Everton Fires Manager Frank Lampard Less Than a Year Into Tenure

Premier League legend Frank Lampard’s young managerial career has taken yet another ugly turn.

According to Sky Sports, the longtime Chelsea midfielder (and former manager of the Blues) was sacked by Everton on Monday, ending his tenure after just 38 Premier League games in charge with the club currently in 19th place.

Lampard’s year with the Toffees was marked by inconsistency and underperformance. He was hired in January 2022, with Everton sitting in 16th in the table and needing a turnaround to avoid relegation. Lampard helped his side valiantly stave off the drop to the Championship by picking up critical wins against Manchester United, Leicester City, Crystal Palace and, notably, Chelsea in the home stretch of the season. But a 16th-place league finish showed there was plenty of work to be done.

Thirteen Premier League teams spent more than Everton in the transfer window over the summer with 20-year-old Lille midfielder Amadou Onana serving as the club’s biggest addition. The deficiencies across the board were clear, but Lampard did little to assuage them. The Toffees won just three matches and grabbed 15 points in 20 matches to start the Premier League season. Lampard’s final match in charge was a sluggish 2–0 loss to West Ham on Saturday, leaving the club tied for bottom on points.

Lampard has experienced a rocky start to his time as a manager. After a 20-year playing career in which he set Chelsea’s all-time goalscoring record as a midfielder, he was appointed manager of Championship side Derby County in 2018 and led the club to the promotion final in his first season in charge. 

He was soon nabbed by Chelsea but ran into trouble from the get go: Chelsea’s first match with him at the helm ended in a 4–0 defeat to Manchester United. Despite a fourth-place finish in 2019-20 and lavish spending before the start of the following season, the squad struggled in Premier League play and Lampard was sacked by Chelsea in January 2021.

While he successfully avoided disaster and kept Everton in the Premier League a season ago, Lampard’s replacement will face an uphill battle trying to do the same this season.