David Moyes makes Man Utd revelation as Preston North End legend admits Sheffield Wednesday job offer
Several top-flight clubs made an attempt to prize the Scotsman away from Preston North End, but he remained loyal to them.
David Moyes has revealed he turned down four job offers from the Premier League to remain as manager of Preston North End.
Moyes went from player to manager at Deepdale as he took over from Gary Peters in 1998. He guided the Lilywhites to safety and took the club to Division Two promotion, before coming just 90 minutes away from the English top-flight.
The 61-year-old's record at North End was 113 wins, 58 draws and 63 defeats over 234 matches, before he was prized away by Everton in 2002.
Speaking on the PNE Pod: The Official Preston North End Podcast, Moyes said: “Sheffield Wednesday were a Premier League team, had asked me would I take the job.
“Southampton had met me. Nottingham Forest. It sounds terrible, because it sounds like you’re going behind people’s back but I wasn’t, you know, and in the end I was really loyal (to Preston).
“Nottingham Forest flew me and met me in Nice to become the manager of Nottingham Forest at the time.”
Moyes would eventually end up at Manchester United in 2013, not as Sir Alex Ferguson's number two but as his replacement. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him at Old Trafford and he was sacked just 10 months in to a six-year contract.
He added: “So I was getting lots of opportunities to go into jobs. Probably the biggest one was when I was at North End where Sir Alex had asked me to become the number two at that time at Manchester United.
“Well, there was only two of us, me and Steve McClaren, and he chose Steve McClaren. But I actually was quite happy because we were doing really well at Preston, going well, team was going well.
“It sounds terrible, the only real disappointment was that year Man United won the European Cup and I’m thinking, my goodness…”
After leaving North End, Moyes would forge a career as a Premier League manager. He'd guide Everton to a fourth-place finish and a shot at Champions League football. The Scot also spent a year in Spain managing Real Sociedad and later managed Sunderland, before having two spells at West Ham.
In his second spell with the Hammers, Moyes won the UEFA Conference League, but stood down from his post last summer, where he was replaced by Julen Lopetegui.
Since being out of management, Moyes has done some work with UEFA as a technical observer.