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
2009–10 Everton F.C. season next match, Everton travelled to Athens to play AEK Athens, winning the match 1–0 thanks to Bilyaletdinov's 6th-minute goal. The win allowed Everton to qualify for the knockout stage with one group stage game to spare thanks to Benfica's victory away to BATE. The win, however, was somewhat soured by injuries suffered by Jô, Sylvain Distin and Dan Gosling. In the Toffees' final group stage match, with several senior starters injured and the club having already secured passage into the knockout rounds, David Moyes fielded a young side against BATE. In all, seven teenagers saw action on the evening, including