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Jeff Stelling reacts live on Sky Sports as Farhad Moshiri is asked about Everton sack for Frank Lampard
Jeff Stelling reacted live while the Sky Sports pundits laughed after Farhad Moshiri claimed it wasn’t his decision whether to sack Frank Lampard at Everton.
After the Toffees were defeated 2-0 at West Ham to leave them one place above bottom of the Premier League both Moshiri and Bill Kenwright were asked if the manager will now lose his job, but refused to answer.
Chairman Kenwright responded that he would “never ever say that to you” while the owner claimed “it’s not my decision” when questioned about whether time was up for Lampard.
To a chorus of laughs from the panel Stelling reacted live on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday (21 January, 5.24m), saying: “Farhad Moshiri, you heard him say there it’s not his decision. Umm, he’s the owner of the football club so you would have thought it probably is his decision.
“But he’s certainly not going to be committing to, and rightly for goodness sake, nobody wants any decision like that to be made publicly, especially over somebody as good as Frank Lampard.”
Turmoil
It certainly is Moshiri’s decision and that in large part is the problem for Everton since he and those paid to advise him have made poor ones so often over the past few years.
Stelling is right that it wouldn’t be appropriate for Lampard to be sacked publicly while the board were leaving the London Stadium, but the answer did make little sense so it was no surprise that the baffled panel were laughing.
There won’t be many Toffees fans laughing after a third loss to a relegation rival in less than a month, with current form making the drop look almost inevitable.
It is a measure of the disfunction around Everton that this was the first time that Moshiri had watched a game live for well over a year, but comes a week after the board stayed away from the Southampton defeat (14 January) amid claims their safety was at risk.
Very little is working on the pitch right now, and Lampard has to answer for that, but so do the players and so do hierarchy.
If the manager is removed there may be a short-term improvement in results, since the all-round miserable atmosphere seems to have set in on this reign, but everyone was in the same position a year ago when the ex-Chelsea boss was the man brought in to lift the mood.
The club can’t go through this cycle season after season, spending money on players to fit one plan then another, and those who have implemented this cycle have to take responsibility.
Yet it is a syndrome that has gone on for so long now it is hard to imagine that much will change while the same people are in charge, no matter how well-intentioned they may be.