Lampard contract talks stall new Everton manager announcement
After another round of interviews yesterday, Everton have offered the job to Frank Lampard but can’t offically announce the new boss as they are still negotiating personal terms today.
It seems as though these negotiations are a long way from being concluded and so no one knows when Everton will have a new manager officially installed.
While this is going on, time ticks on and the January transfer window deadline draws ever nearer. Monday evening is only just over 48 hours away.
I wonder whether one of the reasons behind this delay is that the Toffees are perhaps trying to get Lampard to agree to a short-term contract, maybe only six months, while the ex-Derby and Chelsea manager is pushing for a longer deal.
Maybe that’s not the case, obviously I don’t know as I’m not in the room of course. The Echo claims the main sticking points are sorting out the backroom staff that Lampard wants to bring in with him.
One of the potential consequences of this is that Duncan Ferguson might not have a role in Lampard’s new coaching team and so he may at last have to move on from Goodison Park.
In some ways this might not be a bad thing for him. Ferguson has never convinced me he is the right man for the managerial post at Everton full-time, at least not yet.
And, there is a feeling that he doesn’t himself feel ready and hasn’t actually pushed himself very hard for the job this time around.
Whatever the truth, perhaps if Ferguson did leave the Blues for pastures new he could find a role that gives him the chance to cut his teeth as a manager and prove he can do that job.
As for Lampard’s coaching staff, he has supposedly put together an experienced group to support him in what is going to be a much more challenging job than any he has had before. I hope he realises the scale of the task he is taking on!
Two of those staff members might be very highly-regarded coaches, one of whom who started his playing career at Goodison Park and actually was apparently in the same youth team as Wayne Rooney.
Those coaches both of whom have become very well respected voices from the dugout might go with Lampard to Merseyside.
It would I’m sure be good to have coaches of this calibre and reputation and could aid both new player recruitment and the development of existing ones.
Hopefully, this is all sorted out soon. Because regardless of whether you or I think Lampard is the ideal man for the job, it looks very likely he is the board’s choice and so he now needs to get his feet under the table quickly and bring players in before the window shuts.