Never go back? For managers like David Moyes, where’s the fun in that?

There’s an Italian phrase that feels relevant to the football world this week: ‘Minestra riscaldata’.

It roughly translates to ‘Reheated soup never tastes as good’ and typically refers to couples who reconcile after splitting up. It’s a rather more lyrical and elegant version of the English term ‘Never go back’.

That sentiment will probably have been rattling around David Moyes’ head as he returned to Everton, the club where he made his reputation, on Saturday for a second stint as their manager. His first spell at Goodison Park started with saving them from relegation out of the Premier League and lasted over a decade, by the end of which they were a fixture in the top third of its table. His time accounts for five of the club’s seven best finishes in the Premier League era and their joint-highest finish (fourth in the 2004-05 season) since they last won the English league in 1987.

How does Moyes realistically improve on that? Isn’t anything in his second go as their manager going to be a disappointment? Why sully the beautiful memories of the past with an underwhelming return?

There’s certainly a decent stack of cautionary tales, examples of where a manager returning to the site of former glory goes belly up.

Kevin Keegan’s second stint with Newcastle United in 2008 lasted 22 games and ended in recriminations and his refusal to even attend games at St James’ Park. Luiz Felipe Scolari went from being the man who won the World Cup for Brazil in 2002 to being the man who lost 7-1 to Germany in the semi-finals of the 2014 tournament. Louis van Gaal left Barcelona in 2000 having won two league titles in his three seasons but by the end of his second spell in charge in January 2003, they were hovering just above the relegation zone.

You could also interpret going back as an act of desperation, an admission that things haven’t gone well in your career since you left, so it’s time for something more familiar. Like a version of the old stand-up comedy joke: “They say you play Venue X twice in your career: once on the way up and once on the way down. Anyway, it’s great to be back.”

Moyes going back to Everton is the 15th time a Premier League manager has (permanently — not including caretaker spells) returned to a club they led before. In almost all of those cases, they have not bettered the win percentage from their first spell.

So the adage is true: never go back.

Well, no.

Most of those cases, despite the raw statistics suggesting round two was a disappointment, actually went pretty well, or at least served a purpose.

New manager Moyes spent 11 years at Everton during his first spell in charge (Paul Thomas/Getty Images)

It ended badly for Jose Mourinho in his second stint at Chelsea but he did win the Premier League during it. Kenny Dalglish was never going to repeat his glory days at Liverpool when he came back in 2012 but he stabilised the club, and made everyone feel a bit better about themselves following the bleak calamities of the Roy Hodgson/Tom Hicks and George Gillett era.

Harry Redknapp left Portsmouth in 2004, went to arch-rivals Southampton and essentially relegated them, then returned to Fratton Park and won the 2007-08 FA Cup. Watford had slipped into the third tier in the years following Graham Taylor’s glorious 1980s but he came back post-England and took them back to the Premier League. Hodgson righted the Crystal Palace ship after he accepted his former job again in March 2023.

And then there’s Moyes himself, who won the Europa Conference League, West Ham’s first major honour in 43 years, after returning 18 months on from the end of his first spell. Plus he has the trophy of satisfaction, given that both his successors there,  Manuel Pellegrini and Julen Lopetegui, turned out to be failures.

There are plenty more examples beyond the Premier League. Carlo Ancelotti’s encore at Real Madrid has yielded two league titles and two Champions Leagues. At the same club, Zinedine Zidane won La Liga after coming back. Brendan Rodgers is on his way to the second Scottish Premiership crown of his return to Celtic. Claudio Ranieri is a hero at Roma precisely because he keeps reappearing and digging them out of a hole, which he is presently doing for the third time. Fatih Terim is the king of comebacks, having managed Galatasaray on four occasions (winning the title in three of those) and the Turkish national team three times.

Were these second spells better than the first? No, most weren’t. But that isn’t a particularly convincing reason not to do it.

Moyes also plumped for a second spell at West Ham – and won them a European trophy in 2023 (Daniel Leal/AFP)

In any case, does it really matter — in terms of reputation at least — if a manager’s second spell goes badly? When you think of Keegan at Newcastle, which of his two tenures do you remember? Exactly.

A decision to return to a previous club might be taken for the wrong reasons. It is hard to recreate the same conditions, the same emotions, the same football as the first time around. It must be tempting in these scenarios to gravitate towards something familiar, to allow the bad memories to fade and only think of the good times, to let fuzzy and warm sentimentality guide you.

Moyes essentially admitted that this was a factor in his choice this time, telling a press conference on Monday that “Everton is different” and that “this is a different beast to me than other clubs”.

But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. There are many worse reasons to choose a particular career move than emotion. Sure, he might fail back at Everton, but what if he succeeds?

Any manager facing the possibility of returning to the scene of past glory should probably think of it this way: if you succeed, you’re a hero, but if you fail, most people will just remember the first spell anyway.

GO DEEPER

Why he said 'yes' and warnings to players - analysing Moyes' first press conference back at Everton

(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)