Major Changes At Everton
Amidst a dreadful stretch, Everton Football Club have sacked their manager Frank Lampard.
The 44-year-old exits Everton after spending less than a year at the club, having taken the job on January 31st last year, 357 days ago. According to the Daily Mail, club owner Farhad Moshiri fired the former Chelsea boss over a phone call, and despite the news breaking early on Sunday afternoon, the club did not release an official statement on Lampardās dismissal until a little after 8 pm BST, more than five hours later.
āEverton Football Club can confirm that Frank Lampard has left his post as Senior Menās First Team Manager today,ā the club statement read. āJoe Edwards, Paul Clement, Ashley Cole, and Chris Jones have also left the clubā¦ Everyone at Everton would like to thank Frank and his coaching staff for their service during what has been a challenging 12 months.ā
The club confirmed that Paul Tait and Leighton Baines will take charge of the team until a new manager is appointed. Lampard had a meeting on Sunday with club owner Farhad Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright, and director of football Kevin Thelwell and said thereafter that his future at the club was not assured.
Despite buying into the culture of the club and earning the support of the Everton fans, Lampardās track record with the Toffees left much to be desired. The Englishman leaves the club with a measly 27.3 win percentage, earning 12 victories from 44 matches across all competitions.
Everton have only won three games in the Premier League so far this season and currently sit 19th on the Premier League table, level on points with bottom-side Southampton and two points adrift of Wolves who sit in 17th. The Toffees are winless in 10 games across all competitions and are on a poor run of four straight losses.
While many were of the assumption that Evertonās 2-0 defeat to West Ham last the weekend was likely to be Lampardās last straw at the club, the sacking has caused a magnifying look at the ownership and overall running of the club at Everton rather than an intent look at a head coaching replacement.
Everton has been hitting the headlines in recent weeks, with fans holding multiple off-pitch protests in the past month, mostly toward the clubās hierarchy. Some players, including center-back Yerry Mina and forward Anthony Gordon were also confronted by angry supporters after the teamās loss to Southampton at Goodison Park last week, a game in which the Everton board of directors was instructed not to attend due to a āreal and credible threat to their safety and security.ā
The outcome of a safety assessment carried out by the clubās security advisors on January 14 revealed a credible threat to the safety of the Everton board, forcing club Chairman Bill Kenwright, CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Chief Finance & Strategy Officer Grant Ingles, and Non-Executive Director Graeme Sharpe to skip the game. The match was the first time in Evertonās history that the board was ordered not to attend a club match on safety grounds.
āThis is an unprecedented decision for Everton Football Club,ā a club spokesperson said. āNever before has our entire Board of Directors been ordered not to attend a match on safety grounds. It is a profoundly sad day for Everton and Evertonians.ā
While Evertonās recent success on the pitch has been lacking, it hasnāt come from a lack of financial investment. Ever since Farhad Moshiri took over the club in 2015, only Chelsea [Ā£1.397 billion], Manchester United [Ā£1.069 billion], Manchester City [Ā£1.048 billion], Arsenal [Ā£737.2 million], and Liverpool [Ā£735.6 million] have spent more than Evertonās Ā£716.6 million in the transfer market.
āEverton are the worst-run club in the country,ā Sky Sports analyst Jamie Carragher gave his verdict on the club on Monday night. āIām not saying that as an ex-Liverpool player. Iām saying that as an ex-Everton fan. So you start with the owner, Farhad Moshiri, he doesnāt know what heās doing but heās got a lot of money.ā
One fan said about the hierarchy at the club, āI have followed them [Everton] all my life. And the people who run it, I wouldnāt let them run a chip shop. They havenāt got a clue.ā
āItās been shocking how this great football club has been managed over the years,ā another fan said. āFrank [Lampard] is simply a symptom of a poorly run football club. It doesnāt matter, weāve had [Carlo] Ancelotti. Theyāve all come and gone. Itās eight managers now, or something, in nine years. They just canāt all be wrong. Iām not saying Frank deserved to stay. He ultimately didn’t, but heās working in a poorly run football club.ā
Lampardās sacking comes at the onset of Evertonās two-week window without a Premier League game and gives the Everton board just enough time to get a replacement in.
Former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa is the favorite to land the job at Merseyside and is said to be open to a return to Premier League football. As per Daily Mailās Sami Mokbel, Bielsa has fancied a job at Bournemouth and some other unnamed club. The 67-year-old is viewed as an āoutstandingā candidate by key figures within Everton but heās not the only manager the hierarchy has spoken to.
Other managers in contention for the job include Everton legend and current DC United manager Wayne Rooney, ex-Toffee Duncan Ferguson, former Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce, current Brentford manager Thomas Frank, and former Burnley manager Sean Dyche.
Ā Ā Ā Everton play league leaders Arsenal at Goodison Park on February 4 and then travel to Anfield to play Liverpool in what should be an exciting Merseyside derby considering both teamsā desperation to get points. Liverpool sit ninth in the standings and are currently 10 points outside the top 4 spots.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: BiloBlue. This file is licensed under theĀ Creative CommonsĀ Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 UnportedĀ license.