Sunderland are a "big club" and can "do an Everton", says new boss David Moyes
The Scott announced his plans to turn the Black Cats into a top-half Premier League team but admitted they may have to win ugly to keep his impressive record
David Moyes called Sunderland a "big club" as he likened his new side to Everton when he arrived at Goodison Park in 2002.
The Scot was unveiled at the Stadium of Light on Monday morning as he makes his return to the the English top flight for the first time since his Manchester United nightmare.
And while Sam Allardyce was handed the England job on the back of rescuing the Black Cats from relegation last season, the former Everton manager said he was looking much higher as he looks to rebuild his reputation.
"Sunderland is a big club and we need to make progress up the league and compete where we should be competing," said Moyes, who was sacked by Real Sociedad in November last year.
"At the start we may have to win a few ugly but as we go along I hope it will become more exciting.
"This has got to be a building job. Hopefully I'm here for four years and I'll try and bring a level of stability to the club.
"This reminds me a little bit of Everton when I took over. Everton had been in the bottom six, I think, four out of the five years before I came in.
"In my last eight years I never finished outside the top eight. Hopefully we can do a bit of an Everton."
While Moyes has his sights on turning his side around in the same way he did at Goodison Park, the Scot is yet to make any moves in the transfer market.
The 52-year-old has plans to change that soon - but admitted the market is more difficult now than a decade ago.
"You've got to give us a wee bit of grace on that. It does take a bit of time, but we'll make it work. We'll get signings in.
"I am confident because if you look at the transfers we had at Everton I think we had the best transfer record of any club anywhere in the Premier League.
"I hope to somehow replicate that in my time at Sunderland. Can I do that right away? No.
"It's not as easy now as it was before. You're not going to change it in one transfer window and if we are a bit late in the transfer window we'll do the best we can.
"What we want to try and do is get the right players at the right price, like we did in the early days (at Everton). Players who we think can go the journey with us."
In terms of building his squad Moyes has been linked with a couple of familiar faces from his time at Manchester United, and the Scot admitted he would love to bring Marouane Fellaini or Adnan Januzaj to the North East.
“If any of those good players want to join me I'd be happy to have them," said Moyes.
"They're excellent players. We're interested but I'm sure there's a load of other clubs that are as well. We're interested in lots of good players.
"You have to have a realistic view. There'll be some players we can attract just now and some players we can't.
"We'll try and get the ones we can and the ones who want to come here and start on the new journey we're on."
Mirror
