Moyes' Programme Notes For Sunderland Cup Tie

If there’s one thing you learn being a football manager in England, it’s the importance of the FA Cup. It’s an incredibly traditional competition. It’s something all supporters want to be connected with, and all managers also.

It’s very easy for me to say I’d love to win the FA Cup, the harder part is getting through all the rounds, getting to Wembley on Cup final day and then winning there.

My big FA Cup memory was getting to the Cup final in 2009 when we lost to Chelsea.

It was a huge day for everybody connected with the Club, and if I could have one wish, it would have been to have held onto our lead that day and to have lifted the FA Cup for everyone connected with our football club.

We start off on that road today and welcome Regis Le Bris and his Sunderland staff and squad to Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time. They will be backed by a huge visiting support.

The one thing about the FA Cup is its appeal to supporters, and the visiting fans will help generate a great atmosphere and make us all very aware we are involved in a Cup tie.

It’s never an easy draw when you face a fellow Premier League side – but we have been granted home advantage and we need to use that to find a way to get through to the next round.

Today is also significant to me for another reason, it is almost a year ago to the day since I came back to Everton. This time last year it was all done relatively quickly and it was something I was really excited about becoming part of once again.

There was also a lot of trepidation and worry! There was a concern I might have been the manager responsible for the Club falling out of the Premier League after 71 successive years of top-flight football.

I have to say that steering the Club away from relegation, followed by the emotional departure from Goodison Park and the proud arrival at Hill Dickinson Stadium made for an incredible 2025 for me. With each of those experiences being so positive meant I was able to really enjoy my first year back at Everton.

I believe we have made improvements during that time. Some have felt major, some have felt more modest.

But we all know our job now is to continue on that trajectory and make sure we take Everton towards a much more stable and secure place than we have been in recent years. For that we should all be thankful for the work of the new ownership, the Friedkin family.

Over the course of the past 12 months, our results have undoubtedly been much improved, and performances generally have been at a better level than when I first came in. Every player who pulls on a shirt to play for Everton must understand all the ingredients which make this football club great and that 100-per-cent effort and commitment at all times is a prerequisite.

My first 11 years here at the Club as manager taught me so much about Everton, its char-acter, the expectation levels and what being an Evertonian means in the city of Liverpool.

We may be in a different era now but so many of the values from the past still exist, the values which existed in Howard Kendall’s teams, through to Joe Royle’s teams and, I hope, David Moyes’ teams. I hope we can continue living up to those values and continue to rebuild a lot of the things that we know still need to be fixed.

Once again this has been a quick turnaround from our last match. We are still in a period where games are coming thick and fast and we are having to ask our players to show their capabilities at the highest level once more.

I also hope you all still have some wind in your pipes to give us the noise and the backing in what we know will be a difficult game today!

Enjoy the game.

David