and subsequent Champions League qualification spot in 2004/05 as £26million Rooney was replaced by £450,000 Marcus Bent of whom the Scot coaxed out the best season of the journeyman striker’s career and £1.7million Tim Cahill who he based his long-time 4-4-1-1 formation around.

When Thomas Gravesen departed mid-campaign, Moyes again showed his sharp eye for young talent by replacing his Great Dane with the dancing feet of Mikel Arteta, initially on loan from future employers Real Sociedad.

Big Game Blues

What followed at the start of the following season though was the first of several high-profile failures in big matches that could have seen the team move up to the next level.

Making their return to European football’s senior competition 20 years late – as the banner in Villarreal pointed out, there was trouble with the neighbours – Everton, after working so hard to get into the top four, never of course made it into the Champions League proper.

But whereas their failure against the Spaniards – who would go on to reach the semi-finals that season – was down to the combination of a rotten draw, a poor first leg showing at Goodison and then ultimately and inexplicable piece of refereeing from a man once considered the world’s best official, future disappointments seemed almost entirely self-inflicted wounds.

A decade on it’s easy to forget just how bad the Blues start to the 2005/06 season was.

Moyes’ men lost 10 of their first 12 matches, including a 5-1 UEFA Cup humiliation to Dinamo Bucharest but again the chairman remained steadfastly loyal to his manager.

Raising the bar

The patience was rewarded and after recovering to mid-table safety with an end-of-season position of 11th, the upward curve would continue in the years ahead.

Yo-yo finishes were replaced by steady placings of sixth (2007) and back-to-back fifths in 2008 and 2009 and the increasing quality in the squad was exemplified by regularly breaking the club transfer record to bring in Andrew Johnson (£8.6million), Aiyegbeni Yakubu (£11.25million) and Marouane Fellaini (£15million).

Other new faces during this period included recruits who would go on to become club stalwarts such as Tim Howard, Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines while the Blues got the best three years of Joleon Lescott’s career as he arrived as a Premier League unknown with a chequered past record of injuries and departed for £24million.

Near-misses

A frustrating inability to shake off the nearly-men tag persisted though.

After surviving a first round scare against Metalist Kharkiv, the Blues powered their way through the UEFA Cup group stages in 2007/08 and demolished Norwegian champions Brann in the last 32 only to fall painfully short on penalties against Fiorentina.

A flat first leg performance in Tuscany cost them dearly but they should have finished off the Italians at Goodison on a night they were totally dominant.

The feeling of what could have been was amplified by Fiorentina’s subsequent exit to a very ordinary Rangers outfit managed by Moyes’ predecessor at Everton Walter Smith.

Smith’s side went all the way to the final in Manchester that year – what would have been a virtual home game for the Blues – before succumbing to a Zenit St Petersburg outfit that Everton had beaten in the group stage.

The Blues went even closer to breaking their long silverware duck the following year when they dispatched both Liverpool and Manchester United en route to reaching the FA Cup final but even after being boosted by Louis Saha scoring the quickest goal in the big game’s history, they were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea.

At the time, Moyes boldly stated that it was only a question of when rather than if his talented squad would win a trophy but ultimately it was never to be.

He would continue to solidly churn out teams that would hold their own in the top half of the Premier League but in his latter years at Goodison, Evertonians were left with a feeling of resignation over whether he could ever steer them to a trophy as doubts persisted as to whether he possessed the ability to get the best out of his players on one-off big occasions.

Playing the percentages

Moyes’ relative success was based on him being a classic percentages man.

His teams would always win more games than they’d lose but often they would fall short in the matches that really mattered - it must be noted that there were no away victories at Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea in his entire reign.

Two examples that stick in Blues’ craws are witnessing their team choke in the FA Cup semi-final with Liverpool in 2012 and FA Cup quarter-final at home to a Wigan Athletic side managed by his successor Roberto Martinez in 2013.

Yet there was never any indication that Everton would ever give up on Moyes.

It was he who ran his contract down in that final year and he, not the supporters, who made the remarks about Blues fans possibly wanting to see a different face in their dugout.

When he went through a rough patch – his teams were notoriously slow starters to seasons – the club’s hierarchy would always give him the time to turns things around.

It is a luxury not enjoyed at many clubs, be they Manchester United who were used to a generation of success or even the more modest ambitions of Real Sociedad.

Putting in a shift

Perhaps Moyes, whose success at Everton was largely down to his workaholic nature – he’d put in the hours and the miles checking out players and watching opponents – might have to look in the mirror to ask where it all went wrong on his continental adventure?

While he had to back his own ability when Old Trafford beckoned, whoever tried to fill Ferguson’s shoes was likely to become a fall guy but there have been suggestions that he might not have been giving his all in San Sebastian.

Respected La Liga observer Sid Lowe reckons that after some initially enthusiastic efforts, the 52-year-old gave up on Spanish lessons. This was always going to prove a fatal blow.

Tempering ambitions

So where now? Moyes is believed to be keen to get back into the game quickly.

It would be harsh to label him a busted flush but wherever he goes it will almost certainly be to a team of lesser stature than Everton.

Newcastle represents a big challenge with significant potential if they decide to make an early call on Steve McClaren after a disappointing start while managerial prospect Garry Monk appears to be rather unfairly under pressure at Swansea City after a poor run.

Aston Villa’s ship has sailed with Remi Garde – they might have done well by waiting another week or so before replacing Tim Sherwood – while Moyes’ first club Celtic would seem a pointless exercise other than finally getting his hands on a few trophies but they’d be worthless baubles in the grand scheme of things.

A good manager but never quite the ‘Moyesiah’ he could have been; ultimately the conclusion has to be that Davey never had it so good as when he was at Everton.

Were Everton good for Moyes, was Moyes good for Everton or both? Let us know what you think below.