In his first interview since leaving Old Trafford in April, Moyes told the BBC that he is now ready to return to football management after six months out of the job.
“I am ready to return.
“I have enjoyed the time off but I have got to wait on the right job and make sure it’s one that I want.”
Moyes signed a six-year-contract at United following a successful eleven-year reign at Everton, but was sacked after less than only 10 months in charge.
The Scot insisted that he can repair his reputation and prove his critics wrong in his potential return.
“I’m really ambitious,” he said. “I would never have left Everton for anybody but an ambitious football club. And I thought Manchester United would have given me that opportunity.
“It didn’t materialise that way, so I am hoping that the next club I join gives me the chance to build a team, because I think that is what I am good at.
“I also think that I am good at spotting and identifying young players, not only young players, but players.
“Over the years, we have brought in a lot of players at Everton and I think that they worked well. So if the opportunity came, then hopefully I will be able to make it work.”
Moyes was commended on his consistency of guiding Everton to the upper-end of the table in the Premier League and also led them to the qualifying stages of the Champions League in 2005.
But he presided over United’s worst ever Premier League season after being chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson to succeed him after a reign encumbered by silverware and triumph.
Moyes added that he would prefer a return to English football but is open to offers abroad.
“I’ve had several people contact me about jobs,” he added. “None of them have turned round and said ‘here is a job it’s yours’.
“But people have asked me if I have had any interest in jobs. The clubs that have come calling, I just felt that they weren’t right.”
Moyes said he will “know when the right club comes along”.
He added: “I needed a little bit of time just to make sure that I am ready, and I am feeling good to go back.”
Moyes denied he would only accept offers from clubs involved in European football despite saying he enjoyed his experience in the Champions League with United, who he led to the last eight of the competition before exiting at the hands of Bayern Munich.
“Getting to the quarter-final in the Champions League wasn’t a bad feat,” he said.
“I really enjoyed it – embraced it, actually loved the Champions League nights, and we did well.“We came up against Bayern Munich and we were a little bit unfortunate not to get ourselves through.”
Moyes has spent the summer relaxing, attending coaching conferences, and travelling, and says he has now recovered from the bruising experience he endured at Old Trafford.
“It’s the first time I’ve had off in about 30 years,” said Moyes.
“I’ve been involved in football since I was a young boy. I’ve enjoyed doing things you don’t get the opportunity to do when you’re in the job.
“When you’re in the job, you’re full on all the time. I’ve played some great golf courses, enjoyed a bit of horse racing, spent a bit of time with the family so it’s been good.”
Moyes is currently under and bounded by a confidential agreement in his severance deal, but says the manner in which he was dismissed as United manager still hurts.
“I got the job and I expected it to be a six-year plan,” he said. “I signed a six-year contract… disappointed it didn’t go to plan. I expected to be given an opportunity to fulfil that and it wasn’t what was expected.
“It was really difficult when I lost the job initially because I didn’t really see it coming, even though I had been losing games.
“I knew that it could be difficult but I joined a club that I felt stood behind their managers, made sure they supported them in difficult times. And, you know, Sir Alex had difficult times when he first took over.
“And I do understand that the landscape has changed a little bit in football, but I think that United always stood for the right things and I expected them to do what was right with me.”
United appointed Louis Van Gaal, who has won titels with Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AZ Alkmaar and also coached Netherlands at the recent World CUp in Brazil, as a replacement for Moyes.
But Van Gaal himself has also endured difficult times already as Manchester United boss, losing 4-0 to MK Dons, and 5-3 to newly-promoted side Leicester City in the 5th round of the Premier League.
When asked what the reaction would have been if he was in charge at the time of the hefty defeats to lower-level clubs, Moyes responed by saying:
“I daren’t imagine what would have been said about it.
“But Louis van Gaal has got a difficult job as well, just like I did when I took over at the job, and he needs to be given that opportunity to get his mark on the team, turn it around.
“He is a very experienced manager and he should be given that chance to do so.”
By Ollie Carroll
Twitter: @Ollie_Carroll_
