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
Duncan Ferguson from playing, Ferguson contacted his former manager at Everton, David Moyes. Ferguson apologised to Moyes for not shaking his hand when he left the club in 2005. The pair resolved their differences and Ferguson asked if he could work with the Everton academy students at Finch Farm. Initially Ferguson was a voluntary worker at the academy, working for fellow Glaswegian Alan Irvine, a former mentor of his from his playing career. Although Ferguson remains disappointed with the Scottish FA for what he sees as a lack of support following his sentencing in 1995, he enrolled on a nine-day Scottish FA