David Moyes Reflects on His Formative Years at Preston

David Moyes returns to Preston on Wednesday night with the look of a man who knows exactly what that place did for his career.

Now 63 and in charge of Everton, he takes his side to Deepdale in the Carabao Cup second round (20:00 BST) and back to the ground where he truly learned how to manage.

If he had his way, more young coaches would follow the same path.

"It was a brilliant job for me. I would be recommending it to all the young coaches," Moyes said, reflecting on his time at Preston North End. "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 arrived there in January 1998, replacing Gary Peters and stepping into his first managerial role. It was hardly glamorous. It was formative. Deepdale became his classroom, the lower leagues his proving ground.

For Moyes, Preston wasn’t just a club on his CV. It was a place that shaped his idea of what a coaching journey should look like.

Learning under the shadow of a legend

Preston also gave him something else: a direct line to one of English football’s greats.

Sir Tom Finney, the club’s iconic winger, would regularly drop in before games. Finney played 372 times for North End, scoring 171 goals between 1946 and 1960, and still looms large over the club’s history.

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

Those conversations stuck. Not just because of who Finney was, but how simply he explained his genius.

"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'.

No analysis tools. No data dashboards. Just a winger reading defenders and going the other way.

Moyes never saw Finney play live. "Obviously I didn't see him play, I was too young, but I've seen a few clips and he was a big thing for Preston," he said.

On Wednesday, Moyes walks back into a stadium where his own story as a manager truly began, in the shadow of a man whose name still defines the club. For any young coach watching on, he has already given his verdict: this is still the kind of place where you come to earn your stripes.