David Moyes has spent a good part of his life on the roads around Halewood driving to Finch Farm, but on his way to Everton's training base last weekend, he was full of nerves.
The Scot, who returned to management exactly 27 years after his first game as Preston's new manager, has managed 698 Premier League games, more than double that of the next closest active manager in the top flight. But still, he felt like a man on the edge.
However, since he backed up to park next to the main entrance, he has only been moving forward, trying to get the club back to normal, like in 2002. And the relentlessness is such that there has been no time. for more nerves.
At 61, Moyes was practically retired. He joked that he was considering “hanging up his tactical board” and was at peace enjoying a quiet existence since leaving West Ham, living at a slower pace from his home on the Lancashire coast, not far from the Open golf course at Royal Lytham.
But as many veteran bosses have reflected, football management is a drug that sucks you back in. For Moyes, it was not about management in general (he turned down many potential jobs after leaving east London) but about managing Everton. It was itchy and needed to be scratched.
“I'm very excited,” he told us on Friday. 'It's something I do, something I love. I might not have done this for any other club, I think this is the only one. I'm back on the horse.'
David Moyes was nervous as he prepared for his first day back at Everton – no time for nerves now
Moyes was at peace enjoying a quiet existence since leaving West Ham and was close to retiring.
Everton was the only team he couldn't turn down: “I think the only one,” he said.
Back in the chair, back in the club that he keeps in his heart and to which he thought he had lost the opportunity to return. So how did your first week go? The first thing that caught Moyes' attention was the number of staff in the building.
When he left for Manchester United in 2013, it was a very tight operation: there are now hundreds of people patrolling Finch Farm and the country lane adjacent to it often acts as a surplus parking area, such is the volume of staff.
Moyes reflected that he is bad with names and will forget many of them at first, but he has warmly impressed everyone. That starts with the first team but extends to everyone, like the groundsmen he stopped to chat to or the security team who Moyes greeted.
One of his first decisions was to promote club legend Leighton Baines from under-18 coach to first-team staff, and it is also understood that academy head goalkeeper David Lucas will move into the senior set-up with the blessing of Jordan Pickford. .
It is worth saying that Pickford was personally recommended by Moyes to the late Everton chairman Bill Kenwright after the pair worked together at Sunderland. These measures, Moyes believes, will not only help bridge the gap between a stuttering academy (there is a lost generation of academy children, as many have been sold to help fund) but will also help it get people of its side from the beginning that understand the club perfectly for better and worse.
Former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam is a name being considered as a set-piece coach after he left Fleetwood just before Christmas. Watching Aston Villa's Tyrone Mings dominate Everton's forwards in the corners on Wednesday, it is clear that a new role is needed.
It will be a rarity if a former Liverpool player comes in, especially as former Toffees defender Johnny Heitinga is part of Arne Slot's Liverpool staff, much to Moyes' chagrin as the Dutchman left a memorable mark as part of his West Ham backroom team.
Alan Irvine will join the coaching staff in the coming days, with Billy McKinlay already in situ and taking a hands-on approach to training. Moyes was reviewing applications for potential staff last Saturday and sounding out candidates.
One of his first decisions was to promote club legend Leighton Baines (right) to the first team staff.
Jordan Pickford (pictured) also gave his blessing for academy goalkeeper boss David Lucas to step forward.
Former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam is a name being considered as a set-piece coach
The coach has also held meetings with most of the players. The messages to the stars have been described as “focused on the positive” but Moyes has not been afraid to lecture the team, productively, on their obvious shortcomings.
They didn't need to be told that improvements were needed on the field. The record of one win in their last 12 league games highlights this, as well as the damning statistic that they have scored a goal in just two of their last 11 games before Sunday's visit to Tottenham.
So Moyes didn't need to be a genius to know that one of his first ports of call should be Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He challenged the striker, who has scored two goals in 20 league games this season, to start giving and get more into the six-yard box.
The manager has leaned on club captain Seamus Coleman, the injured Irishman who took over at Baines as interim boss when Sean Dyche was sacked. Instead of showing Coleman the ropes, as Moyes did when hiring him in 2009, the roles were reversed.
One of Moyes' jokes has been that he wishes he could find more gems for £60,000, Coleman's transfer fee when he arrived from Sligo Rovers. He desperately wants new faces.
This is the world in 2025: no purchases worth £60,000 will be made. The club is in a much better situation when it comes to transfer deals after being cleared of further breaches of financial rules, as well as new ownership, but it is still far from easy to find deals.
Dyche used to say that managing Everton is like “juggling sand” and that dealing with negative fan noise is like “sticking your fingers in a burst dam.” Fans grew tired of his style of football but the former Burnley boss was a wordsmith.
Moyes is targeting a number of players in this window and has already spent many hours in the recruitment room, but he will not act for the sake of it. One problem Everton have is the rule that they can only have two domestic loans on their books.
Moyes has challenged Dominic Calvert-Lewin's mistake by moving deeper into the six-yard box.
He has leaned on club captain Seamus Coleman, who Moyes signed for the club back in 2009.
Jack Harrison is one of two national loans at the club, and Moyes is desperate to add bodies.
One of those positions is occupied by the energetic winger Jack Harrison, one of Dyche's favorites due to his work without the ball despite his poor attacking performance, and the other is Armando Broja, who will be injured for at least two months with his father. The Chelsea club is trying hard to call him.
That means loans for players in this country are off the table for now. Former Chelsea, Arsenal and Fulham star Willian has been offered to the club, among others such as Lyon winger Ernest Nuamah. But Moyes also understands that transfers will not solve everything, and much of the work will be done on the training pitch focusing on addressing their attacking problems.
Sources say Moyes' sessions focus much more on attacking drills, while Dyche focused on form and solidity. It is said that the players have already adapted to the new regime and enjoy the daily work more.
“It's only a week, but he's been right since he got here,” defenseman Jake O'Brien said. 'Your messages have been very positive. I think he just wants to start playing more, get a little more possession. Everything has been positive, you can see the ideas he is trying to implement.'
O'Brien was signed from Lyon in the summer for £17m, but played just 34 league minutes under Dyche. Moyes appreciates the 23-year-old's attributes, such as his pace, and his summer-acquired team-mate Jesper Lindstrom could also play more.
Moyes liked Lindstrom when he played for Eintracht Frankfurt and plans to give the Dane more opportunities after he was mainly limited to substitute appearances. He told Lindstrom that he preferred him on the right wing instead of the left, where he had been playing.
But overall, the Scotsman has focused on improving the culture and environment. He has spoken that this season will once again be 'clear' in terms of security, and in his first months he is 'gluing an Elastoplast' to Everton's problems.
Soon, the cuts from a decade of mismanagement on and off the field will begin to heal. Moyes, by his own admission, is no magician, but he knows this club better than most and his quest to improve its fortunes is underway.