Why I brought Ashley Cole with me to Everton | Frank Lampard

How would you describe the job you've got here, short term, and following on from that, the challenge that you've then got longer term? In pure footballing terms, if that's what you're saying, of course we know we're in a position that the club doesn't want to be in. I've got a lot of belief in the squad and I've been watching the squad and their games closely from the outside, so I'm under no illusions. I feel that we have a squad that can improve quickly, I hope. I'll have my own idea and my staff will to try and make sure that we do that. It starts with work on the training ground, it starts with the mindset of the group, but we understand and I understand that in the short term, the job is to try and improve our league position. In the long term, it's clear as well that it's a club with big ambition, huge history, huge fan base and a joint desire throughout it to improve towards the new stadium, towards being a Premier League club that is fighting towards the top half of the table. There's a lot of work to be done, but I'm very proud to be given this opportunity to be at the front of it in football terms as the manager. What have you told the players about what you expect of them and has anything surprised you in the few days that you've been working with them as well? In terms of what I expect of them, we spoke when I first got here a few days ago, which feels like about three weeks ago now. It's been a busy few days. Not what I expect of them. I spoke to them about football, about training and about how we have to be as a group. I think as a manager and as my staff, we are here to lead the group, to also serve them, to give them the possibilities to improve, to work every day, to play a brand of football that our fans enjoy watching, but most importantly, to get results. Those start with the building blocks start about every day and every moment in behaviours and in training, etc. I spoke about the job will be, as much as it's mine to lead it, the job will be the players. What I've found in the last three days is that they are a very, very good group in terms of I know they want to do really well for this football club. It's written all over their faces. I hope to give them the direction and the organisation and the ability to express themselves within that, to perform at their best. From what we've seen, it appears the fans welcome has been a fair bit warmer than maybe what you would have expected when you were coming here as a player. What have you been able to get you about the fans' reaction to your appointment? I've been really pleased. I didn't expect anything different than as a player. This is one of the stadiums that you came to and sometimes you would take some words. I found a lot of them at this stadium in particular, sometimes with some good humour, which was quite a nice relief. But no, it's expected. This is the reason we love the Premier League and it's the reason why Everton Football Club is steeped in tradition, because of how people feel about this club. So I was very pleased. I was very thankful for the messages of support, the general support. I don't expect support and I don't expect universal support. People have their own opinions. That's their own right. But at the same time, I hope as much as I have support now and I'm thankful, that people will see how I have a work ethic, the fans will see, and how I'm going to embrace this job in terms of everything that I do in the workplace, everything I do about myself around the club and trying to lead it. If they see that and I think if they see the reaction on the pitch, which is obviously my job, I hope that support will continue. But yes, I've been very thankful so far and I appreciate it. What did that business you did on deadline day say about the support that you're going to get from within the club as well? And what do you think you can get out of Dele Alli and Donny van de Beek that maybe we haven't seen from them in recent times? I've had really positive conversations with the owner, with the board and with the club in general from the first moment we started to speak. It was very linked together. Particularly with the chairman Bill Kenwright was fantastic in those conversations as well. I can see why people held this club in such regard because it's a club people's club. In terms of the business that we did, I think with both Dele and Donny, they're both very separate cases. I just look at the player and I look at the person and I had conversations with both. They're both very, very talented players. They're players I've gone up against in different ways in the past and was very impressed with them. And sometimes it's good to get a player that has a point to prove in a certain way because they come here with a hunger, with a good hunger to come and show themselves. So in both their own separate ways, I trust in their talent, I trust in them as people. My job now is to set the environment and as a coach and for the staff and to work them and support them and show the talents that we all know they have. It's natural ability that they have and we have to harness it in those. And then get that and join that into the squad because we have some talent that's already sitting here in the squad. So it's my job to put it all together. And Ashley Cole coming in, does that complete your backroom staff now? How important was it to keep Duncan Ferguson as well? Will you miss Jodie Morris? Yeah, it was very important. Ashley's first day is today to try and bring Ashley in. I don't need to talk about Ashley the player, we all know it. We all know the record of him, probably the greatest left back that we've produced in this country. But what I brought Ashley for is not just that, I brought him for the great coach that he's going to be at this club, for the work ethic that he's put in and I've seen it behind the scenes to become