David Moyes played for Cambridge United, Bristol City, Shrewsbury Town and Dunfermline Athletic before ending his playing career with Preston North End. He became a coach at Preston, working his way up to assistant manager before eventually taking over as manager in 1998, his first managerial position. Moyes led Preston to the Division Two title in 1999–2000 and the Division One play-off final the following season. Moyes became manager of Everton in March 2002 and under him the club qualified for the third qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League in 2005 and reached the 2009 FA Cup Final. Upon reaching his
Sunderland A.F.C. season he resigned from the position. Sam Allardyce was appointed the next manager in October 2015, and the club was again saved from relegation at the end of the season. In July 2016, Allardyce left the club to be announced as manager for the English national team, and former Everton and Manchester United manager David Moyes was appointed as his replacement. Under Moyes, Sunderland made the worst ever start to a Premier League season, taking just two points from their opening 10 matches. The club was relegated to the second tier for the first time in 10 years at the