Former Everton manager Frank Lampard has been talking about the challenges he has faced during his managerial roles to date.
He told The Diary Of A CEO Podcast:
“The bar-raisers can take some time to raise the bar, but the bar-lowerers can get you very quickly. That negativity can slip in and be really contagious. In football, winning is everything, and that is obviously relative to if you’re Manchester City or Everton. Everton will win 35 per cent of games at best at the moment, and you know that. You know there will be 65 per cent of weeks that aren’t that great. The bar-lowerers can lower that quickly. Whereas if you can get the bar-raisers to take control, you can get there.”
Lampard continued by explaining how the structure of a club is imperative to success, pointing to the role of Manchester City’s system in their recent success.
“The most important person at a club is, in my opinion, is the owner,” he said. “It’s about the structure at the top as they set the tone financially and on recruitment. You will only be as a good as the players you recruit. When I finished my first season at Everton, we just stayed up by the skin of our teeth and he [Moshiri] rang me to say congratulations but ‘Frank, don’t rest. 80 per cent of your work for next season will be done in the next month’. It was recruitment. 20 per cent will be what you do next year and 80 per cent will be bringing the right players.”