A manager sacked, a new manager brought in, six transfers - including five coming in - plus fan protests, what a month that was!
I think I’m putting it lightly when I say it was a very interesting and topsy-turvy January for Evertonians.
This season so far has been a disaster and the future looked very gloomy.
The performances under Rafa Benitez were awful and the fans couldn’t see a way out.
They were showing their frustrations both inside and outside the ground with protests and I didn’t know where a pathway out of this was going to come from.
Now, waking up this morning was totally different.
There feels like there’s a lot of weight off Evertonians’ shoulders. Frank Lampard has united the fanbase.
It felt like a long two weeks after Rafa was sacked and the process of choosing the new manager – which is fine – as they had the time to speak to all the candidates that were available.
Frank has been given that opportunity. It’s a big appointment for Frank and a big appointment for the club but obviously he’s impressed in his interviews.
He’s a young, fresh manager who is dying to show everybody that he’s a good coach who can cut it in the Premier League.
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He’s already had a small opportunity at Chelsea under difficult circumstances but I thought he handled himself with dignity and did pretty well considering all the teams around him improved in the windows that he couldn’t improve because of the transfer embargo while he also did well during his stint at Derby County.
I was encouraged by his first words after taking charge in regards to the type of football that he wants to play but we know that in the short-term, the reality is that we’re in a relegation fight.
People look at it from the outside and say “you’re too good to go down” but the reality is that we got battered by Norwich City and we’ve not been picking up points.
There are plenty of excuses like the injuries and not having a settled side but hopefully Frank can instil the kind of confidence in our players that he displayed in his own career.
He’d never hide and would demand the ball early. That’s the type of football that we need to get back to playing.
Here is an opportunity to press the reset button and for the squad to be revitalised and realise that they are actually top Premier League players.
There’s a lot of hard work that Frank, his coaching staff and the players need to take on board because we need to get out of this situation as soon as possible.
We’ve got no time to lose though and need to hit the ground running.
Especially in the Premier League but also in the FA Cup too as we’ve got a cup game first and we all know how desperate we are to win a trophy and Frank knows how to win things.
He’s already shown the pulling power of the Frank Lampard name by bringing in two big players to the football club.
They both come from similar situations in that they’ve either been out of form or unable to play football at their best through one reason or another but now they’ve been given a fresh start.
Hopefully they’ll be eager to impress our fans and show why not too long ago they were considered top talents.
Now we’ve got something to look forward to, going to Goodison Park, because it’s been a very toxic and subdued place over the last few months.
Lampard has the vision to lift Everton from mediocrity
The last time I saw Frank Lampard was at Walter Smith’s memorial service up in Glasgow in November and he told me he was trying to get the right job back in the Premier League.
He’s a very open and honest guy. I think both the players and the fans will get to see that over the next few weeks or so.
The players will be told a few home truths – in a nice way – but he’ll be very demanding of them and want them to improve.
He always comes across as being very calm. We’re in a difficult situation and when the going gets tough, you need a calm and level head and he’s the guy to provide that.
The biggest thing for me about Frank’s appointment, that I think many people have missed, is when you look at where Everton are now, he was part of a mediocre team to start with at Chelsea but he was at the club when they grew, changed their mentality, and became Premier League and eventually European champions.
He’ll be very wise to those experiences, the pros and cons that go with it and I think that could be massive for us because that’s where we want to be.
We want to try and follow that pathway of challenging for European spots and then hopefully, titles in a few years’ time.
I saw that myself as a player at Manchester City when there was a change of mentality inside the football club.
There’s a crucial short-term job to do but if Frank can get things right over these next two-and-a-half years, you can see him being part of a long-term development.
Everything he achieved in his career was earned through hard work and dedication.
Technically he was a very good player but his work rate on the training ground, trying to eliminate his weaknesses and polishing his strengths, turned him into the top player he became and now he’s a coach I’m sure he’ll be demanding that from his players to improve what’s already there through a similar work ethic.
