Frank Lampard needed to go.
After that dire game against West Ham in January 2023 — ironically, against David Moyes’ West Ham — there was really little choice for Everton. Lampard was done.
He looked downtrodden on the touchline and drastically out of ideas.
Nobody relished in it, and the way his dismissal was handled was, as usual under Farhad Moshiri, the whole thing was handled terribly.
But, it was right to happen. Everton would have almost certainly gone down had Lampard stayed in charge, and it was doing him no good, either.
Was he ever the right man?
In the sense he wasn’t Rafael Benitez, then yes, because Lampard “got” Everton. He understood the club and a lot of what was needed to make it successful. He just lacked the experience and, ultimately, the quality as a manager, to translate his ideas into a winning team.
Lampard made a bond with a fair amount of Evertonians, because they saw he could make a connection with the fanbase and he did know what Everton should stand for.
He should never have gone back straight into work at Chelsea. He was in no fit shape to try and make that work at the tail-end of the 2022-23 season.
And when he landed the Coventry City job, there were plenty of doubters, especially among Everton’s fanbase, some of whom just never saw him as a good manager.
There’s an idea — an unfair one, in my book — that Lampard gets jobs based on his name alone. Perhaps there’s an element of that, but he has proved that he is a very good manager at Championship level, he has shown he knows how to form unity in a group and, by and large, he is respected by those who play for him.
Lampard even adapted his approach in his early days at Everton. The issue was when he went away from that in the 2022-23 season, and tried to enforce his possession-based style of play on a team it just did not suit.
But under Lampard, and Director of Football Kevin Thelwell, Everton did make some astute acquisitions.
Amadou Onana made the club money and turned in some fine performances, even if he did perhaps not quite live up to expectations fully. James Tarkowski has been a brilliant free signing, and Lampard was absolutely crucial in making that deal happen, intervening late on when it seemed as though the centre-back might head to Aston Villa.
James Garner, signed for £9M initially, is another huge success story, and another player Lampard and Thelwell went all out for. The re-signing of Idrissa Gueye was an excellent choice.
A lot of that credit should go to Thelwell, but Lampard played his part.
Now, at Coventry, he is showing he has talent as a manager. His team are still likely to be down there and battling for survival come the end of the season, and they have lost 6 of their league matches so far, but they have shown — in wins over Sunderland, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest — that they have a resilient edge, and some quality, too, especially in the form of Jack Rudoni and centre-back Stephen Mfuni, who is on loan from Manchester City.
Lampard has been able to adapt his principles following Coventry’s charge to promotion last season, and it might just give them a fighting chance.
He is likely to receive a decent reception on Friday, when he comes back to Everton for the first time since he was sacked.
The time was right to move on, but that doesn’t mean Evertonians should look back on him with anger.
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