Nigel Martyn believes Frank Lampard could be the type of manager to help Everton attract the type of players they need to improve their Premier League fortunes.
Following a further round of talks by senior Everton officials in London on Friday, Lampard is closing in on becoming the new Blues boss and Martyn, who was a fans’ favourite at Goodison Park during his own spell at the club between 2003-06, reckons the 43-year-old has the kind of standing in the game to solve their recruitment issues.
Speaking courtesy of 101GreatGoals.com, Martyn told the ECHO: “Frank has got good contacts in the game because the difficult thing for the Everton manager is getting the right players because it’s always difficult, no matter how much money is behind you, it’s whether or not the player wants to come and play for Everton.
“It’s often down to the manager’s sell and I think Frank is somebody who people would want to come and play for.”
Lampard’s only previous stint of Premier League management was with Chelsea where he returned to the club where he played 648 games during a transfer embargo.
Those conditions ensured he had to place his faith in several younger, often home-grown players, so could his appointment prove a boost for those coming through Everton’s Finch Farm production line who have watched Anthony Gordon’s progress so far this term?
Martyn said: “A lot of that depends on the strength of what’s there, coming through.
“Young players have had to play in some games and be on the bench which is great experience for them.
“You wonder if the managers who have been in charge this season have not been so keen in terms of starting them and that shows they’re probably not ready for that.
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“It’s a case of who you can get in as we count down the hours now until the transfer deadline.
“The squad that Everton have got is obviously more than good enough to stay in the Premier League and it should probably be in the top half of the table.
“There’s been a bit of an injury problem with key players but with those players coming back I’d expect to see an improvement now in results going forward.
“You can never say you’re too good to go down, that’s been said too many times before, you’ve still got to go out there and do it so it’s down to those players to pull together and produce the performances needed to get the points to stay up.”
Lampard of course began his managerial career at Derby County and Martyn believes that the current incumbent in the Rams dugout, his former Everton team-mate Wayne Rooney, his made the correct decision to stay put at Pride Park for now.
The ex-Blues star was linked with a managerial return to Goodison after Rafa Benitez’s sacking but stated on Friday that he wanted to remain with the East Midlands club.
Martyn said: “Frank is probably a little bit further along on that journey than Wayne.
“He had his stint at Derby too and cut his teeth there but he’s also had a taste of it at Chelsea.
“Wayne was touted but I think he’s doing a great job at Derby and he wants to stay there and finish that if he can.
“It would be one of the most unbelievable pieces of management if he’s able to keep them in the division. I think he wants to finish that and I think he should.
“Learning there, if you can manage a club in crisis, the way that Derby are, you’re certainly fast-tracking forward on the managerial front and you’re learning an awful lot about the job while doing it.
“I think that’s good for Wayne going forward. I think he’s still cutting his teeth really at Derby and learning everything there is about that.
“He’s learned under two great Scottish managers in David Moyes and Alex Ferguson and will have picked up an awful lot from them.
“He was a young lad when I was there, 17/18, so you wouldn’t have said he was managerial material at that point but as he’s gone through his career, that maturity has come, and he’s doing a solid job at Derby but it’s probably something he needs to do for at least another year before he takes on the challenge of a top flight club.”
One candidate who wasn’t afraid to speak of his desire for the job – publicly talking about it on the phone to Sky Sports News while the interviews process was still ongoing – was Vitor Pereira but Martyn admits that he found the Portuguese coach’s lack of discretion concerning.
He said: “It’s a strange situation. We don’t know too much about him.
“Portugal is the league that both Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas came out of and Pereira has had reasonable success there, winning the title twice.
“It’s a very English thing, we’re a little sceptical of something we don’t know.
“We feel safer with something tried and tested that we understand a bit more.
“I know he’s been interviewed on two occasions in the past for the Everton job but in the meantime there’s been an improvement in his English so his communication skills will have got better but it’s what he can bring on a Saturday to those players that can improve us.
“There would be a risk attached to it because if it goes well then they could say ‘we took the risk’ but if it blows up in their face, everyone will tell them ‘well we told you so.’
“Owners and boards have got to make tough decisions. It falls into their lap but they need to be very careful with this appointment as I feel they have to be able to get someone who they know can do the job.”
On Pereira’s televised phone conversation, Martyn added: “I probably don’t think that was a great move. The best thing to do is to keep your powder dry and go through the interview process.
“He’s obviously desperate to get into the Premier League and is probably the type of manager who wants to go a long way in the game so getting a big job here would be a huge step for him.
“Personally I don’t like to see that kind of thing though. If you get the job, you’ll get the interviews with Sky Sports and the like. To do it beforehand is probably a mistake.”
