David Moyes Returns to Deepdale with Everton: A Journey of Growth

David Moyes heads back to Deepdale on Wednesday night with Everton, and he is in no doubt about what the place still means to him – or what it should mean to the next generation of managers.

The 63-year-old will lead the Toffees into their Carabao Cup second-round tie at Preston North End at a ground that shaped his career twice over, first as a defender and then as a rookie boss finding his way.

‘A brilliant job for me’

Moyes stepped into his first managerial role at Deepdale in January 1998 when he replaced Gary Peters. It was a modest job on paper, but for a young coach trying to make his mark, it proved ideal.

"It was a brilliant job for me. I would be recommending it to all the young coaches," Moyes said, reflecting on that spell as he prepares for his return.

For him, the lesson is clear. Start where you can actually learn.

"You are better off to earning your stripes and finding a way through the leagues than being thrown in at a club where it is difficult at the start," he explained, underlining why he still sees clubs like Preston as vital proving grounds rather than stepping stones to be skipped.

Lessons from a legend

Deepdale also gave Moyes something rarer than opportunity: time with one of the game’s greats.

He recalled his regular Friday conversations with Sir Tom Finney, the Preston icon who scored 171 goals in 372 appearances between 1946 and 1960 and remains the club’s defining figure.

"He used to come in and have a cup of tea with me on a Friday before a game in the early days," Moyes said. "He was legendary and he still is. He was the pillar of how I see Preston."

Those chats were not just pleasantries. Moyes picked the brain of a winger who terrified defenders in his era.

"The biggest thing I used to ask him about was him being renowned for beating players and he would say: 'Well, they would over-cover one side and I would just take them on the other side'," Moyes recalled.

Moyes never saw Finney live – "Obviously I didn't see him play, I was too young," he admitted – but the grainy footage he has watched, and the stories passed down at Deepdale, were enough.

"I've seen a few clips and he was a big thing for Preston."

On Wednesday, Moyes walks back into a stadium that helped turn a young defender into a manager and kept the memory of a legend alive with every cup of tea. Now he brings Everton there, and the question is simple: which young coach will be brave enough to follow the same path he still so clearly endorses?