WITH the Goodison ship listing badly, and Walter Smith gone, Bill Kenwright took a gamble appointing a manager from Preston North End who was untested in the Premier League.

But from his first game in charge, a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Fulham at Goodison when Moyes set the tone by leading the pre-game warm-up on the pitch, things started looking up. Far from being relegation fodder, Moyes guided the club to seventh place the following season.

“REMEMBER the name! Wayne Rooney!” squalled Clive Tyldesley – and although the Goodison wonder-kid’s goal against Arsenal during David Moyes’ first full season was a thing of glory, it was his manager who played a large part in inflicting a first league defeat in 10 months on Arsene Wenger’s imperious outfit.

TO his great chagrin Moyes has only won four Merseyside derbies in the 21 contested during his reign. But Evertonians will long savour the Goodison clash in September 2006 when Rafa Benitez’s men were put to the sword so thrillingly during an Andrew Johnson-inspired 3-0 victory.

HANDLING Duncan Ferguson was no easy task, but Moyes inspired one of the great Goodison centre-forward performances from the Tartan Talisman against Manchester United in April 2005, as his goal kept Everton’s Champions League qualification alive and kicking.

WINS against the Red Devils are rare for any Everton manager in the Premier League era. But Moyes masterminded a penalty shoot-out victory over Alex Ferguson’s men in the 2009 FA Cup semi-final which took the Blues to within 90 minutes of their first trophy since 1995.

GOODISON Park has witnessed some hair-raising routs in its history, but Moyes’ men left their mark on the record books with a 7-1 thrashing of Sunderland in November 2007, when Yakubu and Tim Cahill scored twice as the Toffees ran riot.

HE rates Nigel Martyn as his best ever signing, but many in the wider footballing world credit the £1.5m capture of Tim Cahill in summer 2004 as Moyes’ greatest masterstroke. And 66 goals in 266 games from the midfielder means few would disagree.

YOU’VE got to be truly special to win three League Manager Association (LMA) manager of the season awards despite never lifting a trophy. That’s why Bluenoses know that Moyes is the pound for pound best boss in the top flight.

MANCHESTER City’s financial behemoth shows few signs of slowing, but Moyes has got a canny knack of letting down their tyres. His team have beaten City in six of their last eight meetings but a 2-0 win in January 2010 was the most memorable, with Marouane Fellaini’s outrageous pirouette on the ball providing the perfect finish.

MOYES’ teams have produced some impressive European performances; victory against Fiorentina at Goodison, and a gutsy 3-2 win against Metalist Kharkiv in Ukraine. But they were never better than when creating Leon Osman’s exquisite goal during a 3-1 Goodison win over AE Larissa.

FINISHING fourth was a remarkable achievement, but Moyes’ Everton achieved it in 2005 with a team featuring less exalted talents such as Kevin Kilbane, Marcus Bent and Gary Naysmith.