David Moyes

David Moyes is the manager of West Ham United. He is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. During his playing career, he predominantly played as a center-back for Celtic, Cambridge United, Bristol City, Shrewsbury Town, Dunfermline Athletic, and Preston North End, among others. At the age of 22, Moyes began his managing career at Preston North End, having been inspired by his father's hard work. He had 113 victories, 58 draws, and 63 losses from 234 matches by the time he left Preston for Everton, and he was well-known for his team-building abilities. He enjoyed a successful tenure as manager of Everton, where he stayed for more than a decade before taking over as Sir Alex Ferguson's replacement at Manchester United. Despite his efforts, the team underperformed, and he was fired after only ten months on the job. In his later career, he managed Real Sociedad in La Liga and Sunderland in the Premier League for short periods of time.

Childhood and adolescence

David William Moyes was born in Glasgow, Scotland on April 25, 1963 to David Moyes Sr. and Joan Moyes. Drumchapel Amateurs was his father's club, and he was also a teacher at Anniesland College, where he also managed the football team.

Career as a player

In 1978, David Moyes began his career by playing for the Icelandic club BV's youth team for half a season. Between 1978 and 1980, he spent two seasons at the Scottish club Drumchapel Amateur.

His senior career began in 1980 with Celtic, where he earned a championship medal. His teammate, Roy McDonough, made fun of him because of his religious beliefs when he played for Cambridge United. This made him move to Bristol City in 1985.

In 1987–1990, he scored 11 goals in 96 games for Shrewsbury Town, and in 1990–93, he scored 13 goals in 105 games for Dunfermline Athletic. After a brief spell at Hamilton Academical, he joined Preston North End in 1993 and remained with them until 1999.

Career as a Manager

David Moyes spent most of his playing career preparing for a managerial post, earning coaching badges and studying the strategies of the coaches he played under since the age of 22. In January 1998, he took over as manager of Preston North End, a struggling team in Division Two, when Gary Peters was fired from the job.

He not only avoided relegation at the end of the 1997–98 season, but also led the club to the Division Two play-offs the following season, where they were defeated in the semi-finals by Gillingham. In the next season, he kept the club moving forward. He won Division Two and moved the club up to Division One.

Using the same squad, he led Preston to the Division One play-offs in 2000-01, just missing out on promotion to the Premier League after losing 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers in the finals. Despite this, he signed a new five-year contract with the club a month later, but left by the end of the next season to take over at Everton.

When he arrived at Everton on March 14, 2002, the club was facing relegation, which he managed to escape by maintaining solid form throughout the season. Everton finished eighth in the league the next season, earning him the title of "LMA Manager of the Year" for the first time.

He had a slow start the next season and a public brawl with striker Duncan Ferguson at the club's training field, but he escaped relegation by finishing 17th with 39 points. Everton's new signing, Tim Cahill, scored 15 goals in the following season, helping Everton to an unexpected fourth place finish, while Moyes won his second "LMA Manager of the Year" award.

Everton failed to qualify for the European championship in 2005-06 and flirted with relegation early on, but he managed to secure 11th place with a slew of new signings. They finished sixth in the league standings in 2006-07 after another record transfer move for Andrew Johnson, and had a very successful season in 2007-08, reaching the semi-finals of the Football League Cup.

The 2008–09 season featured a slew of new recruits, the most notable of which was Marouane Fellaini, who cost the club a club-record £15 million. Fellain was instrumental in the club's first FA Cup final appearance since 1995.

Everton missed the European league for the first time in four years after David Moyes was crowned "Premier League Manager of the Month" in January 2010.

Following the retirement of Alex Ferguson, Moyes took over the management of Manchester United in May as his contract with Everton expired at the end of the 2012-13 season. On August 11, 2013, he became the first United manager to win a trophy in his debut season with a 2–0 win over Wigan Athletic in the FA Community Shield.

Despite a strong start in the Champions League, David Moyes' United had a difficult season, finishing last in the Premier League and being knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round. Only 10 months after joining United, he was fired in April 2014, ending the third-shortest managerial tenure in the club's history.

He took over as manager of Real Sociedad in November 2014, while the club was struggling in 15th place in La Liga. He went on to earn accolades after winning 3-0 against Elche and 1-0 against Barcelona, but a poor start the following season led to his sacking in November 2015.

He took over as Sunderland manager in July 2016, but left in May 2017 after the team was demoted to the EFL Championship for the first time in ten years. On November 7, 2017, he was named manager of West Ham United, and he has since won his 500th Premier League game and 200th victory as the club's fourth manager.

Achievements & Awards

David Moyes won the Scottish League Premier Division with Celtic, the Associate Members' Cup with Bristol City, and the Football League Third Division with Preston North End during his playing career. He won the Football League Second Division with Preston North End in 1999-2000 and the FA Community Shield with Manchester United in 2013.

He was named "LMA Manager of the Year" in 2002–03, 2004–05, and 2008–09, and he was named "Premier League Manager of the Month" ten times.

Personal History and Legacy

David's childhood sweetheart, Pamela Moyes, is his wife. They sent their daughter Lauren to Archbishop Temple School, and their son David Jr. went to Preston College.