Joe Edwards jumped at chance to join Everton and Frank Lampard
Frank Lampard made no secrets about who he wanted as his assistant manager at Everton when he quickly appointed Joe Edwards into the role.
The two of them worked together when the Toffees boss was in charge of Chelsea and Edwards even coached the former England international during his early days at Stamford Bridge.
The duo have enjoyed a reasonable start to life on Merseyside with two home wins but they are yet to find that away from Goodison Park with defeats at Newcastle and Southampton.
Edwards spoke to Everton TV’s YouTube channel for the first time and said he couldn’t pass up such an opportunity when the phone call came from Lampard.
“I was excited to get the call from Frank, it was a difficult decision for me,” Edwards said.
“But having worked with Frank before, knowing what that’s like and knowing how that tests me and develops me personally, to get the opportunity to work with Frank again was massive.
“But, added to that, the fact that it was a club the size of Everton was obviously just a decision that became a fairly easy one to make.
“It could have been a hard one and it was still difficult to leave somewhere that felt like home to me. But this is an incredible opportunity I felt I had to take.”
The real mastermind
Managers are usually the ones who take the majority of the credit when things are going well and the flack when things aren’t so rosy.
But they are just the face of the organised team that implements the style they want and without adequate coaching, the manager’s job is much harder than necessary.
Edwards is one of the best in the business at coaching players and getting them doing the right things for the tactic in mind so for Everton to poach him away from Chelsea is a massive coup.
But it won’t be talked about in that regard because he’s ‘just the assistant’ and any Everton success will build Lampard’s reputation rather than Edwards’.
But those who know are fully aware that Edwards is as much, if not more, of a factor on the team’s form and it’s about time that assistant managers got the credit they deserve for all their hard work on the training ground.
In other Everton news, Bill Kenwright has offered an ‘enormous’ update on the Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium’s progress.
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