THE volume of interest in David Moyes has risen to the point that it has come to drown out almost everything else.

That was inevitable during a week in which any movement in English football became amplified as Sir Alex Ferguson gestured towards the exit, the Manchester United manager's decision to step down at the end of the season creating as big a palaver as when the Pope decided that he was chucking it and all earlier in the campaign.

Moyes was reluctant to add to all that yesterday by speaking directly about his impending switch to Old Trafford, although there has been no shortage of those willing to do the talking for him.

The appointment of a manager will always employ others to positions of authority; figures from Moyes' past and those whose opinions have been formed within English football have been rounded up and invited to help build the picture of a coach which will soon be hung on display at United. Well, unless he wins his first Manchester derby. Indeed, so many have come forward to give their two cents' worth we could have pooled it together to buy Moyes a nice fruit basket. Or Marouane Fellaini.

James McFadden did not scrimp when asked for his yesterday, either. The forward was just 20 when he first encountered Moyes, his early steps at Motherwell having taken him all the way down to Goodison for discussions over an initial contract which would stretch over 4½ seasons, but a decade later and the experience has scarcely been touched by time. McFadden had been bemused to find the Everton manager at his desk so late in the day – "It was probably 10 o'clock at night and he was there and came to speak to me" – but it was not long before such dedication came to seem normal for a manager whose attention to detail is known to be exhaustive.

It seems pertinent, then, to note the highlights of their time together on Merseyside, such as the opening goal in a 1-1 draw with United at Old Trafford in December 2005 and a crucial equaliser in a UEFA Cup tie with Metalist Kharkiv in 2007. Those moments were given in service to his club, but they also allowed McFadden to mark his progress under a manager who immediately set the bar that little bit higher.

The forward considers his time at Goodison to have been exacting – "At the time I thought he was extra hard on me and I didn't understand it" – but the demands placed on him never seemed to weigh heavily. Moyes has proven adept at pulling that wee bit extra from his players, although perhaps more impressive is that they never push back.

"Every single day, nothing but the best was good enough. You weren't allowed a slack day. If there were any days when it was slack, he just sent you home," said McFadden, who has been informed that he will not be included in the Scotland squad to face Croatia in a World Cup qualifier next month. "You'd be sent off the pitch. There were times he sent the whole squad off and said: 'come back tomorrow and get your heads right.' That was it. You'd be walking off the training pitch at 11 o'clock. That shows the work ethic he's got and the standards he sets."

Moyes' had lost little of his energy when he re-signed McFadden on a short-term deal two years ago, with the forward having since retraced his steps back to Motherwell. He found a manager whose features had hardened, though, and the Scotland internationalist is confident that Moyes will be able to weather the conditions of working at United. "He still had the same ethics and the same way of going about his business but he'd definitely changed," said McFadden.

"There are not many people who would look forward to trying to fill Sir Alex Ferguson's shoes but he is up for the job and that says enough about him straight away. When he took over at Everton, he didn't take any staff with him and just went into it himself; he wanted to show everybody he could do everything himself. He took the warm-ups, he took training every day and he is still like that. He is so hands-on and he has learned to deal with players who play at a high level."

McFadden might contest that he has, as well. Now 30, he has performed brightly since returning to Fir Park in February, scoring four times including two against Inverness Caledonian Thistle last weekend, but he is still in the dark over his future. "I've not spoken to the manager and he's not asked to speak to me," added McFadden ahead of a match with Ross County tomorrow. "I don't know what the club's plans are, because it looks like the budget is going to get cut again. I've got no preferences [for next season]. We will see how it goes over the summer."