Frankie Goes To Goodison

The single, the only issue, at this time is to escape the drag of the bottom three, which by each game gets closer.

How Lampard, or anyone else maintains our Premier League status is irrelevant. Put 10 men behind the ball and get a point from every remaining game, who cares?

Nobody knows if Lampard will succeed, though I imagine everyone, well almost everyone, hopes he does. However, nice tactics and a pressing game with the halfwits we have will accelerate the drop.

Personally, I am going to get behind him and give him the time he needs in what would be a very difficult job for anybody, as has been proved with that ''top-class'' manager, Ancelotti.

Let's just hope there is time to get in at least one central midfielder or I fear the worst.

I hope he’s in Full Metal Jacket mode for this challenge.

Hopefully he will get a couple of midfielders from some where in the next couple of days to bolster the survival battle.

Time to support the club and unite to win the relegation battle. No doubt Frank will want to make a point and he will have learnt a lot from his stints at Derby and Chelsea.

Up the Toffes!

The other positive, hopefully, is that he brings the ex-Evertonian, Barry, with him, regarded as a top coach.

The negative is that nobody has a clue if he is a good manager or not.

I'd prefer someone like him over the usual failed managers we go after.

But he's not my choice at all. He's been a fine pro, has standards, plays good football and gives youth a chance.

But I don't see any long term fit to build this club. Actually, apart from a complete gamble on Rooney, I don't see anyone sorting this mess out. £500M and plenty of managers that all gave us hope, which faded to dust. Perhaps that's where we are as fans. Totally lost in seeing a club move forward.

Will we warm to Lampard? Will we sing his name with any passion? Does he get the area and the long suffering fanbase? Will he stick around for the fight? Will we stick with him when the chips are down. And most importantly will he keep us up.

We have slept walked into a relegation fight, and the scariest thing of all the scrapes we've been in, I don't think we have the tool kit to fight it out.

I don't want any EFC DNA because to me that just means under-qualified losers given a job to help them out. New Everton, new beginning, new Wembley visit in May... (Okay, at least two out the three!)

I hope he brings in his own people eg Barry (Jody Morris has already said no to moving up north), John Terry as defensive coach, and a few Chelsea players like Loftus-Cheek, Azpilicueta and Malang Sarr etc…

This might be the best opportunity to ease out Kenwright’s babes like Duncan, Unsy, Baxter etc… we should not be a retirement home for former and present failures. I hope Duncan takes this opportunity to move into management on his own.

So deep breath and let’s hope Frank can stabilise this shipwreck and head us into a new direction.

I agree that the manager is only part of the Everton problem. Hopefully the momentum of Evertonian protest that helped select Lampard will continue with pressure on Moshiri to be accountable and reduce the bad influence of Kenwright & Co.

#27 years.

Desperado.

However, as the manager is bedded in and the fans become acclimatised to his methods and style, it is still a results business.

As we all know conceding from set pieces has been a problem for us recently. That needs to be addressed as a priority, then he has to decide what is his best eleven on the pitch.

If Lampard is appointed and he produces results good enough to keep us in the league, he will then have the summer to get rid of the deadwood and build his own team.

I wasn't aware of his defensive failings, but to be honest, I didn't really take much notice of Derby or Chelsea when he was there. That's a concern given our defence changes like the tide in terms of personnel on a weekly basis and looks to be destroyed of confidence following Benitez's destructive reign.

I thought he went too early when Chelsea came knocking, but he was never going to turn that chance down. Hopefully he's learned and comes back stronger. I do agree that although willing to give youth a chance (positive), he probably benefited from the several years of work and investment put into their academy. But if he spots it, he's willing to play it.

Brian, see you in May.

Firstly, I think achieving Champions League football is more than just "relative success".

Secondly, I don't think Evertonians are expecting him to be the Messiah. He just appeared to be the best of the candidates on offer, which is why we've rallied behind him.

The fans effectively picked Lampard. I honestly think Moshiri is terrified of us.

Your comments about the Kenwright litter on the bench and at Finch Farm are key. We will know within 48 hours if Lampard is up to the job. If he cleans out the stables, he has a chance. If he keeps the deadwood, he will be lost like all the others.

Because they have made a living, after their playing years are over, as backroom staff at the Club, they are accused of being in someone's pocket and derided as such.

Duncan Ferguson may have many faults but doesn't deserve the personal abuse he gets. If he is not the right man to manage or coach the club, then so be it... but I cannot give the man the sly remarks made here. He deserves more than that. At least he has been ready and willing to give his all on and off the pitch for us.

What amazes me is how we chose our shortlist. Many of our younger contributors seem to rate David Moyes very highly. I'm more of a Tony Marsh man myself on this topic, but nevertheless, let's look how he was appointed. Everton looked around for a bright young manager who was doing a good job at a smaller club and Moyes at Preston was such a person.

Now we look for a name and the bigger the name the better. Lampard is certainly a name and a big one to boot. Potter was dismissed early on, Frank wasn't considered; Corberan at Huddersfiel was totally ignored as was Cooper at Forest.

Instead we picked five "names, some of which, Rooney and Ferguson were selected to be there because they were Everton "legends" rather than because of their expertise. If you wanted to go back, the only one of our recent managers to have possibly improved since he left us was Silva, who when he was appointed was a young, promising manager. His failure was perhaps the saddest of the failures of the last six managers.

