David Moyes: It's been tough but I have a duty to the players and Everton

But he also declared that his decision does not hinge on how many players he can bring in before then.

Moyes spoke candidly about the club's threadbare resources at yesterday's pre-match press conference at Finch Farm.

"I've never felt like leaving," he said.

"My biggest responsibility is to the players I've got here and to the boys I brought here. I believe they trust me and that I'll get it right.

"They expect me to produce players and get players who will help them be in Europe again and that's what I hope to do.

"I'm a really loyal person. That's my style and I'll back the club every way I can to win games.

"I've started to build something here. I've been here six years and I don't really think it's that long. I actually think it's quite a short time.

"I don't think much has changed with the contract situation. I'm a little bit closer on things than I was and we need to see how things go. There are one or two things to be sorted out and once I get them then I'll have a look at it.

"But I think that I have a duty to the players and to the club. I feel really loyal to the football club and to the supporters and to everybody here, but more to my players because we have a relationship and I want them to succeed. And if they're going to succeed then they need me to be the one who will help get them more players.

"At the moment I feel like I'm letting them down.

"I wouldn't say my contract hinges on getting new players. I wouldn't put it like that. Obviously I want to see what happens in the coming weeks but I wouldn't go as black and white as that."

The failure to land any new players during the summer sees Everton go into this afternoon's opening match of the season against Blackburn with a threadbare starting XI backed up by a subs bench of untried rookies.

Moyes added: "This is the smallest squad I've had but we knew the situation at the end of the season. We knew the injuries were all going to require surgery and we needed numbers.

"It's one of the most frustrating summers I've had because we had a great opportunity from where we were to try and kick on. But I understand the reasons why. The next bit is to get on with it and not whinge about it and it's what I've tried to do.

"Not every football manager is lucky enough to be gifted with a lot of cash.

"The market's harder to buy. There's not as many players. The best time to probably increase your squad would have been at the end of the season. But we started looking a little bit later than that.

"But you never know, it might turn out to be one of the most positive summers I've had.

"Not every time you make signings does it work to your advantage. What we have here is stability. We have 12/13 players here who know the workings of the club and know the way we work. We hope that will help us."

Asked why the club had failed to land any new faces he said: "They are reasons I have to keep private.

"The money's been there, but the availability of the players hasn't been there.

"For many different reasons things have just not fallen in the transfer market for us. We have got to bring in several players and the funds are there to do that, but you have to do your sums.

"I'm not really blaming anyone. It's not anyone's fault. It's not because we've not had money, it's not because we only want to pick certain levels of players, there have been a combination of factors - and we have been let down several times by people brokering deals.

"But the fans at Everton have seen some real bad times in the past, but I tell you what, this is possibly as good a time as we've had at Everton over the years apart from the really heady days.

"We have a good team, an improving team, a relatively stable football club. You only need to look at a lot of the other things going on at the other clubs in the Premier League to realise that Everton are maybe, behind it all, quite stable.

"Supporters, like me, want to see something on the field to shout about.

"But I think Everton can fulfil my ambitions because I think Everton are one of the major clubs in this country and have shown that in recent years they are on the verge of coming back.

"We've done it on a far smaller budget than other clubs, so Everton's a good club in a good position and I do think that they can fulfil my ambitions, but I want see progress and I want that progress to keep going.

"The club and the chairman have been fantastic in trying to get players. No-one has worked harder than the chairman to get players into the club."