'Everton have been there before. It's not as though the heights are untouchable'

The Blue renaissance: Moyes draws a parallel with the Valencia experience as Goodison feelgood factor kicks in

The first thing you notice is the eyes. Soft and blue, translucent, they pierce you like lasers. If it can be slightly unnerving for his interrogators at Everton's Bellefield training ground, what must those all- observing sensors be like for David Moyes' charges, you wonder?

Because this is a man who leaves you in no doubt that he doesn't miss a lot. The Everton manager has read voraciously and digested the thoughts of those who have preceded him in management. He has endeavoured to scrutinise the most successful, like Sir Alex Ferguson, in their own workplace, the training ground. And he has listened avidly to them, too.

Over the 17 years since he decided that he wasn't going to make it as a top player – although he declares that with a modesty which defies the the fact he played in Europe and won a championship medal with Celtic – Moyes has gradually formulated his own philosophies.

Some ideas are evident from the supremely fit, splendidly-organised team he has blended, largely from the players he was bequeathed when he arrived in March, but also by assimilating players like the towering on-loan Nigerian defender Joseph Yobo, with whom Everton are in the process of concluding a permanent move, the young full-back Tony Hibbert and, of course, the precociously gifted Wayne Rooney.

Other beliefs have to be witnessed first-hand. When Moyes agrees that he "tends to be hands-on", it brooks no argument. You cannot imagine Ferguson, Wenger, Houllier et al, for example, ever limbering up with their players before a game, on the pitch. Moyes revels in the practice. "I don't think my players prepare any differently from any other club. I just happen to be out there, running about with them," he says. He continues with a wry smile: "At Preston I had to do it because I didn't have that many staff, but then I started to realise that I enjoyed being out there on the field with the players. You begin to appreciate whether any players look like they need a gee-up. But I also think it shows a united front, that we are all in this together."

By all accounts, he is tough and demanding, but Moyes also appears intensely loyal to and protective about his players, as epitomised when he stood up forcibly for David Weir after Scotland coach Berti Vogts had castigated the defender because of a mistake.

Thus far, too, he has nurtured 17-year-old Rooney with aplomb, deploying him with great care and attempting to shield him from the full intensity of public exposure. In a brief appearance during last Saturday's 1-0 defeat of West Bromwich, Everton's fifth consecutive victories by that scoreline, the teenager stopped in possession and devilishly dropped his shoulders, à la Paul Gascoigne, when confronted by Darren Moore. The moment provoked accusations of "showboating" and some old-fashioned dark words from the defender. "I wouldn't advise him to do it again, otherwise he'll learn the hard way," said Moore.

Has Moyes whispered a warning in his young protégé's ear? Apparently not. "I've not mentioned it at all," insists the manager. "Part of Wayne's game is that he plays with an air of arrogance and I certainly wouldn't want to take that away from him."

Like Middlesbrough's Steve McClaren, the 39-year-old Glaswegian has emerged through a quiet, self-educated route, not as a high-profile former international entering via the fast track. Moyes qualified as a coach in Scotland at 22 and when he moved south to Cambridge United, in the early Eighties, he completed his English coaching badge. Tactics were always his passion as he continued on a lower-league tour that took him to Bristol City, Shrewsbury, back to Dunfermline, then, fortuitously, to Preston North End, where he was granted his opportunity to excel in management.

It was while he was first at Deepdale that he wrote to Bobby Robson, then coach of Barcelona. "I asked him if I could go and watch his squad training. He sent me a full-page hand-written letter on Barcelona headed notepaper in reply. I thought that was fantastic, that he would spend the time to send that to a guy he probably didn't even know much about, maybe not at all. There was a humility to it. As it was, I couldn't get out there before he left, but I've kept the letter."

Today the men meet at St James' Park. Everton will be quietly fancied against Newcastle, but Moyes is sage enough to appreciate the inherent danger of confronting a team who have conceded nine goals, albeit to Manchester United and Internazionale, in the past week. "They are a good side and a dangerous animal at the moment," Moyes declares.

The renaissance of Newcastle is an encouragement to all clubs who have been in decline. Back in the Eighties, when Howard Kendall's fine side were in their pomp, Everton were among the "Big Five" First Division clubs. But decay set in as perniciously as bacteria attacking neglected teeth, and despite the best intentions of chairman Bill Kenwright in latter years and the dedication of Moyes' predecessor, Walter Smith, the club were reduced to chewing on their gums. Their bite as a potent title contender had long disappeared when Moyes arrived.

Sceptics will suggest that a club who provide their manager with a mere £5m in the close season is but a shooting star, a fleeting wonder but doomed to turn into ashes. Maybe so, but for the moment the health of the Premiership must surely be benefited by the presence of Everton among the leading clubs? "I think it's important," says Moyes. "If you had asked, say three or four years ago, whether Valencia would win the Spanish league, you'd have probably said 'No chance', but they've achieved it and done really well in the Champions' League. So, that gives everyone hope that it can happen here."

He adds: "Let's be fair, Everton have been there before. It's not as though the heights are untouchable. We have to attempt to get as close as we can and at the moment there's a great confidence around the club, a real feelgood factor."

Already Moyes is being likened to Ferguson and not merely because of a shared birthplace. It has even been suggested he may succeed the master when he retires. It is absurdly premature, but while Everton's revitalisation continues, the assumption will persist. Moyes dismisses it, though he doesn't conceal his admiration for the Old Trafford incumbent.

"I've read Alex's life story. In fact, I've learnt a lot from books, from reading about what other people have done," he says. "I always used to go to see teams train and United were one of them. I just wanted to pick up ideas. But ultimately you have to develop your own management skills and get the right balance for the group of players you've got."

Yet, must his horizons not be inevitably restricted by the lack of financial clout? "At least I don't have to sell players. I can keep those I want to keep, and that gives you a platform," he argues. "You don't feel as though you're having to chop and change. When I came I was promised that nobody would be sold unless it is with my understanding. Hopefully there will be one or two new faces this season and they will be part of the building blocks."

And as skilled architect of the new Goodison construction company, it looks as though Moyes has worked out where every piece will go.