Alan Shearer has delivered a damning assessment of Everton's current situation, insisting it's time for those at the top to 'take responsibility' for the club's plight.
The Blues were embroiled in a relegation battle for all of last season and find themselves in an identical position this campaign, sitting just one point above the drop zone and three points adrift of the foot of the table.
Frank Lampard is now under significant pressure after yesterday evening's 4-1 defeat by Brighton at Goodison Park and supporters made their feelings clear of those boardroom level with chants of 'sack the board'.
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Should Lampard be sacked by the Blues in the coming days or weeks, Everton will be searching for their eighth permanent manager since David Moyes' departure in May 2013. Various approaches to appointments have been taken during this process, a contrast typified by the reigns of Marco Silva and Sam Allardyce, whose styles couldn't be further apart.
Of the view Lampard cannot be the figure held responsible for Everton's state of disarray, Shearer slammed the club's ability to spend over £500million during Farhad Moshiri's tenure on 'wasted' talent as a greater issue.
"It’s going to be tough. It’s a tough football club, whoever goes in there. Frank is the eighth manager in nine years - as well as a couple of caretaker stints - that tells you it’s a mess of a football club, from top to bottom," he told Premier League Productions.
“The other people at that club need to take responsibility. They spent about £90million [this summer] and recouped £60-odd million with the Richarlison money in. Fans want to play a certain way, they’re not happy with sitting back, defending and trying to hit teams on the break. It’s a tough way back for Frank, and it’s a tough way back for anyone going into that football club because it is a mess and it will be until something changes."
Asked if he believes Lampard should be backed by the board and kept in charge of the club, Shearer continued: “Can eight managers in nine years all be wrong? Three or four might be, but eight? I get in previous years they’ve spent and wasted an absolute fortune, but who has been buying those players? That would be the question I would ask and now it looks like there’s not a lot available in terms of finance, for whatever reason.
“Who has spent that money? Who has thought it was a good idea to splash the cash on some bang average players, for ridiculous amounts of money? If you want to use an example of a football club on how not to spend, use Everton as an example. You’re chasing a dream; all of a sudden you’ve got all this money and then you see the players it’s been wasted on. I don’t think it’s too harsh of a word: wasted. There has been an unbelievable amount of money wasted on players over the years and now they’re paying the price for that."
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