An exclusive interview with manager Frank Lampard headlines a bumper matchday programme for Everton’s final Premier League home game of 2021/22, against Crystal Palace on Thursday.
Pick up a copy of the programme, priced £3.50, around the ground or, alternatively, click here to order a copy online.
Everton can secure their top-flight status with victory over Palace on a night when it is anticipated Goodison Park will throb to the sound of the Club’s partisan supporters.
Lampard inevitably touches on the inspirational backing Evertonians are providing their side – a subject he underscores in programme notes written directly to fans – and outlines his desire for Everton "to be a club that stands up for itself”.
There is a whole lot more from Lampard, who reveals the “most exciting” part of his job and notes the “passion and honesty” of the senior figures who attracted him to Everton.
Lampard explains the principles that guide him every day, emphasises the imperative of flexible thinking and compromise in management, and discusses the lessons absorbed from multiple elite bosses during a playing career studded with success.
“People who know me well understand my competitive nature,” says Lampard.
“I wouldn’t hold back if I thought there was something affecting the Club that I felt wasn’t quite right.
“I try to be as straight as I can but to not offend people.
“But I have felt, in my short time here, we’ve had decisions not go our way that have been really clear and they have affected us – and I do not want us to be seen as a team that is in any way a soft touch.
“I want Everton to be a club that stands up for itself.
“If anyone has to do that, it is me.
"I think it is very important that when the opportunity comes to show we are a strong club, who will defend ourselves, absolutely I should be the first to do that and everyone should follow.”
Lampard’s manager notes, meanwhile, relate the steadily climbing “belief and resilience” in Everton’s dressing room – and reiterate the importance of retaining the “spirit and effort and togetherness” demonstrated on and off the field against Brentford on Sunday, while banishing the disappointment over an outcome heavily influenced by an unfortunate sequence of events early in the match.
Seamus Coleman is characteristically forthright in his captain’s notes, the full-back preparing for the 383rd and “biggest” match of his Goodison career.
Chief Executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale writes about the “compelling combination” of Evertonians and Goodison Park.
"This historic old stadium has rocked and reverberated so many times in recent weeks as you have roared the players on to some memorable victories," adds Professor Barrett-Baxendale.
“We must do that one more time tonight."
Andy van der Meyde is the subject of an in-depth former player interview.
The Dutchman candidly reflects on four years with Everton plagued by off-field indiscretions and difficulties.
Van der Meyde discloses his deep regret over “throwing away” his Everton opportunity and subsequent comments aimed at the Club.
In the course on an unsparing interview, Van der Meyde, living clean today in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn with wife Melisa and the couple’s two children, says: “Everton is a great club. The supporters were always behind me and I messed it up for them. I really want to say I am sorry for that.”
Pick up a copy of the programme, priced £3.50, around the ground or, alternatively, click here to order a copy online.
