Petr Cech sends farewell message to Joe Edwards after Everton move
Along with Frank Lampard becoming Everton manager, there has been a reshuffling of the backroom staff and among those incoming is former Chelsea coach Joe Edwards.
He had been involved in the Blues coaching setup since 2004 having previously been a player for them during his school days.
He rose to be Thomas Tuchel’s assistant most recently but he has decided to move on from Stamford Bridge to rejoin Lampard at Goodison Park, again as assistant coach.
Chelsea technical advisor and former Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech has penned a warm farewell message to Edwards in his most recent column for the club’s website (3 February).
“Joe has been Chelsea through and through for many years, since his time in the Academy,” Cech wrote, “He had huge success there as a coach before joining the senior team with Frank and becoming part of Thomas Tuchel’s coaching staff, with more huge success.
“On behalf of everyone here, I want to say thank you to Joe for all he’s done for Chelsea and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for him. Obviously we will miss Joe, but we wish him all the best in this new chapter of his career and hope it all works out well for him.”
Not a bad reference
Edwards was perhaps one of the most under-appreciated people at Chelsea in the most recent seasons as they won the Champions League again and contested for league titles and domestic honours in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
To arrive at Everton with such a glowing message from his former club shows how much he was valued by those within Stamford Bridge and he could be a real asset to Lampard’s team.
The assistant manager is often the person who is overlooked most at football clubs but they do an awful lot more than people realise.
Not only are they tasked with running certain training sessions every week, but they also are commonly the leaders of the warm-up, the first port of call for players wishing to speak to the manager, doing the clear up after training among lots of other things.
In a way, it is a job just as difficult as being the main man and his expertise in the position is going to be crucial for Lampard and Everton in the immediate future as they look to survive a relegation fight.
In other Everton news, a deal has supposedly been agreed in principle to reunite Lampard with this former teammate in the backroom staff.