a very good young coach. I brought Ashley in for not just that, for the person that he is and how great he will be around the group to offer words of experience but also to work alongside him, to improve him alongside all my staff. So yeah, the team is together. I was delighted to work with Duncan because I saw him from afar, I saw him close up actually a couple of years ago when they beat us and we had a laugh about that in the last couple of days. But he's a club legend, he's a person that the players respect, the club respects, the fans respect and I can only help from tapping into his experience and knowledge from being here as well. I'm very open and accommodating in this role and there's no way I'd ever want to be a person to do anything but look at what's the best for this job and having Duncan around has been great. I've really enjoyed the few days. Both Carlo and Rafa spoke when they took the job about the pull of the new stadium, the potential to take Everton into that new stadium. Did you speak to both Carlo and Rafa and also is that prospect of going to Bramley Moor part of your motivation here as well? I didn't speak to them. I've got huge respect for both of them. I'm particularly close to Carlo because I worked with him for a certain period and we kept a relationship after that. He's an absolute gentleman and I will speak to him at some point, I will catch up with him but I didn't want to have any preconceived ideas about the club. It was very clear to me. I know Everton Football Club from the outside. I now know it intimately from the inside but it was clear to me the size of this club and the job and obviously the ambition which is clear. As an identity you can see the stadium is going to start building up very soon to the eye. It's a huge thing. I would love to be part of that but I cannot get too far ahead of myself. We have important jobs on our plate in the next two, three months this season and then we can start dealing with what the future looks like. How do you reflect on the lessons you've learnt so far in your managerial career and how do you think it will benefit both yourself and Everton going forward? I think I'm a person that always reflects. It's good to reflect but it's also good not to over-reflect because some things you do, you did well. When I reflect on my career at Derby, we had a really exciting year. Almost got to the incredible prize against the Premier League. At Chelsea in reflection I probably had a really enjoyable and good 17 months with the first year of Champions League against expectations and FA Cup final. Then my second season we were top of the league and then you realise the reality of football at the top end, probably in a difficult month and the loss of form and then I lose my job. That's something I'm aware can happen in the game because I've been in it so long and I look at it with real reflection now. Within that you look at the small things and the small details. Could you have done this better? Could you have done that? I'm very open in that sense. Hopefully I can bring those experiences of my career so far. I want to get better and I want to make the players around me better and I want to make this club better. That's all I have to look for rather than looking back is just to look forward to what I can do here. What do you think you've learnt about the team in the short time you've spent with them over the last few days, maybe that you didn't know before? I think you should never over-analyse before. I knew the squad, I looked at them a lot but at the same time it's always different when you see people in the flesh, see them on the training ground, see how they act, see the body language. I've been really impressed. I hate to speak too much because you shouldn't speak before you start the game because this game is all about results. But in my job when you look at the players over the last three days I've seen a talented group, a group that has maybe had a hit on the confidence as losing games can do. I've been there many a time as we all do in our careers. So I have a clear idea of what my priorities are to go with first to try and get the uplift that we need but I'm very trusting in this group and I'll work with them. I hope people will see from the outside that work because it will show in the results. Will you be playing a strong team or do you think you'll be giving the youth some chance? I'll always play a strong team as I see it. Youth, young players will get their chance when they deserve it. What I am at first is open to seeing the young players, to see them in training if they deserve the chance. I'm always, my staff are very open with the academy to keep an open eye to players as they come through because there's nothing better for the fans to grab onto than to see players come through their own academy. But they have to earn their chance. Once they do that then I'll trust in them. But now of course my priority here is to get results and alongside that if you can develop young talent and bring them into the first team then of course I'll try and do that. Just wondered whether there's been quite a high turnover of managers at Everton, something maybe you were used to at your time in Chelsea. But I just wondered whether you had any hesitations based on that high turnover and coming into Everton? No I didn't because I think this is the business that we live in and we will work in. It's not my job to analyse things that happened before me too much because you don't know the circumstance. I always like to take at face value and as I mentioned before having spoke to the owner and the chairman and the board here and it was so open which was something that was very refreshing to me to see so many important football people within the club united in trying to find the best way forward which is the position we find ourselves in now. But I didn't concern myself too much. Like you say I've been