Frank Lampard: New Everton manager 'a unity candidate who can heal divisions'
- Published
- comments
It's an honour to manage Everton - Lampard
This time a year ago, Frank Lampard was coming to terms with his brutal sacking as Chelsea manager after his return to Stamford Bridge, which held so much promise, turned sour.
Now Lampard, a Chelsea icon as the club's all-time leading scorer, is preparing to take charge of another of English football's great institutions in vastly different circumstances.
Twelve months on from his Chelsea dismissal, Lampard assumes control as Everton manager with the Merseyside club mired in supporter unrest and sinking like a stone towards the Premier League relegation zone after the ill-advised and short-lived reign of Rafael Benitez.
The former England midfielder has waited for his moment to return, and after a chaotic recruitment process, Everton owner Farhad Moshiri has alighted on the unity candidate to lift spirits and heal divisions at Goodison Park.
The sensible choice
"Sensible" is not a word much associated with Everton in recent times as Moshiri's high-risk strategy of appointing former Liverpool manager Benitez in the face of supporter suspicion and reservations in his own boardroom went wrong.
The arrival of Lampard, an intelligent thinker on the game with a forward-looking approach, could redress the balance.
Moshiri may have taken the scenic route in his managerial search, but there is a feeling inside Everton that he may have arrived at the right destination.
Once Benitez was sacked after the 2-1 defeat at Norwich City, Everton turned to Belgium coach and former manager Roberto Martinez - a move laced with irony because he was the first of five men in charge who have been sacked by Moshiri. Martinez's dismissal in May 2016 came amid the sort of fan protests that have been seen again in recent times.
Former striker Wayne Rooney declined to enter the pageant of candidates for an interview, instead opting to stay at Derby County. So it boiled down to Lampard, Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira and current caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson.
Pereira was initially Moshiri's favoured choice, but he also became a target for fan anger along with agent Kia Joorabchian, who Everton fans feel exerts too much influence over Moshiri's thinking.
The reaction put Moshiri on the back foot, leaving 53-year-old Pereira to re-enact his job interview and state his case in a 20-minute live TV interview, which actually appeared to do his chances more harm than good.
It allowed Lampard back into the race, and once a final round of interviews was conducted on Friday, the job was his.
Lampard is already a popular choice with supporters who are distrustful of the decision-making progress at Everton. His popularity is a big plus for Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright, who has also been under heavy fire from fans.
Moshiri could not afford another Benitez-style corrosive appointment, which Pereira was shaping up to be - so Lampard may turn out to be the best man available to Everton in a limited field.
Frank Lampard was sacked by Chelsea last season, before the Blues went on to win the Champions League
Rejuvenated Lampard will have learned lessons
Lampard has used his year out of the game to spend more time with his family but also to prepare for his comeback. Now he can make that comeback at Everton, with its history and tradition plus a fierce and passionate fanbase who will relate to him as one of the finest players of the modern era.
In fact, the Lampard family already has a strong, albeit rather painful, connection with Everton. Frank Lampard Sr scored a famous headed winner deep into extra time in the 1980 FA Cup semi-final when West Ham went on to win the trophy.
And Everton's new manager scored the winning goal when Chelsea beat the Toffees in the 2009 FA Cup final.
He has been linked with jobs regularly in his absence and is intelligent enough to have learned from his demise at Chelsea, where it should be stated he finished fourth and reached an FA Cup final in his one full season while operating under a transfer embargo and after the loss of his biggest game-changer, Eden Hazard.
Lampard will bring a stronger coaching team to Everton and will be armed with the experience of dealing with big players, egos, expectation and an owner who can react with volatility and speed to bad results.
And, as someone so closely associated with success, Lampard will want to correct the harsh impression that his time at Chelsea was a failure when much of it was a source of credit in the circumstances.
The 43-year-old admitted his pride took a hit with his Chelsea sacking, so Everton are getting a man and a manager with a point to prove, on a mission to set the record straight after a rare blemish on a glittering career.
What's in Lampard's in tray at Everton?
Well, the "in tray" will have to be large to fit everything in.
Lampard arrives with the immediate plus of being welcomed by fans after the toxicity of the latter days of Benitez. For all the talk of supporters refusing to give Benitez a chance, any manager would have been in trouble with only six points from a possible 39.
And therein lies Lampard's priority.
He must somehow galvanise a team that has looked unfit for purpose and that has mentally disintegrated in the past few weeks, too often unable to cope with adversity and being frequently overrun in a wretched series of results.
Duncan Ferguson impressed during a first spell in caretaker charge in 2019 but his second stint has been short lived
Caretaker boss Ferguson could not inspire the required bounce in the home loss to Aston Villa, but a fresh pair of eyes with no previous connection to the club or psychological baggage may be beneficial.
Everton will face Brentford in the FA Cup fourth round at Goodison Park next weekend before what can now be termed a relegation battle at Newcastle United, a home meeting with Leeds United and a visit to Southampton.
He must hope his key strikers Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin stay fit together, a luxury Benitez was rarely afforded; find a way to bolster a midfield that will be missing key figure Abdoulaye Doucoure for the next four weeks; and restore the shattered confidence in Everton's defence.
Lampard deserves real credit for his determination to use youth both at Derby County and particularly at Chelsea, where he mentored and developed players including Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Reece James, all now England internationals.
He will find a fine emerging talent at Everton in winger Anthony Gordon and Scotland's 20-year-old right-back Nathan Patterson, who has just arrived from Rangers.
There was also a rare piece of good news this week when highly rated 19-year-old forward Lewis Dobbin signed a new contract after fears he might be lured away from Goodison Park.
Jarrad Branthwaite, also 19, showed his potential with a towering defensive performance and a goal in the 1-1 draw at Chelsea in December.
If these youngsters deserve selection, Lampard will reward them, and his status as a player of recent vintage who claimed all the big prizes at Chelsea means they are likely to look up to their new manager.
Ferguson, whose hopes of being appointed manager were dashed, will now work on the backroom staff of his seventh Everton manager, seemingly happy to operate in the shadows rather than leave the Goodison Park bubble to prove his credentials elsewhere.
What influence he wields remains to be seen as Lampard surrounds himself with an experienced backroom team including Paul Clement, the former Derby County and Swansea City manager who worked alongside former Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, Paris St-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, as well new assistant manager Joe Edwards, who has moved to Merseyside from Chelsea.
Lampard will work to repair recent fractures in relationships with Everton fans, and his personality and stature are powerful weapons in that pursuit.
What he needs first and foremost, though, is a fast start with good results to put his new club's season back in some sort of shape and ease those growing fears of a relegation fight.
It is a huge challenge - but exactly the kind of one Lampard has been waiting 12 months for.
Our coverage of Everton is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment
