David Moyes accused officials of killing the joy of football after the Everton boss was booked for his emotional celebrations following his side’s last-gasp equaliser against Brighton.
A jubilant Moyes raced on to the pitch at the Amex Stadium, punching the air in delight after Beto snatched a point for the Toffees in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
The 62-year-old’s antics conjured up memories of David Pleat’s famous jig after Luton survived relegation at Manchester City in 1983.
‘I hope you’re not going to call me Pleaty,’ joked Moyes. ‘The difference is David Pleat doesn’t get booked for it, does he? They think it’s okay because everyone enjoys seeing the celebrations. We are killing it that managers can’t come out of the technical areas to celebrate a goal.
‘You get booked for that? Imagine being booked for celebrating! Who wants to see managers getting booked for celebrating?
‘I don’t think I’d have danced down if the goal had come in the 55th minute. They have got nothing about them at all, no thoughts of what football means, of what it means to the managers without just saying, no, you can’t step outside the line or we’re going to book you. It’s f*****g sad, isn’t it. I am still shaking my head.’
David Moyes hit out at officials after he was booked for celebrating Everton’s 97th-minute goal
Beto’s dramatic goal at the death secured the Toffees’ draw away from home against Brighton
When Moyes was asked if he would do the same again, he replied: ‘I bloody will do it again! If I’d been a bit more mobile, I might have done a kneeslide!
‘That would only have got me a yellow as well, so I might as well have gone the whole hog!’
Maybe he should take his shirt off next time? ‘Now you’re going a bit too far!’
Moyes’s side had to ride their luck early on against mid-table rivals Brighton, who missed a few early chances through Kaoru Mitoma and Danny Welbeck, only to concede the opening goal from Pascal Gross in the second half during Everton’s most dominant period of play in which Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall missed a great chance and James Tarkowski had a header cleared off the line.
‘It was a bit of a crazy ending because it didn’t look as if we were going to get the equaliser,’ added Moyes. ‘I think it was deserved in many ways.’
