Frank Lampard claimed managing Everton was a tougher task for him than managing Chelsea because he was battling the ‘Wild West’ at Goodison Park.
Lampard was ruthlessly sacked by Everton after less than a year in charge in January 2023.
They were sat second bottom of the Premier League when he was shown the door and he has now opened up on where things went wrong on Merseyside.
‘At Everton in the end, there were a lot of issues in and around it – we all know that there was an issue between the fans and the board at the time,’ Lampard, speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, said.
‘I was on the phone a lot in the evenings, trying to connect with the owner, chairman, CEO, then go in and do the day job the next day. During this time, I found it an intense period.’
He would go on to take over at Chelsea for a second time, this time on an interim basis and given it was a temporary post, the pressure was, at least somewhat, off in Lampard’s head.
‘I didn’t find Chelsea as difficult, personally, because I knew it was finite, it was going to be six or seven weeks,’ he said.
‘I learnt very quickly in my head, what the issues were there, and they were not my issues to solve long term. I don’t want to sound like I palmed them off, it’s just that you want results, but at the same time if you go into a place where there are a lot of problems here, can I turn it around in nine games when motivation has just gone down?
‘I came to peace with that a little bit – I wanted to win games because it was my reputation on the line, but at the same time I wasn’t so bad. Probably at the end of Everton would be the biggest spell where it’s been a challenge, but it makes you a better person.’
Not long before Lampard was axed he battled what he has termed the ‘Wild West’, the January transfer window.
‘The minute January came, it was like the Wild West,’ he said.
‘Agents, and everyone, it was all about what it was going to be and who we could bring in.
‘We were struggling to spend money because of the FFP situation, but I desperately wanted to bring in some players, and in the end after I’d left, where Sean Dyche came in the back end [of the season], he couldn’t make any moves anyways and Anthony Gordon left the club.
‘There was a lot of tension at the club through that and I think it would have been a build up over the past few years, I felt it from the minute I came in until the minute I left – it was almost like we were in a crisis but there is going to be another crisis, it was quite difficult.’
Lampard would go on to tell Gary Neville and Co about his confusion around Farhad Moshiri’s plan at Everton, and why he is enjoying his time away from management.
‘When you’re unemployed, as such, everyone thinks you’re available every day and I just like being at home to be honest,’ he said.
‘I’ve been happy out the game and watching a lot of football, doing all those things.’
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
