David Moyes rise to £6 million. All of this gave Everton and its fans cause for optimism as a string of strong performances broke the pattern inconsistency which saw league finishes of 15th, 7th, 17th, 4th and 11th under Moyes. His reputation as a disciplinarian could be seen to manifest in Everton's yellow card count. They received just 27 yellow cards all season – the lowest in the league and six fewer than their nearest rival Liverpool. Moyes recruited Steve Round as his assistant manager for the 2008–09 season to replace Alan Irvine, who had taken over as Preston North End manager
David Weir (Scottish footballer) by planetfootball's readers, with Weir the only player to reach four figures in terms of votes. In the Merseyside derby match on 19 April 2003, Weir received his first red card for the club as Everton lost 2-1 and played with 9 men after Gary Naysmith was also sent off. He had a very successful time with the Merseyside club, playing regularly for eight years, making 269 appearances (scoring 10 goals in the process), playing in European competition, becoming club captain under two different managers – Walter Smith and David Moyes – and winning the bulk of his Scotland caps