Frank Lampard believes Everton are in safe hands with David Moyes back at the helm and he looks back on his time in charge of the club with pride rather than regret.
Lampard replaced the sacked Rafa Benitez in January 2022 and managed to guide the Blues to safety with a dramatic comeback victory over Crystal Palace. But in the following campaign, the former Chelsea and Man City midfielder lost his job with his side second bottom after 20 games.
Lampard backs Moyes for Everton job
Ahead of his visit to Hill Dickinson Stadium tonight with Coventry City, Lampard admitted: "I think they have got a really good manager, who has done this many, many times.
"I know the club well, so I know when Everton was in really, really tough times. I feel like those times are developing. It feels quite a while now since I have been there, so those things have moved on a lot."
Reflecting on his Everton tenure
On his time in charge of the Blues, Lampard said: "I look back with a lot of nice feelings about my time. I was very proud to manage Everton Football Club.
"It was something I never thought I would do, not as a London boy, was think: 'Maybe one day I'll manage Everton'. But when it came along that was a big deal for me, and I respect it even more having lived the club because of its history and the way it is.
"The first season was really trying to turn a club that felt like it had this real complex that it was going to get relegated in that moment and the confidence crisis. We all worked together and we had this amazing game against Crystal Palace that got us over the line.
"Then in the second season, you reflect on all these things and some things could we have done better? Did we try and change the team too quickly to try and become anything else?
"But Richarlison left, fine, we knew we had those constraints, and it was a real kicker to have [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin injured a week before the start of the season, which meant we were very short.
"We played the first six games pretty well, but we had wingers as strikers and no recognised striker in the early part of the season.
"Those fine margins with the demands now in this job, at these moments, can be difficult. There was obviously a lot going on at the club as well, on and off the pitch. But I don't harp back to it now with any kind of regret. I'm really proud that I had a year there.
"It really helped my continued development as you try to do as a manager all the time. You get given tough moments. You get given these things and you try and do your best for the job.
Happy to see Everton progress
"I left, Sean Dyche went in and they stayed up on the last day of the season. I'm very happy for Everton Football Club because I did not want to be the manager that got relegated for a team that had been there so long, I knew what it meant to the fans.
"Then when Sean did it and now I watch them progress slightly, I'm happy that the football club's in that position."