experienced in two jobs now. When I went to Derby County everyone told me that they changed managers all the time. Same at Chelsea, look through the Premier League. It's easily said but I have to put that to the side and just work and understand and actually appreciate the fact that I'm working for a great club and giving my all. Obviously you mentioned Derby and Chelsea, they're obviously challenging at the top end of the league in both cases. I just wondered whether you can assure fans about your appetite for what is a relegation battle on the face of it at the minute? Well I can assure fans that I'll give absolutely everything. I think you can say about Chelsea I had some very good times there but I certainly as a player had some difficult times. I played before I went to Chelsea at West Ham. I moved around as I got older. I managed at Derby County where the championship as everyone says is a real marathon through the year and you can have good periods and bad periods. So I don't concern myself. I don't get concerned about what position it is in the table. I just look at literally what's in front of me and of course you're aware of it but we will be defined this season and the next 18 games by the work and the focus we put in on the training ground and by how we can be united between players, club and fans because the fans are such a huge input here into performance, particularly at Goodison. I felt it on the reverse of that. So I'll try and bring all that together and that's all I have to think about now. Welcome back. How are you Moose? I'm very well. I thought I'd never see you in a day. I thought you were taking far too long in getting back into football. So is this the ideal job you've been waiting for? I missed you Moose. I missed you too Frank. Is this the ideal job you've been waiting for then? No. In terms of I haven't been waiting for an ideal job, I've been not working. Time for reflection and people wanted to talk about what is the ideal job. There isn't one in football. It's something that has to feel right on both sides. So I was never in a position where I was hanging out waiting but the moments, from the first moments I started speaking with Everton and understood the ambition and as I said before with the owner and the chairman and a real awareness of the size of the club, it was something that for me was a hugely exciting challenge. So it was pretty clear in those terms Moose but I haven't been sitting around waiting for anything particularly in the last year. I've actually been enjoying a little bit of family time and focusing on how I can, where I wanted to go when the right opportunity came. Obviously, just two more questions. Obviously it's very different to Chelsea but why have Everton underachieved this season? I mean why, from what you've watched from an outsider's point of view, what have you got to put right straight away? Well I mentioned it before Moose and I've been in this situation before many a time and to different degrees but sometimes when you lose games or you're having a bad period of form it can affect components of the players. So my job instantly is to affect that in terms of to bring a real positive atmosphere, positive words, positive messaging and I have seen things within the way the team are playing that practically I feel they can do better. Every manager will have a different view of how they want to play. My job now is to get as quickly as I can to the point where you can see the imprint I have on this team. In three days I think we've worked very well but that work has to continue every day. Finally, Dele Alli. One, is it a gamble taking him on and secondly, he's kind of been written off in the last two years. Are you, because you are world class in the position and you know exactly what he has to do to succeed, are you the ideal person to put him back where he was four years ago at the World Cup in Russia? I don't want to give too many major headlines to this because it's easy to be over the top about that side of it. What I see and I watched Dele come through, fantastic player and maybe he's had difficult times. I wouldn't make no bones about that nor would he but there can be so many reasons for that. My job now is to start with a fresh slate with him, to have him in an environment that suits him and supports him but also to push him and to extract that player that we just know is there. All the attributes, all the talent, all the technique, everything is still there. Sometimes I think we're much more aware now in the modern day of how there are many factors that can affect in life, in sport, how happy you are doing your job or why it might not work in the right way. So I just have to find the right environment for Dele and the best thing for me, and it's hard when he's such a big name and such a top player, is to do it quietly but our job now is just to get to work and then just allow him to express his talent. I'm very excited to have him, I'm very excited to have Donny, they are fantastic players. They come to the squad and hopefully give us a lift and again the job now is just to work with them. Thanks very much Ian, we'll go to Mike Hughes at Radio Merseyside please. Hi Frank, I know you've touched on it previously but it is in some ways uncharted territory for you managerially wise, taking over a team that's in such a poor run of current form, I think it's one win in 14 and a league position as parlous as this, so how much of a different challenge does it represent for you? Yeah I think that the challenge is different, the main challenge I feel is that the two jobs I've had as a manager, I've had a pre-season and gone in and you have a period of time to build through a season, this is different but I'm very aware of that so I have to prioritise what my message is, what my work is to get through to the players and also put some perspective on the fact that there's 18 games to play for, half a