After he had led the squad he had newly inherited to a sound 4-1 victory over Brentford at Goodison Park, Frank Lampard was duly feted with a warm reception by Everton fans, which has not always been the case for his predecessors previously hired by owner Farhad Moshiri.
Although Lampard is only one game into his new reign as Everton gaffer, the former Blues icon has already shown he’s ahead of most of his recent predecessors in one key respect and Phil Kirkbride, the Everton correspondent from the ECHO, recorded it aptly from Saturday’s game, writing:
“It took only 50 minutes for the Gwladys Street, so often the thumping pulse of the Everton fan-base, to sing his name. The rest of Goodison joined in before the tie was over and then, again, after it was done and dusted.”
That in itself is no mean feat considering that only Carlo Ancelotti, the manager with whom Lampard won a Premier League and FA Cup double at Chelsea in 2010, was the only one among those hired by Moshiri to be accorded that rare honor.
Needless to say, with a glittering CV that spoke volumes for itself – with three Champions Leagues and major honors in all of Europe’s ‘big five’ football nations – the Italian enjoyed unrivaled approval at Goodison and chants of “Carlo Fantastico, Carlo Magnifico” bellowed out raucously from the 1-0 Boxing Day win over Burnley at home.
Lampard – like most other managers – does not have such impeccable credentials to boast of after just two previous tenures at Derby County and Chelsea which could only perhaps best be described as ‘mixed’.
However, for what it’s worth, here finally stood a figure in the home dugout at Goodison who – although at best is something of an unknown quantity from a managerial perspective – Evertonians have immediately taken to their hearts.
It is also worth noting that Lampard is now leading a gifted bunch of individuals who were second in the table as recently as Boxing Day last season. While a standing as lofty as this may be temporarily above their station, the Evertonians should at least be safely encamped inside the top half of the Premier League given the talent they do indeed possess.
Inexplicably, they had meandered and totally lost their sense of direction under the controversial Benitez but that’s another story altogether.
Finally, even though it’s still too early to prognosticate, after such a long and despondent run under the former Liverpool manager, Evertonians now have a decent chance to salvage a measure of pride, passion and hope to regain their dignity and identity albeit under a Londoner whose heart-sinking goal had brutally condemned their club to defeat in their only cup final since 1995.
Lampard knows this is just the beginning – there are plenty more fierce battles to be fought between now and May, with the fervent hope that better days lie ahead after that.
He for one now knows that he at least has the backing of those folks he labelled a ‘People’s Club’ in a statement that echoed Moyes’ words almost two decades ago.