Frank Lampard could be sacked Monday as sources indicate Everton prepare change
Frank Lampard is expected to find out if he will lose his job as Everton manager by Monday with sources suggesting he will be sacked, The Telegraph reports.
Farhad Moshiri attended his first game since October 2021 to witness the Toffees lose 2-0 at fellow relegation strugglers West Ham on Saturday (21 January), and talks have since been held over a change in the dug-out, which is reportedly the likely outcome.
Sky Sports have reported the day after the game that the club are taking steps for “immediate improvement” while talkSPORT reported “crunch talks” between owner and manager, but based on the Telegraph’s sources it appears just a matter of time now.
The Sunday afternoon (22 January) report says: “Frank Lampard is set to find out his fate as Everton manager within the next 24 hours, with sources indicating that the club are preparing to make a change.
“Everton’s majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, has held talks with the club’s board over Lampard’s future, with consideration understood to have been given to potential replacements.”
It goes on further: “Lampard could be given the opportunity to make his case for more time, but there is not a feeling of optimism about his position from those around the club.”
Goodbye Frank
This is the clearest indication yet that Moshiri is about to get rid of yet another manager, almost exactly a year after he appointed him.
This time last season the former Chelsea boss was the positive boost to follow the toxic Rafael Benitez era and distract from protests against the board.
He connected with the fans, galvanised the squad, and eventually kept Everton in the Premier League on a dramatic night against Crystal Palace (19 May 2022).
But this time around he looks to have lost most of the impetus that was built up down the stretch and survival is in major doubt after losing against three teams inside the relegation zone in less than a month, with the result being the club are now 19th on only goal difference.
The fact that one of the men that scored that night against Palace, Richarlison, was sold in the summer and never replaced, and the one who netted the dramatic winner, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, has been missing for most of the campaign is no small part of the problem.
And the common denominator in both the 2022 and 2023 vintages of Everton’s January nightmares is huge unrest surrounding the board, suggesting next year could easily be much the same if the same people are still there then.
Lampard did his job last season in testing circumstances, but after getting off to a decent start this year it has completely fallen apart.
He can make his case to Moshiri about the mitigating circumstances, but the owner should be well aware of them already and is largely responsible for a lot of it, so if he’s now looking for replacements the writing must be on the wall.