The Scotsman could do with getting back to his mid-noughties self to help Sunderland stave off relegation fears.
The David Moyes that watches helplessly on as Sunderland collapse and capitulate on a week by week basis is merely a shadow of the vibrant, up-and-at-em young coach that inspired Everton to punch above their weight and ignore the restrictions of finance or tradition.
And Alan Stubbs, the Scotsman’s on-pitch general at Goodison Park, has explained to the Liverpool Echo just how much his former mentor has changed since his formative years at the helm of one of English football’s biggest clubs, turning them from perennial underachievers into precisely the opposite.
“When [Moyes] first came in he was all guns blazing, he would point the finger and tell people in no uncertain terms,” the recently departed former Rotherham United boss said.
“But as the years went by he started to realise that the shouting and balling was not necessarily having the response that was needed.
“David evolved as he went on.”
The Glaswegian certainly found a way to get the best out of his highly-motivated, blue-clad Everton warriors but, since making that ill-fated accession to Manchester United in 2013, is yet to rediscover that old Moyesie mojo.
His debut campaign at the Stadium of Light will not be remembered for his fighting spirit, more a feeling that he has rolled over and accepted fate. After all, just after his first game in charge, a narrow loss at Manchester City, he admitted that Sunderland were unlikely to improve to a great degree under his leadership.
Since day one he has been lowering expectations. And it’s perhaps fitting that The Black Cats find themselves at the bottom of the Premier League pile.
Sunderland fans will live in hope that some of Moyes’ fire lives on. As Stubbs says, ‘shouting and balling’ doesn’t always raise a response but desperate times call for desperate measures.
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