David Moyes took a glug of water and glanced up at the big screen away to his right, almost as if he wanted confirmation that what he was seeing was true.

Had he looked behind him, Moyes would have seen Andy Burnham and his wife, Marie-France, in raptures, along with thousands of others. It was true, all right. Everton had scored their third goal and were bounding into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, seemingly without a care in the world.

What a happy change of direction. Moyes has spent months spinning plates, dealing with owners who do not care about a proud club and want to sell up and a squad that was left criminally short in the transfer window. Then, before Newcastle’s visit, came more disruption.

Jack Grealish’s selfish and reckless decision to go Awol from training on Monday could have been a catalyst for more misery and invited Newcastle to deliver a hammer blow to Everton’s season, but again, Moyes fostered a siege mentality.…