Moyes dodges the dreaded seven-year hitch

DAVID MOYES can look back on his seven years at Everton from a position of some comfort, with the Toffees almost assured of European qualification this season and awaiting an FA Cup semi-final.

It is a measure of the Everton manager’s achievement that, marking the anniversary of his arrival with a comfortable win on Saturday, they did not need to be anywhere near their best to beat struggling Stoke at Goodison Park.

Moyes describes his current squad as “the best I have ever had” — all a far cry from what he inherited in 2002, and much of what he endured in the early years which followed.