David Moyes should be offered a new contract at Everton following the work he has done says Andy Gray in this exclusive interview with Chris Beesley
11:33, 24 Mar 2026Updated 11:33, 24 Mar 2026
With the team now just three points off a Champions League qualification spot, an Everton legend has declared that he’d be “amazed” and “disappointed” if the club didn’t offer David Moyes a new contract.
Moyes steered the Blues to nine top-eight finishes during his first spell in charge, including their highest-ever Premier League position of fourth in 2004/05.
Having returned in January last year with Everton just one point above the relegation zone at the halfway stage of Goodison Park’s historic final season, the Scot guided them to safety with five games to spare and now with seven matches left this term, they’re sitting eighth but just three points behind neighbours and defending champions Liverpool in fifth.
After defeating Chelsea 3-0 on Saturday evening – their biggest win at Hill Dickinson Stadium to date – the Blues now have three weeks off before they return to action at Brentford, who are one place above them and level on points – on April 11 before hosting the Reds in the first Merseyside Derby at their new home on April 19.
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When Moyes was hired, he signed a two-and-a-half year contract and he seemed unconcerned when asked about his future in his last post-match press conference.
The 62-year-old said: “I’ve got a year to go, so I’m fine. I’m not too worried about that.”
Moyes ran his last Everton contract down before joining Manchester United in 2013 on the back of finishing sixth, but his current predecessor Sean Dyche suffered a considerable drop off in results when he entered the final 12 months of his deal.
Therefore, a Goodison great reckons it would be a prudent move for The Friedkin Group to tie the manager down for a longer spell given the impressive work he has done over the past 14 months.
Andy Gray was a talismanic figure for Everton under Howard Kendall, scoring in the 2-0 win over Watford in the 1984 FA Cup final, the 3-1 victory over Rapid Vienna in the 1985 European Cup-Winners’ Cup final and helping the Blues to win the League Championship in the same year.
Speaking courtesy of BetSelect, Gray told the ECHO: “When you look at what he did at West Ham, where he delivered the European trophy and then got finished? Come on.
“Then look where West Ham are now, three managers later. Yeah, it’s extraordinary, the people make these decisions.
“I was delighted West Ham got rid of him because I knew he was coming to Everton, and it was a great decision. It was a no-brainer for Everton to bring David back into the new stadium as well.
“He should have been the man who led Everton into the new stadium, and he was. I think we can see improvement.
“Yes, he may be a bit pragmatic in his coaching at times. That’s fine. That will develop, as he showed us when he worked with players like Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen on his team and won European trophies.
“Of course, he can play the type of football that we want to see, and we can see evidence of improvement this year compared to last year, and it’s right on the verge of European football.
I would like to think there’s no argument for him to get a new contract, no argument at all for me.
“Give it to him, absolutely. I would be amazed if Everton doesn’t offer David a new contract and I’d be disappointed as well.”
For many, Saturday’s comprehensive success against Chelsea was a watershed moment at Hill Dickinson Stadium and while he will always have treasured memories of ‘The Grand Old Lady,’ Gray is impressed by their new home on the Mersey waterfront.
Following Everton’s 2-0 win over Southampton on May 18 last year, he remarked: “We might be leaving Goodison, but Goodison will never leave us.”
The 70-year-old said: “Goodison is iconic. It’s an iconic stadium.
“It holds great memories for me and many other Evertonians. It’s always sad to leave a place like that that’s so atmospheric, but it was old, it was dated, and it had to be done.
“It was wonderful to be there for the last game that was played there. But the new stadium, I went to see it before it was finished, and it’s hugely impressive, it’s a wonderful stadium.
“I think when it’s full and Everton are successful, it will get rocking again. They’ve got a wonderful site down by the river, and I just hope it can bring some of the nights back that we had in the mid-1980s.
“Some wonderful times, some wonderful victories. If we can get that back, then that will be it, complete.
“But it’s a beautiful stadium. I like it a lot.”