Andros Townsend, who played under Frank Lampard at Everton, believes that the former Chelsea legend is not given the respect he deserves as a manager and was let down by the Everton squad in the recent season, writes the TalkSPORT.
Townsend, who has been released by Everton due to injuries that prevented him from playing, thinks that Lampard has been unlucky. Lampard was sacked by Everton in January when the team was in the relegation zone, but they were able to avoid relegation under the guidance of Sean Dyche on the final day of the season.
Lampard then returned to manage at his former club, Chelsea, on an interim basis, but struggled with only three wins in eleven games, resulting in a 12th place finish in the table. Despite Lampard’s difficulties at both clubs during the 2022/23 season, Townsend insists that the public’s perception of Lampard is overly critical.
Speaking on the Sports Breakfast, Townsend expressed sympathy for Lampard’s situation.
“When Frank first arrived [at Everton], he was ambitious, he had dreams, you look at his first transfer window, he brought in Dele Alli, he brought in Donny van de Beek from Manchester United.
“And it was sort of, ‘right, we’re Everton, we should be dining at the top table.’
“And then obviously what happened, happened, relegation battle, and you look at his second window compared to his first window, his first window was Hollywood signings.
“His second window, first signing – James Tarkowski, second signing -Conor Coady, [Amadou] Onana, he got in leaders, he got in quality, he got in senior figures which we were missing in the dressing room to sort of be that experience, be that example.
“So for me he did everything right, we went into last season – well I definitely went into last season – I was injured, but I thought we’ve got a good squad here, we’re going to make a real go, we’re going to get back into the top half.
“But it didn’t work out that way, and as players, obviously from the outside of it you can say, ‘bad manager, bad coach, bad owner.’
“But as players, we’ve got to look at ourselves, we definitely didn’t do well enough under Frank last season and this season just gone as well. I feel a bit sorry for Frank.”
When questioned about the possibility of Lampard having to consider a job in the Championship or overseas for his next opportunity, Townsend responded that it’s a challenging situation.
He said: “He had that Chelsea stint where he was probably hoping, ‘let me get a few wins under my belt, everyone will forget about the Everton situation.’
“But it didn’t work out that way, so maybe he will have to drop down back down in the Championship. But what people forget about Frank is, his first Chelsea spell [2019/20 season], under an embargo, brought through Mason Mount, had Tammy Abraham up front scoring goals left, right and centre.
“Got them into the Champions League, he did an amazing job in that first spell at Chelsea, so I hope people don’t forget about his success for Derby, and then in his first season for Chelsea.”