Frank Lampard’s next assignment: help Everton learn from past mistakes

The dust has settled on Everton’s dramatic escape from relegation, if not the relief that accompanied victory over Crystal Palace, yet awkward realities linger for the club’s hierarchy and Frank Lampard as they seek to avoid a repeat next season. That was underlined even before the transfer window opened.

Almost three weeks after Everton extended their top-flight residence into a 69th year the owner, Farhad Moshiri, sent an open letter to the supporters who played an instrumental, impassioned role in the survival. He apologised for mistakes that produced a campaign of “frustration and fear” but there was no mention of his ill-fated decision to appoint Rafael Benítez as manager at the start of it all, no promise to stop meddling in the work of football professionals or to cease listening to the agents who have cost him a fortune over the past six years.

On the plus side, Moshiri did recognise “how we have not always spent significant amounts of money wisely”, admitted “we need to do better” and reaffirmed his commitment to delivering “a fully funded stadium” at Bramley Moore dock. And it was communicated via the club he owns, not through Jim White.

The club have also this week incurred the wrath of the government and anti-gambling campaigners after announcing a shirt sponsorship deal worth more than £10m a year with Stake.com, the casino and sports betting platform. The government had wanted the Premier League, which held its AGM on the day Everton announced the deal, to introduce a voluntary ban on such partnerships and has warned it may go further with its gambling reforms in light of the club’s decision. The deal comes two years after Everton terminated sponsorship from another betting company, SportPesa, amid