West Ham boss David Moyes says he'll always be close to Everton.

While there have been subsequent spells at Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland and now a second tenure at West Ham, Moyes acknowledges that the Blues will always retain a special place in his heart.

Moyes, who had been linked with a return to Goodison Park last summer before Farhad Moshiri appointed Rafa Benitez, told the Liverpool Echo: “Obviously my loyalties now lie with West Ham but Everton has played such a big part of my life and my family's life with them growing up. I had incredible encouragement from Sir Philip Carter, Bill Kenwright and the board at that time. They gave me the opportunity to build a team.

“Looking back, they were good times at Everton in terms of building it and making it better and we had some incredible nights at Goodison. We didn't win any trophies but we got to a cup final, which nowadays is very difficult in any competition.

“There was also a semi-final, the run in Europe when we lost on penalty kicks (to Fiorentina) and the season we made the Champions League and different things happened that year.

“We're desperate to do something at West Ham but it's really hard because of the level of competition and the Premier League is so tough.

“I think there were much more successes than failures at Everton and I really enjoyed my time there but I'm at a new club now and I'm working hard to make them better."