Everton manager Frank Lampard insists he doesn’t need a public vote of confidence from the club’s owners to carry out his job.
Farhad Moshiri claimed in a radio interview on Thursday that he had “a lot of faith” in Lampard and believed the Blues boss would “get it right” despite admitting in a reply to the Everton Fans’ Forum the previous evening that “We are all agreed that our current league position must and will improve.”
Lampard said: “I don’t need more. I said last week that I didn’t need reassurances and what I meant was public reassurances because I think they can be taken either way, if there is one or there isn’t one. As a football coach, I joined this club in a relegation battle, a lot of people were saying at the start of the season that I might be the manager that leaves first or favourite whatever these things are. I know in the Premier League you’re always one, two, three games away from the pressure.
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“I think if you were to try and hang on words for reassurance, it’s the wrong way. All I need to do and all that’s expected of me it’s to keep focusing on the work and I understand our position.
“When we stayed up against Palace it was an amazing night for Everton Football Club but I went home and thought ‘well this is a start.’ The start was going to be tough and it’s going to be ‘ok, where do we build and keep building and keep building?’ and for us that probably meant staying around where we are in the league, I think that’s a reality, all I can focus on is working on to make sure we get better every day, every week if we can and get enough results to move us upwards.”
Lampard, who confirmed he'd spoken with Moshiri this week, also maintained that he and the Everton squad needed to focus on beating Southampton this weekend rather than be impacted by threats of fan protests against the board. He said: “Myself and the players we have to be, me the first, that doesn’t get distracted by anything because this is a big game for us in terms of our league position, the points, what it would mean if can win the game. The fans have an absolute right to protest, that’s of course a very real right.
“I believe they’re coming early to welcome the players to the stadium, if they are then that’s great because we saw what a great help that was. Will they back the players on the pitch if they see passion, if they see Everton players that want to give everything for the shirt, which has happened a lot of times during my time at Goodison, in the last couple of games, no, but that’s our responsibility as well, will they be behind us if we show that, yes.
“From my point of view and the players’ point of view, our only thing right now at the moment is to have personal responsibility. Me and my job, the players and their job and we have to think about ourselves and performing and that’s my answer to it.
“If the fans see that in the game and they see that from Everton players and staff then I think they’ll react positively. The rest is their right.”
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