January 25, 2021 will forever be associated with the day that Chelsea parted ways with club legend Frank Lampard for the second time – this time as a manager.
Lampard’s stint at Chelsea lasted 18-months but some feel this was the wrong decision.
After a spell of three defeats in their last five Premier League games, the club’s record goalscorer finds himself out of the job.
A few weeks ago this would have been unthinkable as the Blues went 17 games unbeaten between September and December. However, things quickly change in football.
Lampard leaves Chelsea with the club still in the Champions League and the FA Cup. They face Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the former while have a fifth-round tie against Barnsley in the latter to look forward to. However, they are 11 points behind table-toppers Manchester United in the Premier League – and five behind current champions Liverpool in fourth.
The decision to sack Lampard two days before the Blues take on Wolves at home in the league is bewildering considering there will not be enough time for the new manager to make much of an impact, if any at all before the game.
As a Chelsea supporter myself I was over the moon when Lampard was given the opportunity to lead the team, as he knows the club inside out and believed the players would look up to him a lot more than previous managers. The task was made slightly harder due to no transfer activity and losing our best player in Eden Hazard to Real Madrid. I also knew it would not be plain sailing as he’s unexperienced and only had one job before taking the Chelsea job and that was a sole season at Derby County.
Despite not being everyone’s cup of tea, Lampard has introduced a lot of youth into the squad which other managers failed to do. The imposed transfer ban certainly had a positive impact on the younger players as they were given the opportunity to showcase their potential. This is emphasised by the fact Lampard gave 12,545 minutes of Premier League games to 11 different players 21 or under as Chelsea boss.
The 42-year-old did an amazing job getting Chelsea back into the top four and to a cup final in his first season and things only looked up from then.
The decision to let Lampard go could have been pushed back until the end of the season, as I believe he was due more time to turn things around.
Every club has a blip and it was only last month that Chelsea were top of the league, albeit briefly. You could understand if Lampard failed to qualify for the Champions League next season but this is too hasty.
Chelsea as a club tend to hire and fire managers often but still manage to win trophies. The dismissal of Lampard is such a shame as once again Chelsea fans can’t give him the send-off that he deserves. Lampard didn’t get the chance to as a player and it’s deja-vu as a manager with fans unable to sing his name at Stamford Bridge.
There have been some good times and bad during his reign but ultimately this is a results business and the recent ones have not been good enough. However, I feel if he was given more time he could and would have turned it around. He had the tools to turn this around and performances were coming.
Hopefully Lampard will be back in management again soon and I hope he succeeds. Despite it not working out in the end here, he will always be a Chelsea legend.
By Chris Boxx
