Chris Beesley’s Everton tour diary after attending a Premier League Community Showcase event in New Jersey and then A Night Live on Stage with David Moyes and Everton Football Club
ECHO Everton reporter Chris Beesley has covered Everton and Liverpool both in the Premier League and abroad since 2005. He cut his teeth in professional sports journalism at the Ellesmere Port Pioneer and then the Welsh edition of the Daily Post, where he also covered Manchester United.
Prior to that he worked on the student newspaper Pluto at the University of Central Lancashire, a role in which he first encountered David Moyes. Chris is well-known for his sartorial elegance and the aforementioned Scottish manager once enquired of him at a press conference: “Is that your dad’s suit you’ve got on?” while the tradition continued in 2023 with new Blues boss Sean Dyche complimenting him on his smart appearance.
Everton manager David Moyes speaks at the Men in Blazers stage show in New York City
Evertonians in New York were left in no doubt about David Moyes’ ambitions when speaking at the end of just his second full day on tour, the Blues boss told a packed audience at Racket that the team need to sign “nine or 10 players before the start of the season.”
The 62-year-old made the bold proclamation when speaking to Men in Blazers’ host Roger Bennett at an event called A Night Live on Stage with David Moyes and Everton Football Club at the West 16th Street venue in Manhattan. Moyes’ remarked sparked a roar of approval from many onlookers as the Glaswegian conceded that the team need to improve on what they’ve got.
The Blues boss also remarked that while he hates to make promises, he promised he and his recruitment team “will be driving to get really good players over the next few weeks and thanked owners The Friedkin Group for their “really good support.”
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With his brother Kenny watching on from the wings, Moyes appeared relaxed and comfortable in his own skin, requiring no gimmicks to work the crowd but almost everything he said seemed to strike the right chord with those watching.
Starting off, Moyes was candid about his return to Everton having left West Ham United when his contract expired at the end of the 2023/24 season.
He revealed he’d already had a couple of job offers at other Premier League clubs before coming back to Goodison Park and he said it was the only position he was interested in.
And he conceded that if he’d come back to the Blues – who were only one point above the drop zone at the time – and been relegated, then he’d have been “finished” and any legacy he’d previously left would have been lost.
He admitted he’d been pleasantly surprised over what the players could do after being initially apprehensive about the early fixture list he was faced with.
Moyes acknowledged that while Evertonians had always asked him about the old times and his previous 11-year stint when he steered the club to nine top-eight finishes, including a highest ever Premier League position of fourth in 2004/05, he didn’t know what kind of reception he’d get and as the man who has now managed more Premier League games than anyone other than legendary serial title winners Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, he is realistic he cannot go on for ever, and didn’t want to go to his grave because he’d been on the touchline for too long.
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Reiterating the ideas he’d previously shared to this correspondent what was by far the most-watched episode of the ECHO’s Goodison Park: My Home series, Moyes admitted that at first he had wanted to redevelop Goodison rather than build a new stadium but now realises that it’s what every Evertonian has been waiting for and he feels the crowd will make a difference.
On what was mostly a light-hearted occasion, there was also a touch of humour, showing the ready wit the Scot possesses as when shown comparison photographs of his two unveilings as Blues boss almost 23 years apart, he quipped about his once red hair that inspired a terrace anthem: “I might dye it back!”
Also, when Bennett rued Everton’s controversial Champions League qualifying exit to Villarreal two decades ago and brought up referee Pierluigi Collina, Moyes responded with: “Those baldies, eh?”
Before the gaffer took to the stage three of the biggest personalities within his dressing room had come up for their turns with opening guest James Tarkowski being followed by Iliman Ndiaye and then club captain Seamus Coleman.
As well as reliving his wonder strike with what was the last kick of a ball from an Everton player, ensuring that after over 130 years of Merseyside Derby combat, Liverpool didn’t finish with a winning record in the fixture at Goodison, Tarkowski provided insight on what it’s like to face Ndiaye in training.
The Senegal international himself seemed to feed off the crowd’s energy and joined in with a rendition of his song, while, as always, skipper Coleman was an exemplary inspiration, explaining how as one of the few Everton players who actually lives in Liverpool, he has always been able to relay the mood within the city to his team-mates.
Earlier in the day, Moyes had been joined by another trio of players, Dwight McNeil, Jake O’Brien and Tim Iroegbunam who were accompanied by enthusiastic Everton in the Community coach Daniel McDonough who guided youngsters through a series of drills at a Premier League Community Showcase event held at Washington Elementary School in Kearney, New Jersey.
The sun was baking down on the playground when the Blues arrived and Moyes decided to take activities inside in what proved to be a wise choice as moments later the heavens opened and a thunderstorm ensued. Hopefully he can prove just as inspired in the transfer market, that Tim Howard this week told the ECHO, he knows how to work better than anyone, in the weeks ahead.
- Chris Beesley is reporting on Everton throughout their entire time in the USA for the Premier League Summer Series and go to @CBeesleyEcho to follow him on X as he supplements his reports with video from New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Don’t miss a kick with the ECHO.