"Winning football matches is always a priority" - Moyes' comments from first Everton press conference
Yesterday at 02:37 PM
The new manager talks about returning to the Toffees and the challenge ahead facing the club
Everton today unveiled David Moyes as their new manager, with the Scotsman returning to the club where he spent 12 years in the earlier part of this century. The 61-year-old fielded a variety of questions during his first press conference at Finch Farm, starting with how when the Blues reached out last week and got him back on board.
"It was really quick. I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday when I got a call to say there was going to be a change.
"In truth, I wasn't necessarily out there looking to get back. But as everyone knows, Everton is different, this is a different beast to me than many other clubs."
Moyes had indicated in a recent interview that he did not want to get embroiled in another relegation battle, but it seems the pull of the Toffees is different for him and he is confident that Everton are good enough to pull away from trouble this season.
"I believe we'll be strong enough to stay away from [relegation]. But I'm not kidding myself on, or anybody else.
"We'll need everybody behind us. We'll need the players playing better and scoring more goals if we're going to make that happen."
He also spoke positively of Dan [Friedkin] and Marc [Watts], adding that most of his calls with The Friedkin Group were via video call though some of the group including Watts travelled to the United Kingdom to meet with him in person.
"At the moment, I've found the conversations good. And I found they want to get us back on track. We all know we need a little bit of a sticking plaster, at the moment, and we have to try to make that work."
When asked what his highest priority was for the club, Moyes was clear.
"Winning football matches is always a priority. I've had a great time here previously, and am hoping to build on that now.
"The stadium looks the business, it looks elite. We need to start getting some elite players. We need to start looking at the level of players who can give everybody something to shout about when we get to the new stadium."
We're two weeks into the January transfer window, and Moyes hopes the club can add some personnel.
"It will not be easy but overall I hope we can all get together and spending a bit of money, but we still have a bit to do to clear everything and we need to be mindful of that as well."
On director of football Kevin Thelwell, he added that Thelwell had been here longer than him and they need to collaborate and find a way of doing the right things.
The manager led his first training session earlier today and spoke of the importance of keeping the morale high especially during difficult times.
"It was first day I've been with them. Today, was an opportunity to train with them and see them. I think the squad's in good spirits in the main. They've obviously been in this position before.
"I found the players good today. I've got to say, I really enjoyed being out with them. We trained well, we had a bit of laughter. A bit of fun, as well."
Previous reports about Leighton Baines leaving the Under-18s to join Moyes' staff were confirmed by the manager. The fullback was signed from Wigan Athletic by Moyes in 2007.
"Leighton will be [a part of the backroom staff]. I'll bring Leighton up. I'm going to try to work quickly with people I know and trust because of the situation.
"Billy McKinlay, who's worked with me for a while is with me now. Alan Irvine will join me – probably after next weekend.
"I've tended to work with a bigger staff as I've got on – just like probably everywhere else in football – their staffs get bigger, so I want to try to look to bring in a coach with the idea of mainly working on set-pieces.
"I've got some ideas I might look to alter in the summer, but I want to get us over the line first, before I start disclosing too much on what I might do then."
