Lampard to Chelsea is a bold & RISKY move but it makes sense ‘for the moment’
Frank Lampard returning to Chelsea as their Manager makes sense 'for the moment'
Frank Lampard is a Chelsea legend and the midfield maestro has spent 13 seasons at Stamford Bridge scoring a club-record 211 goals. With his legacy secure, Frank Lampard moved to Manchester City in 2014 and at that point, he wouldn’t have expected a re-union with Chelsea 5 years down the lane.
Lampard ended his playing career at New York City and turned to football management. He took over Championship side Derby County in 2018 and lead them to the Play-off final where his side lost to Dean Smith’s Aston Villa. With just one year of managerial experience, he returns to his beloved club as the manager when his club are hit with a 1 year transfer ban.
Although Lampard has shown he has a plan B and can adapt to tricky situations, he still lacks the pedigree that is usually needed for the top job in one of the Premier League’s big six. His best victory as Derby Manager came against a much stronger Premier League side Manchester United in the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford but in reality, Manchester United were lacklustre and were putting in below par performances consistently when the two sides met.
Derby’s fairy-tale journey to the play-offs is partly down to Frank Lampard’s managerial genius but his detractors could argue that he took over a sixth placed Derby County and lead them to the same spot in the league table. The Premier League demands more than the Championship in terms of quality and Chelsea’s owner Roman Abrahamovic is ruthless when his club’s lofty ambitions are not met.
With the transfer ban on, Roman might offer Lampard a realistic target of a top 4 finish this season but if Chelsea struggle to achieve the target, pressure will start to mount on the Chelsea manager. This is a bold move from Chelsea to offer a job to a relatively less experienced manager. It is also a very risky move for Lampard early on in his career.
The last time a club legend took over as the manager and turned around the fortunes of his club happened a decade back when Pep Guardiola took over Barcelona but the comparisons between Pep and Frank as managers is far-fetched. Before being appointed as the Barcelona manager, the Catalan manager took over a Barcelona-B squad that was just relegated to the regional Tercera Division. Guardiola stopped the club’s downward spiral and led Barcelona-B to a first place finish in the Tercera division and subsequently won the Segunda division B play-off.
Guardiola’s transformation of Manchester City has certainly caught the eyes of the Chelsea owner who tried to emulate City’s attacking flair by bring in Maurizio Sarri. Unfortunately, the Italian failed to win over Chelsea’s fanbase despite leading the club to two finals. With the Italian manager moving to Juventus and Chelsea hit with a two year transfer ban, the prospect of a top-class manager moving to Stamford Bridge looked bleak.
Roman Abrahamovic has now turned to one of their own – Frank Lampard just like how Barcelona turned to Pep Guardiola in 2008. However, Lampard doesn’t have the pedigree Guardiola possessed back in 2008. Barcelona-B progressed massively under Pep Guardiola while detractors of Lampard could argue that wasn’t the case with his spell at Derby County.
Lampard’s appointment could very well turn out to be a success story but the chances of his lack of experience coming back to bite him is quite high at an ambitious club known for it’s history of being ruthless and firing managers.
Is Roman’s appointment of Lampard only a short-term cover while the transfer ban is on or do Chelsea a long-term plan for Frank Lampard? Only time will tell but it all depends on results and going by history, Chelsea’s board would already have a plan-B in place if results go downhill.
Nothing is guaranteed in football and rarely, a legend returns to a top club as it’s own manager. Lampard joins some legendary names such as Tony Book, Kenny Dalglish, Harry Redknapp and most recently Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who have all played as well as managed their clubs.
Lampard gets his dream job at his one club – one of England’s big six and Chelsea get their fans behind their new boss – some thing they couldn’t offer his predecessor Maurizio Sarri. It all makes sense ‘for the moment’.
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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