Everton anxious for David Moyes, but the Scottish manager is set to become the successor Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.

Everton manager David Moyes has emerged as the favourite to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager with the club hopeful of announcing his appointment imminently.

The other leading contender, Real Madrid coach José Mourinho, is understood not to be in the running for the job with Chelsea confident that their former manager will still rejoin the London club in the summer subject to agreeing a compensation package with Real Madrid.

Sir Alex Ferguson announced on Wednesday that he is retiring as manager after nearly 27 years in charge at Old Trafford and an appointment is expected shortly with Moyes the overwhelming frontrunner.

Manchester United will be looking to the long term with the hiring of a successor, rather than a quick fix. David Gill, United’s chief executive, has stated that Ferguson’s heir will be a candidate who can involve himself in all aspects of the club, not just the first team, and that he must have the “requisite football experience in terms of domestic and European experience”.

Gill also stated that while Ferguson will have an important say on who succeeds him, the new manager will be given space by the Scot to immerse himself in the role.

Gill told MUTV: “The qualities are the ones that have been inherent in Manchester United for many years. If you look at what happened in our two most successful years, with Sir Matt Busby and then Sir Alex, we had managers there who sort of got involved with the whole aspects of the club, whether it be from the youth team aspects, up to the first team, all the aspects of it. And that degree of loyalty, understanding [that] the football club is not just what happens on the first-team pitch is crucial to the success of Manchester United.

“Clearly he’s got to have the requisite football experience in terms of domestic and European experience. It’s a small pool [of candidates] but we’ll move forward.”

These criteria may be a hint that Moyes, who has built Everton from the bottom up during his 11 years at the club, is among those being seriously considered. While he has never won a trophy, the Scot has experience of managing in the Uefa Cup (now the Europa League) and one attempt at guiding Everton in the Champions League during the 2005-06 season, though the club failed to qualify for the group stages.

Moyes took training as normal on Wednesday before leaving in a car with his brother, who is also his agent, to travel to London to watch the match between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. So far there has been no official approach to Everton yet a number of former United players have backed Moyes as Alex Ferguson’s successor.

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