New Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell has outlined what he believes Frank Lampard’s “super strength” is while lifting the lid on his relationship with the Blues boss and his respect for the club’s “incredible” fanbase, which includes one special supporter who grills him on his job each day. Speaking in an interview on evertontv with former Blues goalkeeper Tim Howard who played for the club between 2006-16, Thelwell, who joined from New York Red Bulls in February, explained how he and Lampard, who was appointed manager less than a month earlier, work alongside each other.
The 48-year-old said: “Well, number one, it's very important at the start of any relationship – and I've never worked with Frank before – to be very clear about what we're both doing and how we're going to work together. It's clear that Frank's role is responsibility for preparation of the team, performance of the team and, fundamentally, results.
“My responsibility is to make sure all of the support services that sit around him are fit for purpose. So, once we understand that, there's a real opportunity to start talking about how we work together to improve all of those things.
“We're very lucky that our offices are opposite each other - less than a metre apart, so that's great! It's created an opportunity for us to get to know each other a bit better, build relationships and talk frequently about common journey.
“We both want exactly the same thing and we understand we're both going to work hard to do that together. A super strength of Frank in my opinion is that he's very normal – he's very low ego.
"He's very clear about what he wants but he also has this endearing ability to take on other people's opinions, discuss things and understand that there are things to be gained from those conversations. I have to say it's been a breath of fresh air [working with him], but it's one thing enjoying it - now we have to deliver on it.
“We all understand the pressure that comes from being in these roles. Everton Football Club should be at the very top and so Frank and I have a responsibility to deliver that.”
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Howard admitted that while he thought he understood the passion of Evertonians after a decade of service to the club, he was blown away by their show of support during the recent battle against relegation and Thelwell concurred that the scenes he saw were unprecedented but hopes the team can harness that backing going forwards. He said: “I've worked in football for 20-odd years and I've never seen a fanbase like this.
“The last four weeks only compelled that even further. Some of the scenes we saw, in terms of the fans' support outside our training facility to wave off the team, the team arriving on the bus to Goodison... They were special memories.
“You look at Leicester away, when 25 minutes after the final whistle our fans were still inside the stadium shouting and singing as loud as ever... Then, of course, that unbelievable night against Crystal Palace when we were 2-0 down and turned things around to win 3-2 - the scenes after that game were immense. Absolutely incredible.
“They will be memories that live for a long, long time. Of course, having looked back on those now and had the opportunity to reflect, what we want to do is see those scenes again but in very different circumstances.
“We want to see those scenes when we have the opportunity to win something. That's what the future is - making sure we bottle that chemistry, the connection between the fans and the team and the manager, but also make sure that we deliver. That's the next part of our journey.”
Thelwell is all too aware of the desire of long-suffering Evertonians to get their club back competing for major honours as he gets a daily reminder from his very own True Blue dad. He said: “I have to say that I've loved the first seven or eight weeks so far.
“I'm from the North West originally – my mum and dad are from Liverpool, so to have the opportunity to work at a club like Everton was a dream come true. I'm under huge pressure, by the way.
“My father rings me every day to make sure I'm doing the job properly! But the first seven or eight weeks have just reaffirmed what I already knew looking from the outside, which is what a fantastic club Everton Football Club is.
“It's full of fantastic people, it's obviously got huge tradition and history and it's obviously got huge potential. We all appreciate we're in a difficult moment and the past seven or eight weeks weren't easy for anybody – but we're very hopeful for the future.
“We've got a very strong manager in Frank, who I think has done a very good job, along with his coaching team. They've done a fantastic job to not only get the result we need but also to start to unite the football club again. So, it feels like the future could be very bright.”
