Simon Jordan pours cold water over Frank Lampard success prospects at Everton
Fans protesting outside Goodison Park have no idea whether Frank Lampard is the right man for the Everton job and he may well fail, says Simon Jordan.
Angry supporters gathered last night to call for the board be sacked (Liverpool Echo), a night after graffiti at the ground demanded the former Chelsea midfielder be appointed over Vitor Pereira (Daily Mail).
Speaking on talkSPORT with Jim White on Thursday (January 27, 10.30am), Jordan said of the fans: “Their objection is steeped in emotivity. It’s sentiment over fact. They damn-well don’t know whether Frank Lampard is capable of achieving what Everton need.”
The ex-Crystal Palace chairman then went on to trash the idea that the midfield goalscorer is the answer on Merseyside.
“He’s never managed a team that’s at the bottom of the league. He’s never managed in real adversity. He’s only managed in a comfort zone of having Derby who were ambitious at the time, being an elite footballer, and going into a very very well-financed football club [Chelsea].
“He’ll be going into an environment where the attitude towards the owner is very poor, for whatever reason, where the players aren’t good enough.
“So it’s a really big risk.”
Jury’s out
Toffees fans are understandably miserable at the current state of affairs at their club, and will not be delighted to be told that they don’t know what they are talking about.
But it cannot be denied that Chelsea’s record scorer is not a sure-fire success, and could really go either way.
A lot of the emotion appears to be centred on the fact that the ex-England international is not Pereira who is seen as an unworthy favourite of the owner Farhad Moshiri.
Surely Wayne Rooney would be preferred but talk has gone very quiet about a move for the Derby boss since early reports.
The nature of Lampard’s time as manager at Stamford Bridge makes it very difficult to gauge his suitability for the Toffees job, as it was very much a qualified success.
He brought through a generation of youth products while operating under a transfer ban, and saw the club qualify for the Champions League and reach the FA Cup Final, all things Goodison fans would be delighted by.
But he lost that final, had a very poor defensive record, and appeared to be powerless to arrest the slide that saw him sacked in his second season.
Everton are already a significant way down their own slide this season so the idea that the 43-year-old can turn things around has to be hope as much as anything.
In other Everton news, this youngster has reportedly signed a new long-term deal at the club.