Frank Lampard rips into Everton owner and slams 'like the Wild West' chaos

24 January 2024 , 10:18

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Frank Lampard has hit out at Everton owner Farhad Moshiri (Image: Everton FC via Getty Images)

Frank Lampard has ripped into his old boss Farhad Moshiri as he slammed the Everton owner for lacking a coherent strategy.

Lampard was in charge at Goodison Park for just under a year, saving them from relegation in the 2021/2022 campaign. But his second season at the club was a disaster and he was sacked seven days before hitting 12 months in charge with the Toffees in the relegation zone.

Moshiri has blown through eight managers since buying Everton in 2016, with the billionaire now seeking to sell the club. Though he has ploughed hundreds of millions of pounds into transfers, there has been no obvious wider strategy.

And Lampard has now criticised that muddled thinking, with the Toffees once again in a relegation fight. He admitted that the lack of strategy meant he had to compromise on his plans for the club.

“I’m not exactly sure, and I’m not saying that loosely because I came into the club four or five years after he’d been there. You could see that there had been five managers – Marco Silva, Roberto Martinez, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, and Big Sam – high-level managers," Lampard told the Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet.

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"I came in and you could see with the squad that there wasn’t a strategy, and this happens at football clubs. New managers come in and want to go a different way, but you can have a strategy of what you want to be – I wasn’t sure what it was.

“We were having conversations about how I wanted to coach the team, I’ve got an idea but we’re going to have to recruit for that because I can’t make this team what I want it to be now. We fought our way out of trouble, which was great for me having that experience in a tough moment.

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Lampard was sacked by Moshiri a year ago with the Toffees in the relegation zone (James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)

"But in terms of what the club idea was at that point, no [I wasn’t sure]. I don’t want to sound like this is making a real negative on Moshiri or the big decision makers over those years, because I’m sure they did what they did because they bought Everton to make it into a fantastic club, a success."

Lampard also touched on the chaos of the January transfer market while at Goodison Park. He added: “We got to the point where we were struggling for results come January, after the World Cup, and one of the problems I found at Everton was that we were trying to work a football plan.

"Kevin Thelwell came in as Sporting Director and Denise was the football plan recruitment – we were working towards it, but the minute January came, it was like the Wild West. Agents, and everyone, it was all about what it was going to be and who we could bring in.

Four months after being ditched by Everton, Lampard was appointed caretaker manager of Chelsea. Though he won only one of his 11 games with the Blues, the Englishman insisted he had an easier time at Stamford Bridge.

“At Everton, it was difficult at the end, it was probably searching for results – that’s always your job – but 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 added.

"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. I didn’t find Chelsea as difficult, personally.

"I knew it was finite, it was going to be six or seven weeks. 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.

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"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.”

Jacob Leeks