The whole process seems to me to be an example of a management team who hasn't a clue. They recruit players on the basis of who has a name rather than who is needed to fill the gaps, particularly in midfield.

I know, let's find another wide man to supplement Gray, Townsend, Gordon, Richarlison. Yet we are screaming out for two quality midfielders.

I'm signing off. Fan of 65 years, very puzzled. I saw one game in our promotion season of 1953-54 and had hoped I'd never see us back in the second tier. But I'm scared we're heading back rapidly.

Lampard strikes me as an intelligent, young manager, perhaps my doubts and Martin O'Connor's fears will be swiftly erased. I hope so.

Incidentally, would any other club announce a new manager two days before a transfer deadline?

I'm prepared to give him time to sort this absolute mess out. We need stability and someone long term; changing managers as often as we do, to go with the ineptitude in the boardroom, has got us in the position we now find ourselves.

Lampard has a very good name in the game and has worked under some top-drawer managers. We could've done much worse given some of the names in the frame.

Those two statements suggest that Mr Barry is talented and knows what he is about.

But, he can't come to Everton, because of all the posters here, who complain about ex-Everton players earning a cosy living at Finch Farm.

You see, Anthony Barry is... well... an ex-Everton player!

It's inevitable and understandable at just about every club.

The argument and concern is with people being employed in prominent positions on the simple basis they have previous connections with the club despite not having the experience or proven credentials. Because that's the perception we give.

That clearly wouldn't apply to Anthony Barry if we pulled that one-off. He is someone regarded by a top European coach and someone the European Champions wouldn't want to lose.

It doesn't matter who they are, whether they were born in L4, where they come from, what accent they have or who they used to play for. Pick them on ability and credibility in the game of football.

Lampard, Terry and Barry. Now that would bring a different culture to the club, the training ground and the pitch. Winners.

I know that your post was slightly tongue-in-cheek but the big difference is that he is a top coach who also happens to be an ex-Everton player and it's the ‘top coach' part that makes Lampard want him and qualifies him for the role rather than solely by virtue of him being an ‘ex-Everton player‘.

Was Lampard really as unsuccessful managing Derby and Chelsea? Were there any underlying circumstances? And on and on…

This is a departure from the high quality of the articles that ToffeeWeb usually publishes.

Just too negative for this week and only two days after Frank the Redeemer is tasked with guiding this club back to greatness. Oh happy day. Let's enjoy this moment before we go about trashing the process that the majority of Evertonia seem to agree has turned up a good result.

He takes a rather jaundiced view of all things Everton. On occasions, it's even too much for us: four out of the last eight articles he's submitted for publication have been rejected.

However, you cannot deny that he captures and recasts a range of viewpoints that are evident among a number of our posters. We recognize and accept this while doing what we can to limit some of the excess negativity that the current situation for Everton supporters almost inevitably engenders.

I think, on balance, as our poll shows, must do prefer Frank Lampard when given the very limited choice of whose name was in the ring. But let's keep our feet firmly on the ground and not go overboard now a decision has finally been made.

We don't want to be controlling the narrative, as the buzz-phrase would have it. But I would certainly question your hyperbole for going too far the opposite way. "Frank the Redeemer"? Don't talk such rubbish. He's just the next manager. Let's actually see what he does before going all luvvie and religious over him.

But this may well be the last we publish from Martin because we'd prefer to see dialogue around the debate he generates... and that's one thing Martin does not do. He never posts on other threads, and he never responds to posts even on his own articles.

A move into management will be the making of Duncan. Wish him well.

On Lampard's year at Derby you note that "In the Wembley final he was tactically out-thought by Dean Smith," -- if you recall, Smith also "tactically out-thought" the 'great' Ancelotti, winning 2 and drawing 2 of their 4 PL clashes.

Lampard's purchases of two attacking midfield players suggests his front-foot approach is set to continue, something which might well add to our existing concerns over defensive problems. But I would suggest that our defensive performances cannot be any worse than what we've had to endure this season, in which case I am all for playing to our strengths, which are essentially seen amongst the likes of DCL, Richarlison, Gordon and Gray, now reinforced by Beek and, maybe, Alli. We've witnessed management 'philosophies' in recent seasons that have meant putting up with abysmal possession figures even for games at Goodison against mediocre opposition. Significantly raise our possession, play more in the opposition's half, and our defending becomes less of a worry.

Everything has been positive for the first time in a long time though, and this alone is a massive difference to the last seven months, especially at a football club, who have a crowd that is worth at least 20 points a season to its team, but only when they unite!

He has the same problem that our previous managers have had though and that is our overall player quallity.
The idea that any manager can come in, wave his magic wand over moderate players and turn them into worldbeaters is touching but false.
Our trophy cabinet which has been bare for 20 odd years I think proves the point.

As for Lampards so called defensive frailties as a manager, if you choose to play a more attacking strategy it stands to reason you will conceed more goals than concentrating on defence.
Anyone that came in at this difficult time would be under great pressure, he has my sympathy in that regard.
The last thing he needs is a lack of support because even though I think we will be ok, looking at our fixtures to come there are many that we will be fortunate to come away with anything.