season, so of course nobody would be happy with the run that we've been on in terms of points over the first half of the season but I have to also bring in an element of calm to the players and to the club and also an element of looking at ourselves and saying that there's a huge amount of talent, if I didn't believe in that, if I didn't think I was the man to come and bring that out and harness it then I wouldn't be here so I'm not concerned about that, I just want to come and make sure that I get to work very quickly and the players respond to that quickly and then I believe once we do that we can go in the right direction. The signings of Donny van der Beek and Dele Alli will hopefully give both players individual a lease of life which will obviously benefit the team, with Dele Alli in particular can you see something of you in your sort of prime, in Dele Alli in his prime with the late runs into the box, the ability to run him behind? Yeah I think we're different, I think it's an easy comparison because of you know goal scoring midfield player but I think in terms of our position on the pitch I think I've probably started a bit deeper whereas Dele I feel sometimes from a slightly higher position can be more effective particularly in his early Tottenham years when he played just off of Harry Kane but I do think also he is a versatile player and that he can get involved in link-up play and he can arrive from deeper areas so I'm very interested to work closely with him and we've already spoken about this to see just how we can bring out all those talents that he has but yeah it's nice for me on a personal note as a coach to to work with someone that occupies similar areas of the field that has similar instincts to want to get forward so yeah I'll try and improve those individually but more importantly get them into the team in the right way to bring us balance. Winning against Brentford on Saturday will get you into round five of the FA Cup that in itself is important but it's worth so much more by way of what it could give you as a you and the team as towards a springboard new momentum and then it's upward and it's a different thing again isn't it? Well yeah we hope so and I don't want to make too many drastic statements about the Brentford game or the Newcastle game because we have to work and as I said we have 18 league games but clearly absolutely I mean I've been very impressed with the players and the lift I sense in the last few days in training of coming in and working with them and the next step from that is definitely results and what could be better hopefully than Goodison and the atmosphere that I'm sure we'll get on Saturday and the opportunity to get into the next round of a cup that the the club has a glorious history of I know not as recent as we'd like but with the talent we have in the squad we want to go as far as we can in this cup and then we want to be able to carry on that momentum so yes it's a big game for us in that sense. What sort of challenge are you facing in your first game against Brentford? Challenge we're a very good team I think everyone who's watching the Premier League this year can see that it's a very well constructed team big talent in the team a great organisation and style of play which and the philosophy that goes right throughout the club and the manager harnesses brilliantly from the outside so it'll be a very tough match and we have to be our absolute best we you know we'll prepare have in the situation when we must focus on ourselves understand Brentford are a very good team but we must focus on ourselves because we're also very good team. And just in terms of the basic general team news how is the squad looking for this weekend have you got any fitness concerns at all? No I mean Dominic Calvert-Lewin picked up a small knock in the in the last game so he won't be available for this weekend with Dominic and we know Decoray out, Tabian Delph is out unfortunately which will be slightly longer than that but with Dominic we hope he can be back and outside and over the next days and ready for the games coming up but other than that we are we are pretty good and yeah I'm happy with where we're at we obviously have some players at a cup side also so I'm aware of where the squad is. Thank you we'll just take one more in the open section from Jim Conlon please. Hi Frank great talking to you again Frank. Frank on the acquisitions there of Donnie and Dele on the final day was that maybe when you looked at your team and you saw Decoray and Alan as your deep line play makers that you wanted Donnie in terms of that attacking element and was really the acquisition of Dele maybe to purchase what Everton lost when James Rodriguez left the club in terms of that creativity that flair? I didn't think of direct replacements but you know I think it was an area of the pitch where we felt of course as you mentioned Decoray is injured hopefully not for too long but I think in terms of the style and how maybe we want to move the team to play maybe in a slightly different way a player like Donnie is someone who can link play can receive the ball in all areas has the confidence and intelligence to receive and play and move the ball and I think it's a slightly different profile of player to maybe what we have that's slightly also versatile in midfield and Dele yeah like I've spoken about Dele before he also has his own versatile nature but yeah we highlight it as a as an area where we have some injuries we want uplift obviously very very quickly but they're also players and particularly Dele because he's a permanent that we see are big players for the future the club and can help performance so yeah we we had a clear idea why we booked them both in and we hope that they add a lot in that middle of the park area okay thanks everyone that's the end of the open section of today's press conference we'll now move on to the newspapers and then