New Everton manager Frank Lampard has replicated David Moyes by making a “People’s Club” declaration in his first press conference as Blues boss.
Speaking from Finch Farm as he previewed Saturday’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Brentford at Goodison Park, the 43-year-old was asked what the business he did on transfer deadline said about the support he would get from within the club.
Lampard said: “I’ve had really positive conversations with the owner, with the board and with the club in general from the first moment we started to speak, it was very linked together.
“Particularly the chairman Bill Kenwright was fantastic in those conversations as well and I can see why people hold this club in such regard because it’s a club that is ‘a people’s club.’”
Such remarks have strong echoes of when Moyes was appointed Everton manager almost 20 years ago in March 2002.
The then 38-year-old secured his place in Blues folklore with the words he uttered at his very first press conference after joining from Preston North End when he dubbed them: “The People's Club.”
The phrase stuck and was adopted by Evertonians themselves, the club in what would become an official line and the football world at large outside the confines of Anfield, where it continues to stick in the craw.
Moyes said: “I noticed it as soon as I walked into the building and met the people. I am from a city not unlike Liverpool.
“I was brought up amidst Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers and now I am in a city where football means as much as it does up there.
“This is the people's club in Liverpool. The people on the street support Everton and I hope to give them something they can be proud of over the next few years.”
